4 January 8-14, 2026 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents legend Harry Kane, will kick off at least once in North Texas. Our crystal ball doesn’t know what the scores will be, but it does tell us there’s no reason to travel anywhere else for World Cup action in 2026. ICE-y Road Ahead One of the more surprising stories of 2025 was that Dallas declined an opportunity to join the federal 287(g) program, which would have led the DPD to work directly with ICE in enforcing federal immigration law, while detaining and processing individ- uals for possible deportation. Chief Daniel Comeaux says his decision to decline cost the city $25 million, even. However, thanks to the 2025 passage of Senate Bill 8, county sheriff’s departments that operate a jail, such as the Dallas County Sheriff’s Department, are required to partic- ipate in the ICE partnership program. Al- though Texas has already been among the states with the highest number of ICE ar- rests in 2025, many experts predict that SB 8 will lead to an even greater increase in that number, especially if immigrants without criminal records continue to be detained with regularity. Big D is a Zoning Reform Zone One of our favorite things about Dallas is the way that everyone is super normal and chill anytime a discussion about land use comes up. Like, super chill. In late 2025, the City Council got the ball rolling on its next major swing at governing land use across the city: zoning reform. Zon- ing is one of those magically yawn-inducing topics that is impossible to ignore once you start to see how it affects everything. It is the code that states where buildings can be built, how neighborhoods will grow or be preserved, and, generally, how the city sees itself in the future. Early briefings suggest that city staff are aiming to simplify Dallas’ zoning code while also implementing many of the land use guidelines adopted in the ForwardDallas plan. Remember that little guy? Some have suggested that the zoning overhaul could be adopted as soon as late 2026, but given the history of Marilla Street, we’d be surprised to see this issue wrapped up a year from now. Still, it is likely to be one of the most dis- cussed issues at the council horseshoe in 2026. Will zoning reform go the way of For- wardDallas, shaping itself into a divisive and political beast that rears its head each time a city staffer dares to approach the council chamber’s podium? Or will the process go similarly to April’s residential code change, which “transformed” developers’ ability to build residential housing with relatively lit- tle ado? Dallas Democrats Take on New Maps With the midterm elections fast approach- ing, we have already begun to hear the same old song and dance that this is the year Texas turns Blue. With the Supreme Court’s approval of the congressional maps drawn by Republicans last summer, we aren’t ex- actly betting on the long-promised blue wave, especially because it has left some of our Dallas Democrats scrambling. For the past two years, Dallas has been represented by Democrats Jasmine Crock- ett, Julie Johnson and Marc Veasey in Con- gress. Looking ahead to November, Johnson is the only one who may continue to repre- sent our city, and only if she wins a primary election against former senatorial candidate and her congressional predecessor, Collin Allred, who announced his own congressio- nal campaign after withdrawing from the Senate race in anticipation of Crockett’s an- nouncement to seek Sen. John Cornyn’s seat. A tangled Big D web, indeed. Allred made his name in Congress as the representative for Congressional District 32, and when he gave up the seat to chal- lenge Sen. Ted Cruz in 2024, Johnson took over the district. Now, thanks to the re- drawn maps, both are facing off in District 33, and CD 32 is expected to go to the Re- publicans. Johnson didn’t exactly welcome Allred to the race with open arms. Without addressing her predecessor by name, she said in a statement that North Texas “de- serves representation that has been present in the tough moments” instead of “para- chuting back when another campaign doesn’t work out.” Veasey, who some speculated would run for Crockett’s seat once she entered the Sen- ate race, announced a campaign for Tarrant County judge instead. His campaign lasted a week before he dropped out. That leaves Dallas pastor Frederick Dou- glass Haynes III as the Democrats’ best chance for Crockett’s former seat, while Crockett herself takes on state Rep. James Talarico for the party’s Senate nomination. Early polls show Crockett with an 8-point lead over Talarico, but the faceoff has re- vealed deep divides in the party. On the local level, Johnson endorsed Ta- larico even before Crockett entered the race, siding with the young pastor over Allred. Allred, on the other hand, has referenced a close friendship between himself and Crockett. Primary elections will be held in early March, so the eight months between then and Election Day will need to be enough time for Democrats to rally back to- gether if the party hopes to add even a slight blue-ish hue to the state. ▼ IMMIGRATION MORE ICE IN THE FORECAST DALLAS COUNTY COULD BE HOME TO GIANT NEW ICE DETENTION FACILITY. BY KELLY DEARMORE N early a year into President Donald Trump’s second administration, the signs that his controversial immigra- tion policies will continue to show them- selves in many ways are only growing more frequent. Along with near-daily headlines involving eye-popping statistics, arrests and deportations, a recent Washington Post re- port outlines a new plan that calls for Dallas County to soon be the home of the nation’s second-largest ICE detention facility. “The Trump administration is seeking contractors to help it overhaul the United States’ immigrant detention system in a plan that includes renovating industrial warehouses to hold more than 80,000 im- migrant detainees at a time, according to a draft solicitation,” the Post reported on Dec. 24. According to the documents reviewed by the paper, the aim of the plan is to “speed up deportations by establishing a deliberate feeder system,” which is not logistically possi- ble at present. Proposed new, large detention facilities would, according to the draft solicita- tion, be placed near “major logistical hubs.” If the Dallas-Fort Worth area is anything, it’s a major logistical hub, so it’s of little sur- prise that Hutchins, in Dallas County, just a bit southeast of downtown Dallas, is one of the seven proposed spots for new detention facilities that would hold thousands of peo- ple at once. The proposed sites in the draft are located in cities, counties or states led by Republican officials who have demonstrated a pro-Trump stance and support for the president’s immigration policies. According to the Post, the Hutchins warehouse would hold up to 9,500 detain- ees, nearly triple the amount that the largest current ICE detention facility, a makeshift tent encampment at Fort Bliss, can hold. That number stands out even more when compared to the 700 or so that the current closest ICE detention center to Dallas, the Prairieland Detention Center near Alvarado, reportedly holds. The plans call for the renovated ware- houses to have restroom and shower facili- ties, as well as medical units, recreational facilities, kitchens and housing for families that are detained together. But the fact that the government wants to place so many de- tainees together in an effort to deport as many as possible as quickly as possible leaves some advocates less than impressed with the proposed blueprints. Tania Wolf, an advocate with the Na- tional Immigration Project who is based in New Orleans, near another proposed new detention center, told the Post. “It’s dehu- manizing. You’re treating people, for lack of a better term, like cattle.” The promise to begin mass deportations as soon as possible was arguably Trump’s most controversial pledge following his 2024 election victory. As of December 14, more than 68,400 people are in ICE custody, a record high. Contrary to early statements from Trump and U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, who often declared that only the “worst of the worst” undocumented criminals would be detained and deported, many non-criminal immigrants have been held. According to recent reports, more than 75,000 of the people detained by ICE in the first nine months of 2025, at least a third of all ICE arrests during that time, did not have criminal records. On Monday, the Observer reported from a press conference where the family of Maher Tarabishi, a Palestinian man living in North Texas detained by ICE in October, pleaded for his release. Tarbishi is being held at the Bluebonnett Detention Center north of Abilene, has no criminal record and is the primary caregiver for his son, Wael, who suffers from a rare neurological disorder that has caused him to be hospitalized twice since his father was arrested. Tarabishi is but the latest example of a North Texas resi- dent being held by ICE who would likely not have been a candidate for deportation under previous administrations. At this point, the plans for new dentinon facilities are in their early stages, and the Post article notes that the draft isn’t final and could change. The Department of Home- land Security declined to answer questions about the proposed plan and did not confirm any of the paper’s findings. Texas, as Trump-friendly a state as there is, thanks to the enthusiastic support of Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Attor- ney General Ken Paxton, is the only state with more than one of the proposed new de- tention sites. Baytown, outside of Houston, is listed in the draft solicitation as the sec- ond Texas warehouse site. San Antonio, along with El Paso and Los Fresnos, in the Rio Grande Valley, are noted as possible sites for new ICE processing centers, where de- tainees would go through before being “fun- nelled” to the larger detention facilities. These new processing facilities would act in a similar fashion to the Dallas ICE field of- fice on Stemmons Freeway, the site of the September shooting that saw a gunman kill two detainees and injure another from the top of a nearby office building. Unfair Park from p3 Adobe Stock ICE patch used by law enforcement to detain immigrants.
