Lucio Vasquez / Houston Public Media

A proposal intended to reduce the Houston Police Department's cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) failed to gain support from key council members and the city attorney this week.

Council member Letitia Plummer's proposed measure would grant discretion to HPD officers who encounter people with federal immigration warrants. Currently, officers are required to contact ICE to notify them of warrants; the update would change "shall" to "may" in the city code.

"In a sanctuary city, in an area where we have majority-minority communities, heavily immigrant population, we need to do right, and we need to protect them in the best way that we can," Plummer said on Wednesday. Sign up for the Hello, Houston! daily newsletter to get

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