For Salinas
I was home yesterday afternoon when KPRC Channel 2 News broke into their regular programming to bring us the coverage of the tornado that hit north and northwest Harris County. Luckily, there were no serious injuries. A lot of homes and property suffered damage. One house had three trees fall on it. All three trees belonged to a couple of its neighbors. One house had its Christmas tree sucked out of it as in the featured photo. Talk about oh Christmas tree. Wow. Even though there were no serious injuries, their Thanksgiving Day plans are now messed up.
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The Chron endorsed Alejandra Salinas for H-Town City Council At-Large 4. See the endorsement here:
How quickly politics can change.
Back in our endorsement for the general election, we noted that Alejandra Salinas had an impressive resume, robust grasp of municipal policy and a praiseworthy focus on the important issues that don’t always make headlines. However, we were concerned that she wouldn’t stand up to Mayor Whitmire where necessary. Too few on City Council do. So consider our pleasant surprise when, after the mayor clumsily admitted the city was cooperating with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement after months of denials, Salinas released a brief yet powerful statement in response.
“This is wrong,” she wrote on social media. “I am profoundly disappointed in the lack of transparency by the administration. One of my relatives, a U.S. citizen, was wrongly detained by ICE. He is OK, but the unlawful actions of ICE are not. Our city should not enable wrongful actors.”
It was exactly the sort of political bravery we were looking for. We encourage Houstonians to vote for Alejandra Salinas in the runoff election for At-Large 4. Early voting is Dec. 1 – 9, and Election Day is Dec. 13.
Of course, she offers more than punchy social media posts. During our runoff endorsement meeting with the candidates, Salinas honed in on pressing legal questions about whether Houston police officers could be told to exercise discretion on enforcing non-criminal immigrant detainers.
Enforcing these sorts of civil warrants has typically not been the responsibility of local police, but the Trump administration is trying to change that. Legal experts point out that holding Houston residents based on these detainers could violate constitutional rights. Law enforcement leaders — Republicans and Democrats — have argued that forcing police to act like immigration agents wastes resources and undermines community trust.
Salinas was keenly aware of these problems and laid out how the City Council should address them.
We were impressed by the well-prepared rhetoric of a Big Law attorney. And we were moved as she began to speak with the passion of someone who grew up in the border city of Laredo and knows in her heart the damage done by the Trump administration’s dragnet immigration regime. Federal agents who specialize in investigating child abuse, cartels and terrorism have been reassigned to street patrols. Longtime community members, even legal residents and citizens, have been harassed and arrested in shocking displays of governmental chaos and cruelty.
The reality is that Houston is in uncharted waters.
Never in living memory have cities had to deal with a federal government ready to treat local leaders not as partners in governance, but as enemies of the state. In October, the president called for the jailing of the Chicago mayor and Illinois governor while deploying federal agents and National Guard there.
Politicians across the country are struggling to navigate this moment.
Mayor John Whitmire has made his strategy clear: Keep your head down. Don’t complain about the federal agents who threaten kids with tear gas. Do whatever it takes to avoid becoming a target for National Guard troops and masked officers.
Yet, our neighbors are already being detained by the thousands according to ICE. While some are “bad hombres” with criminal convictions — who should be arrested and deported — many are hardworking Houstonians who have lived as our neighbors for years, if not decades, with no criminal record. Even without the full-blown spectacle, the damage – and the fear – is here. Many Houstonians are rightfully asking: In what way is dragnet enforcement making our city safer? Many are pleading for our city’s leaders to listen, to see their pain and get creative in standing up for them.
Salinas, perhaps more than anyone at City Hall right now, seems ready to take on this task. If Houstonians ever needed an elite Susman Godfrey lawyer on their side, now’s the time.
“What is happening with ICE, there are no words to describe the horrific thing that it has done to our country,” she told us. “There are American citizens who are in fear of walking outside of their house because of the violence that the state is perpetuating against them. That because of what you look like or who you associate with, you can be detained and abused.”
Of course, as Salinas made clear throughout the meeting, she’d much rather work on the core issues of city governance: building and maintaining our infrastructure, drawing down more funding through state and federal grants and building political coalitions that unite our city. We also appreciate how she has taken on many of the road safety concerns prioritized by Jordan Thomas, who earned our endorsement in the general election. No doubt she would do an excellent job helping city leadership tackle the basics.
Here is all of the endorsement: Alejandra Salinas for Houston At-Large 4 City Council | Endorsement.
It is pretty clear that the Evan Mintz led E-Board has a problem with how H-Town Mayor John Whitmire runs the city. I support Alejandra Salinas because I heard good things about her. A lot of my friends support her. She has an impressive resume and has been involved in the community. I finally met her a week and a half ago. I like her. I don’t have a problem with her standing up to the mayor on issues. If she feels strongly about ICE, speak out and be forceful.
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I went and got my COVID-19, flu, and shingles vaccines yesterday. I had a shingles outbreak over 30 years ago, but a vaccine was still recommended. The medical attendant who administered the vaccines let me know that the shingles jab would be a tad uncomfortable and I would be groggy all day today. I got the shingles injection in my left arm and the COVID and flu jabs in my right arm. Other than both arms being sore today, I don’t feel groggy or achy this morning. On the shingles vaccine, there is a part two. I must go back for a second injection in two to six months.
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Astros closer Josh Hader last pitched on August 8. He was injured for the final seven weeks of the regular season. He had a toy drive called “Hader’s Heart” at Daikin Park yesterday. Here is what he told the Chron yesterday about his rehab:
“It should be normal. Obviously, intensity gets up and we’ll see how that goes and how I’m recovering, bouncing back from that. But as of now, everything is status quo, back to normal.”
We sure missed him the last seven weeks of the season. Hope he is ready for Opening Day.