Click to watch video of statement/walkout| Nancy Holland's report

Several Houston City Councilmembers walked out of chambers Wednesday saying they were offended by comments from Councilmember and District 22 Congressional candidate Shelley Sekula-Gibbs.

KHOU

Many questioned the timing of Sekula-Gibbs statement.

The first issue is that Shelley Sekula Gibbs chose the day of a police officer's funeral to demand that police be able to question the immigration status of anyone they stop for, say, running a red light.

The suspect in Officer Rodney Johnson's death is an illegal immigrant.

Sekula-Gibbs asked Mayor Bill White to review a current policy in which police officers are not allowed to ask someone their immigration status.

"It is with that sense of great respect that I ask that you rescind the city sanctuary policy and that you work with immigration to rescind that order," said Sekula-Gibbs.

As she spoke, the council members got up and left.

"I was embarrassed to be in the room with somebody talking like that," Councilwoman Toni Lawrence, a Republican and one of the first to leave, told the Houston Chronicle. "There's a lot of things I disagree with, maybe the way immigration is handled, federally, and this is not the time to make a comparison."

Others agree it was inapproprite for Sekula-Gibbs to bring up the policy on the day Johnson was laid to rest.

Thursday, Sekula-Gibbs defended her actions.

"We have no more room to delay," she said.

But Democrat Nick Lampson, her opponent for the District 22 seat, joined the chorus of critics.

"Shelley Sekula-Gibbs is a long-standing supporter of the sanctuary policy for illegal immigrants," said Lampson. "She's tried to change her position over the past couple of months and back away from her liberal stance on immigration. But it doesn't work that way. She has always supported what she calls "sanctuary" policies, and it's classless for her to try and use the funeral of a police officer to pull the wool over the eyes of voters."

For the record, Sekula Gibbs says what she now proposes is narrower than a measure she did vote against.

But the second issue is what should be done about those here illegally.

But here's where it gets interesting.

Neither Sekula Gibbs nor Lampson has the slightest objection to expanded questioning by local authorities and more federal money to handle illegal immigrants.

"It doesn't bother me for them to change the policy of the city. I think we must see the federal government provide or help provide the resources to the city."

Police tell us they believe people are more willing to help and cooperate with officers if there aren't too many questions asked about immigration status.