Source: HoustonPublicMedia.org

Art Acevedo, chief of the Houston Police Department (HPD), said it is “critical” that the Congress passes legislation to protect from deportation undocumented immigrants who arrived in the United States as children because, otherwise, some of them could be at risk of being recruited by criminals. The HPD chief –who stressed he has more than 30 years of experience in law enforcement— added that if Congress doesn’t act soon by passing the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act or some other legislation that would shield ‘Dreamers’, there could be “potential” for some of them “to succumb to radicalization process.” The HPD chief emphasized as well that the uncertainty regarding the future of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and, also, the potential implementation of SB4 –the state law that would allow state and local law enforcement agents and other officials to inquire members of the public about their immigration status— in Texas is causing “plenty of instances where there continues to be fear, fear to report crime” in Houston.