Council members seek answers after report that officers coordinated with federal agents Several Houston council members demanded changes and accountability this week, saying Police Chief Noe Diaz should appear before City Council to discuss policies and changes after thediscovery that at least two police officershad directly transported people to immigration agents.Council members Ed Pollard, Joaquin Martinez and Alejandra Salinas all wrote statements on their social media profiles over the weekend in response to a Chronicle report that revealed details about the two arrests in July and August 2025. Council Member Tiffany Thomas joined the chorus in a statement to the Chronicle Monday.“I’m disappointed by the recent findings regarding coordination between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities,” Martinez wrote in a prepared statement. “For months, I’ve been focused on rebuilding trust between our communities and local law enforcement, especially as increased ICE activity over the past year has already strained these relationships. Actions that blur the line between local policing and federal immigration enforcement only make that trust harder to restore.”Martinez called on the police department to restore the community affairs division as part of an effort to improve its relationship with the community. Pollard echoed Martinez's comments and took it a step further, saying Diaz would need to appear before council to answer questions about the department’s policies.Thomas agreed, saying it wasn't enough to handle the issue internally, and Diaz would need to appear before city council.The council members’ demands came afterMayor John Whitmire told several television stationsthat he was disappointed and that the two officers who arrested drivers and drove them to ICE agents violated agency policies in doing so. “It was a violation of Houston Police Department policy, and it will be corrected," Whitmire said.Representatives with Whitmire’s office did not respond to a request for comment Monday about what the mayor’s plans were to address the issue. His office has not responded to requests for comment from the Chronicle since Aug. 17.Officials with the police department did not respond to a request for comment as of Tuesday morning.“What is especially troubling is the response from the mayor,” Pollard wrote in his prepared statement. “Simply stating that he is ‘disappointed’ over these reports is not enough.”The police department shouldn’t divert limited resources to help enforce federal immigration policies, Pollard said.While at least five Houston council members are calling for changes to how the police department cooperates with ICE, other members of council were less definitive.If two officers violated the current policy, the agency might need more training and clarity on the matter, Council Member Julian Ramirez told the Chronicle.Council Member Amy Peck said she thought the issue could be solved based on the city’s current policies.“HPD’s primary mission is to keep Houstonians safe while focusing on local law enforcement priorities,” she said. “Our current policy allows HPD to do that while maintaining professionalism and cooperating with federal authorities in accordance with the law.”Before President Donald Trump began his second term as president in January 2025, Whitmire told news outlets that officers wouldn’t enforce immigration laws. But in the months since then, officials in Trump’s administration added 700,000 noncriminal administrative warrants to a database available to agencies nationwide.Houston guidelines on the administrative warrants, which have come under criticism from immigration advocates, advise officers to call ICE and wait “a reasonable amount of time” for an agent to come to the scene. But both national police associations and Houston leaders tell officers not to make arrests on immigration violations alone.A Chronicle investigation foundagencies across Texas have struggled and even been confused about how to handle the administrative warrants. Houston city leaders have largely been silent on the issue before this month.Austin's policies had largely echoed Houston's until last week, whenpolice leaders there unveiled a revised general orderstating officers are not required to contact ICE and that they cannot make an arrest or prolong a detention based only on an ICE administrative warrant, according to a statement from Mayor Pro Tem José "Chito" Vela and Council Member José Velásquez.Officers must get permission from senior leaders before detaining someone on an ICE administrative warrant, the statement reads.It’s not clear what changes, if any, might come before Houston's city council.But discussion about the arrests has spread beyond the walls of city hall.Texas Rep. Christina Morales said she was disappointedby recent reports about HPD and ICE."HPD should focus on keeping our neighborhoods safe, building trust with our communities, and ensuring every resident feels secure reporting crime," she said on social media.