A Honduran man who was deported after a Houston traffic stop has filed a proposed class-action lawsuit against the City of Houston and unidentified Houston police officers, alleging they unlawfully detained him so federal immigration agents could take him into custody.
According to the lawsuit, Erick Ruiz Lopez, 29, was pulled over for a traffic violation on June 17. Although he had no criminal warrants or criminal record, Lopez alleges Houston police held him for more than two hours after the traffic stop until U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrived. He was deported to Honduras on June 27, according to court filings.
The lawsuit claims HPD officers violated Lopez’s constitutional rights by extending the traffic stop solely to allow ICE agents time to take him into custody. The proposed class action alleges the city has a policy or practice of unlawfully prolonging traffic stops for people with civil immigration warrants, even though those warrants are not criminal and do not independently authorize local police to detain someone.
Lopez is seeking unspecified damages and a court order prohibiting Houston police from continuing the alleged practice. The lawsuit also seeks class-action status on behalf of others who may have been similarly detained.
The lawsuit comes amid ongoing debate over Houston’s policies regarding cooperation between local law enforcement and ICE. Earlier this year, Houston City Council approved an ordinance limiting police cooperation with federal immigration authorities before reversing course weeks later after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott threatened to withhold $114 million in state grant funding. Since then, HPD has returned to a policy allowing officers to wait a “reasonable” amount of time for ICE agents to arrive when they encounter individuals with civil immigration warrants.
The City of Houston had not responded to the lawsuit as of Tuesday morning.