AUSTIN, Texas – The city of Austin is now Texas first “Freedom City” after a City Council vote on Thursday.

The new resolutions mean if police ask a person's immigration status, they must also let them know they don't have to answer that question.

Immigration issues were on the minds of hundreds rallying outside City Hall.

The change in policy partially bypasses the state's anti-Sanctuary City Law that passed last year. So-called sanctuary cities are places where officials would only honor immigration detention requests if they were backed by a warrant.

Austin leaders are also launching a study to determine why those being arrested doesn't reflect the area's demographics.

"Seven percent are black people in Austin, Texas. There are 38 percent Latinos, and the majority of people that are going to jail--we represent 75 percent of those people. It's alarming," said Chantel Pridjon, Texas Advocates for Justice.

Austin City Manager Spencer Cronk ordered the council to come back by September with official policies to make Austin a Freedom City and to review the results from the study.