Updated at 6:40 p.m. Aug. 2: Revised to include comments from Trinidad Camacho's attorney.

No one disputes Trinidad Camacho was living in the country illegally. Not even her family.

Her record shows she was deported to Mexico in 1999 after convictions for drunken driving and cocaine possession. Soon after, she sneaked back into the United States.

But the 54-year-old grandmother's recent arrest in Oak Cliff — captured on video and widely shared on Facebook — has stirred questions that a Dallas County constable's office is quietly working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the expense of county taxpayers. It's a question that neither Constable Ray Nichols nor ICE would answer, despite repeated requests from The Dallas Morning News.

Camacho, who wailed as Deputy Constable Jeffrey Hubbard handcuffed her by her white SUV, was taken to an ICE office in Dallas on July 20 and booked at the Euless city jail in Tarrant County on an immigration detainer. Nichols, the constable in Dallas County Precinct 2 and Hubbard's boss, said his deputy stopped Camacho because of a traffic violation and arrested her because of an active federal felony warrant.

Her attorney said there was no federal or state felony warrant for her arrest. Camacho's family is also skeptical of Nichols' explanation. According to their account, one of Camacho's relatives was stopped earlier in the day by the same deputy but given no traffic tickets despite driving without a license or proof of insurance.

And now Dallas County commissioners, who set Nichols' budget, want to know why the deputy was making a traffic stop in Oak Cliff, far from his precinct in the Garland and Mesquite area. GPS data obtained by the county's budget office shows Hubbard drove an unmarked car straight from his home in Mesquite to Oak Cliff, where he lingered for more than two hours before arresting Camacho.

Two days earlier, Hubbard and a colleague drove to an ICE office in Dallas and stayed there for about 13 minutes, according to the budget office.

ICE added to the confusion after it issued a written statement that said Camacho's arrest was made by Dallas-based members of its Fugitive Operations Team. Asked for clarification, the agency said only that Camacho had been detained by the office of the Dallas County constable of Precinct 2 and transferred to federal custody. It did not answer questions about whether the deputy is a member of an ICE team or one of its partners.

Nichols didn't answer an email asking whether his office has a partnership with ICE.

"I believe that this is outside of his jurisdiction and his authority," said County Commissioner Elba Garcia, who represents part of Oak Cliff. "The purpose of a constable's office is to do security at the courthouse and to serve papers."

Commissioner Theresa Daniel said county officials are looking into the matter. Commissioner John Wiley Price criticized the deputy's actions, noting that he had concerns about racial profiling.

"As a deputy constable in Precinct 2, what the hell is he doing in Oak Cliff?" he said.

The Commissioners Court will discuss how the constable is using county resources during the process to set the county budget, which is approved in September, Garcia said.

What constables do

Constables are peace officers elected into office, like sheriffs. The Dallas County Commissioners Court can cut constables' annual budgets, as it did in 2010 when it scrapped their traffic divisions, but it has no other power or authority over their offices.

Dallas County has a constable for each of its five precincts. While the constables and their deputies can issue traffic tickets and arrest lawbreakers, state law directs them to serve court papers, such as divorces and subpoenas, and to work as bailiffs in the justice of the peace courts.

ICE doesn't give the county money for immigration enforcement beyond payment for holding people with immigration detainers at the jail, according to the county's budget office.

Nichols couldn't have signed a contract with ICE himself. The constables can't enter their offices into agreements dealing with the payment or receipt of money, the budget office said.

The four other Dallas County constables said in interviews or through representatives that they do not partner with ICE to find and arrest unauthorized immigrants.

"[Deputies] can't join a task force without my permission," said Constable Roy Williams Jr. from Precinct 4.

Nichols, elected in 2014, is one of two Republican constables. His resume lists a law degree from the University of Tulsa and service in the U.S. Marine Corps.

"The elected representative standing between government totalitarianism and you is a Texas Constable," reads his campaign website. "His job should be as a protector of the people and their peace and liberties."

The arrest on July 20

Camacho's relatives say the traffic stop on July 20 was a pretext to nab her. The family pointed to another incident about an hour before Camacho's arrest, when Hubbard allegedly stopped her son-in-law a few blocks from the family's Oak Cliff home.

Martha Gomez, Camacho's daughter, said her husband had no driver's license or proof of insurance on him, and that their small children were not secured in booster seats as required by law. Still, she said, Hubbard let her husband go after he showed his U.S. passport. There were no traffic tickets for his infractions.

"He saw all that, and he didn't care," Gomez said, adding that her husband said Hubbard identified himself as a member of a gang and drug task force but didn't mention his agency.

Gomez's husband returned to a home near Beckley and Illinois avenues, where Camacho was getting ready to leave. Gomez said they saw Hubbard's car on their street and pointed it out to Camacho.

Shortly after, Camacho called her daughter and told her she was being pulled over.

GPS information provided by the county shows that Hubbard left Mesquite at about 9 a.m. and arrived by Clarendon Drive and Beckley Avenue at about 9:34 a.m. He remained in that area until about 11:16 a.m., when he made a stop near Zang Boulevard and Illinois Avenue.

This Dallas County map shows the places where Deputy Constable Jeffrey Hubbard went on July 20, the day he arrested Trinidad Camacho. He starts his day in Precinct 2 (shown in pink), where he is assigned, and spends his morning in Precinct 5 (shown in red). There, he detains Camacho and takes her to the ICE office on Stemmons Freeway.

Nichols said in an email he had no information to suggest Camacho had been followed from the house, as her family alleges. He wrote that she had no driver's license, and that a felony warrant popped up after the deputy confirmed Camacho's identity.

"We serve civil papers, court orders, execute writs and warrants," he wrote. "In conducting these core duties, there are times where it is the officer's discretion to conduct a traffic stop at such time they determine under their discretion, as a peace officer, that the stop is warranted under the law and the circumstances of public safety, including the environment, which may supersede the imperative weight of their core duties."

Cynthia Barbare, Camacho's attorney, said there was no pending felony warrant from local or federal law enforcement calling for her client's arrest. Camacho was deported on Aug. 2, but federal authorities didn't file criminal charges against her, Barbare said.

"The whole thing just stinks," she said about Camacho's arrest. "It just doesn't add up."

Nichols didn't return an email asking him to comment on ICE's statement that the arrest had been made by Dallas members of its Fugitive Operations Team.

Gomez said Hubbard told her that he had stopped her mother because she had switched lanes without signaling.

A Hispanic deputy arrived at the intersection at about noon to translate between Hubbard and Camacho, who doesn't speak English. Gomez, who had rushed to her mother's aid, said Camacho asked the Hispanic deputy what was going on.

Gomez said the Hispanic deputy replied: "I don't know. He told me to come. He's the boss."

Hubbard was on the phone and handed the phone to Camacho, her daughter said. The deputy then told Camacho that he was taking her to immigration authorities, according to Gomez's account.

A video recorded by a bystander shows Camacho being handcuffed, but not the moments that led up to the arrest. Hubbard is seen wearing a dark vest that reads POLICE. A second video filmed shortly after by a community organizer with the Texas Organizing Project, an immigrant advocacy group, shows the deputy wearing a Precinct 2 badge around his neck.

GPS data from Hubbard's car pulled by county officials shows that the deputy drove to the ICE office on Stemmons Freeway and stayed there for about 40 minutes.

ICE and local authorities

There are several scenarios that may lead local law enforcement agencies to work with immigration officials, and not all of them will require a formal agreement, said Claude Arnold, a former ICE special agent in charge and a consultant with the crisis management firm Frontier Solutions.

The ICE Fugitive Operations Teams are typically made up of only federal personnel, Arnold said, but local authorities may cooperate with ICE on a provisional basis.

For example, he said, immigration officials who go to a particular location to investigate a person will usually contact local officers to let them know. If the local agency is also investigating the person, it can coordinate with ICE.

It would be unusual for ICE not to be present for an arrest, but there are special circumstances, Arnold said. He pointed to immigration officials who contact local detectives with information about gang members or drug traffickers who've been deported but may come back.

"The gang detectives, they're on the street all the time making contact with gang members," he said. "I would provide them that information, and they would be out there, and they would contact one of these guys, and then detain them, and then call me."

And there are some people who may get arrested for immigration violations while local authorities are investigating someone else for a crime, Arnold added.

Re-entering the country illegally is a federal felony, and a previously deported immigrant may have a file in a national database of criminal records consulted by law enforcement officers across the country.

Nichols said his authority to disclose information about Camacho's arrest was restricted by state and federal laws.

"Some of these restrictions apply to me directly as well, so the depth of my knowledge is limited," he wrote in an email.

Staff writer Javier Giribet contributed to this report.