4 OctOber 30 - NOvember 5, 2025 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents of the crowd sheltered under overhangs in nearby buildings and in a neighboring parking garage. Soaked or not, the event continued. ▼ IMMIGRATION COOL IT MAYOR’S REQUEST FOR ICE COLLABORATION MET WITH RESISTANCE. BY EMMA RUBY M embers of the Dallas City Council issued statements recently con- demning Dallas Mayor Eric John- son’s calls for a potential partnership between the Dallas Police Department and federal immigration officials, stating that such a collaboration would erode the pub- lic’s trust in its local police force. For months, community members have asked for more clarity as to the Dallas Police Department’s level of involvement with lo- cal Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations. During a Community Police Oversight Board meeting, Dallas Police Chief Daniel Comeaux assured the board that DPD has not entered into a partnership with ICE, going as far as to say the depart- ment turned down a $25 million offer to en- ter into a 287(g) program contract. The program grants immigration enforcement jurisdiction to local law officers, and a new state law will require county sheriff’s offices to adopt the policy next year. On Oct. 17, Johnson sent a letter to sev- eral council members criticizing Comeaux’s decision. The memorandum, issued to coun- cil members Cara Mendelsohn and Maxie Johnson, chair of the public safety and gov- ernment efficiency committees, respec- tively, instructs the two committees to hold a joint meeting with ICE officials and Co- meaux to explore whether the 287(g) pro- gram could be a lucrative opportunity for the City of Dallas. “Clearly, participation in ICE’s Task Force Model could provide significant fi- nancial benefits to the city. The Dallas Police Department could use these funds to, for ex- ample, hire additional officers with no im- pact on the city’s budget,” Johnson wrote. “Dallas might be forfeiting significant direct financial benefits by declining ICE’s offer. Therefore, I am now asking your commit- tees to explore the potential benefits of par- ticipating in the 287(g) program.” The memo also implies that Johnson does not feel the decision to opt out of the program was one Comeaux should have been able to make unilaterally, and that DPD’s participation in 287(g) could help keep “violent criminals off our streets.” The following day, several council mem- bers had made it clear that if Johnson hopes to overturn Comeaux’s decision using the horseshoe’s governing power, he faces an uphill battle to do so. Council members Chad West, Paula Blackmon, Adam Bazaldua and Jaime Re- sendez issued a joint statement expressing concern with Johnson’s “Friday afternoon missive” and support for Dallas’ immigrant community. The council members wrote that entering into a federal contract with im- migration officials would have “implications long past the current administration.” “Safer communities are built through trust and connection. DPD participating in this program would certainly undermine progress made,” the statement reads. On his own social media, Resendez went a step further. Two-thirds of the residents in Resendez’s district are Hispanic or Latino, city data shows, and the council member said he could “never be at peace” while feeling like his constituents could be targeted by the mayor’s “playing games with people’s lives.” “The mayor often likes to bring up his kids and their safety to humanize himself, but he’s willing to throw Latino kids and their families under the bus by inviting the kind of aggressive, unconstitutional violence we’ve seen from ICE in other cities,” he wrote. “The silence from those who know better and stay quiet because it’s safer politi- cally is how injustice survives.” Following that, council members Jesse Moreno and Laura Cadena issued their own statement that calls for immigration en- forcement to remain a responsibility of the federal government. Like their colleagues, Cadena and Moreno expressed concerns that entering into a 287(g) program contract could harm trust between Dallas residents and local law enforcement. “We encourage residents to reach out to your elected officials and share your con- cerns, experiences and perspectives to en- sure that community input remains at the center of decisions that affect our city,” the statement said. Moreno and Cadena’s statement leaves eight council members yet to weigh in on the 287(g) program. It is not clear when a discussion on the matter will be scheduled for Johnson’s requested joint committee meeting. Council members Paul Ridley, Gay Don- nell Willis, and Kathy Stewart issued a joint statement last week that says the officials “anticipate a robust discussion” at the horse- shoe on the topic of DPD entering a contract with ICE. While the council members said they believe immigration enforcement falls under the responsibility of the federal gov- ernment, they acknowledged that “it is ap- propriate for elected officials to determine the city’s stance on issues in a public forum.“We fully support our sworn officers in keeping all Dallas residents safe and share Chief Comeaux’s commitment to strength- ening community trust,” it says. Although Johnson made waves in 2023 by switching to the Republican Party just months after being re-elected as a Demo- crat, he has been slow to divulge the full breadth of his political opinions. Friday’s memo is one of only a few times the mayor has weighed in on immigration, for instance. And although the memo frames the interest in the 287(g) program as a primarily finan- cial one, DPD’s partnership with ICE agents is something that Johnson has expressed support for in part. “Of course, we’d support [deportations]. Of course, we’d stand by President Donald Trump in an effort to get rid of people in our country illegally who have violent criminal records,” Johnson said during a Fox News segment last November. The mayor declined to clarify those com- ments when asked by the Observer. ▼ WORLD CUP HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE DALLAS AIRBNB OWNERS WANT YOU TO TURN YOUR HOUSE INTO A WORLD CUP RENTAL. BY EMMA RUBY T he 2026 FIFA World Cup is ex- pected to generate up to $2.1 billion for the North Texas economy, and short-term rental (STR) operators in Dallas are looking for a piece of the pie. The city of Dallas, however, is looking to finally imple- ment two ordinances that would ban the majority of Airbnb and VRBO listings within city limits. For two years, Dallas’ attempt to take down STRs has been tied up in litigation. Al- though the city has been dealt a series of blows (three, to be exact) in the courts this year, it appears undeterred. In a recently filed petition and first reported by KERA, the city requests that the Texas Supreme Court lift the standing injunction on the STR ban ahead of the World Cup in June to ensure orderly operations. Lisa Sievers, a member of the Dallas Short-Term Rental Alliance, which is a plaintiff in the suit, said the organization is “preparing for this new challenge.” Millions of visitors are expected to come to North Texas for the games. While AT&T Stadium will host Dallas’ nine matches, the most of any host city, the International Broadcast Center and Fan Fest will be held at the Dal- las Convention Center and Fair Park. “It is a huge opportunity,” Sievers said. “And we expect that there will be a lot of people who will want to either rent their home as a short-term rental or rent out a room as a short-term rental. And so what we are doing is Nov. 14th and Nov. 15th, we are having a full-day intensive class on how to do just that.” . A Deloitte forecast on the economic im- pact Airbnb rentals will have on World Cup host cities estimates that 42,000 customers will stay at North Texas Airbnb’s over the month that games are held, and that $35 mil- lion could be spent on the platform’s accom- modations between June and July 2026. “Local Airbnb hosts are also anticipated to benefit significantly during the World Cup,” the report states. “[We anticipate] av- erage earnings per [North Texas] host of ap- proximately $4,400 over the event duration. … These earnings could be particularly im- pactful for women, who represent 59% of Airbnb hosts in the USA, and for seniors, who represent 20% of hosts.” The Dallas Short-Term Rental Alliance’s classes on how to get in on the World Cup action cost $50 to register, and Sievers said the instruction will focus on “what it’s like to host during an international event” and “how to be a good neighbor and how to de- velop good house rules.” More classes are planned for March, she added. Sievers said the Alliance is “remaining hopeful” that they’ll be allowed to operate through next summer, as it isn’t clear if the state supreme court will decide to look at the state’s appeal. “We are doing our part to educate new hosts on how to set up a responsible short- term rental,” Sievers said. “We make sure everybody is signing up to pay [hotel occu- pancy] tax, which is what they’re supposed to be doing. We mention it at every meeting we have and in every newsletter we send out. Our goal is to educate our membership as to how to run a short-term rental prop- erly. We can’t guarantee that everybody’s go- ing to take the class. I wish everyone would, but we’re going to do our best.” ▼ STATE FAIR A POLITICAL PINCHING FAIR OFFICIALS SAY THE SHUTDOWN HELPED LEAD TO ITS LOWEST NUMBERS IN YEARS. BY EMMA RUBY O ver the 24 days that the Texas State Fair ran this year, the U.S. govern- ment shut down, Israel and Hamas entered a tentative peace agreement after two years of war, “No Kings” protests took place across the country, and the Texas Na- tional Guard was deployed to Chicago to ad- dress growing unrest outside of immigration facilities. David Dee Delgado/Getty Images The Trump administration has authorized Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to make arrests at schools, churches and hospitals. Unfair Park from p3 >> p6
