Houston Orders Police to Limit Cooperation With ICE

Houston Mayor John Whitmire has ordered the city's police force to sharply limit its cooperation with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), signing an executive order on Friday that stops officers from alerting federal immigration agents during routine encounters such as traffic stops. It is the first major policy shift by a Texas elected official since Democrats swept statewide offices in Tuesday's midterm elections.

Under the order, Houston police will contact ICE only when a person is being arrested for a jailable offence, according to Reuters. People stopped for minor traffic violations will no longer be referred to ICE simply because a database check shows an administrative immigration warrant against them.

"Elections matter," Whitmire told reporters at a news conference announcing the change. "I do this to begin a healing process," he said, adding that he hoped his executive order would become a model for other Texas cities.

What changes on the street

The new rules draw a clear line between a routine encounter and an arrest. An officer who stops a driver for a minor traffic offence, or detains someone for another reason that does not lead to an arrest, will no longer notify ICE solely because of a civil immigration warrant — a document issued by federal immigration authorities, not a criminal warrant signed by a judge.

If the person is arrested on a charge that can lead to jail, Houston police will still contact ICE when such a warrant appears, according to accounts from Reuters and The Associated Press. Once a person is booked into the county jail, decisions about detention requests and coordination with federal authorities rest with Harris County rather than city police.

Whitmire, a Democrat, said the city would go after immigrants "that pose a danger, not those that are going about their family business, work and education". In the case of a traffic incident, he said, "you write a citation or you warn them and they go about their way."

Houston Police Chief J Noe Diaz joined Whitmire at the news conference, said he supported the change, and said his department had already begun to implement the new policy.

A reversal of the April policy

The order reverses a policy Whitmire himself put in place in April, under pressure from outgoing Republican Governor Greg Abbott. Abbott had threatened to withdraw about $110 million in state public safety grants from Houston, arguing that a city council ordinance limiting police contact with ICE breached Senate Bill 4, a 2017 state law that bars local police from restricting cooperation with federal immigration authorities. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton also sued the mayor, the city council and the police chief over the ordinance.

Whitmire said he had consulted Texas's newly elected governor, lieutenant governor and comptroller before acting. "We're taking an interpretation of the law today, working with the newly elected members of the state leadership, in implementing this policy," he told reporters. "We don't want people to worry about their workers, their family members, their students."

Democrat Gina Hinojosa ousted Abbott in Tuesday's election, which will make her Texas's first Latina governor and the first member of her party to hold the office in more than 30 years. The stunning victories included Democrats winning every statewide office and flipping several congressional seats held by Republicans.

The 77-year-old mayor acknowledged that the change could bring political risks, noting that Abbott and other Republicans remain in power until January. Hinojosa and Democratic Senator-elect James Talarico took a moderate approach to immigration during their campaigns, standing for robust border security but frequently criticising the Trump administration's crackdown, particularly over ICE officer shootings in Texas. Spokespersons for Hinojosa and Talarico did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Friday, according to AP.

Why Houston became the flashpoint

The issue has drawn intense scrutiny in Houston. The Houston Chronicle found that city police contacted ICE at least 107 times in the first eight months of 2025, compared with nine times in the whole of 2024. According to the Prison Policy Initiative, a nonpartisan think tank, Texas has had more arrests carried out by ICE agents during President Donald Trump's second term than any other state, with almost 137,000 recorded as of August 2026.

Houston has also been a recurring scene of protests against the immigration crackdown. In July, an ICE agent shot dead Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a longtime Houston resident. Last week, a grand jury in Houston indicted the ICE officer who was inside a vehicle that struck a man with a car, on charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. ICE has denied that the officer intentionally struck Miguel Parra Hernandez, whose leg was broken.

ICE criticised Whitmire's decision. "We remain disappointed that sanctuary politicians seek to limit cooperation with ICE, as our law enforcement are simply fulfilling their sworn duties to serve and protect our communities," the agency said in a statement. In a separate post on X, ICE wrote: "Watching child porn and selling heroin are classified as 'nonviolent offenses' by the way."

Immigrant rights groups welcomed the order. FIEL Houston, an immigrant rights group, called it a victory for the city but said it was long overdue. "Today Houston won. Today our community can breathe easier," FIEL Executive Director Cesar Espinosa said in a statement. "It means that the mom taking her kid to school is not going to have a panic attack every time she sees HPD," he added.

Ruby Powers, a Houston immigration attorney, said trust would not be restored right away. "It will probably take some time for the Houston immigrant community to truly feel a little bit safer than they did before this executive order took place," she said.

The wider Texas picture

Despite a one-time $75 billion infusion from Congress, ICE remains heavily dependent on local police to find people subject to deportation and turn them over. It has done so partly by signing about 2,600 agreements — many in Texas — to deputise local police and other state and local agencies to enforce immigration laws, according to AP.

Houston, the nation's fourth-largest city, is one of the first to move in the other direction. In Austin, Mayor Kirk Watson asked city officials on Friday to revise their own policy on ICE warrants. Whitmire said he expected Houston's approach to become a model for other cities.

Public opinion in Texas appears to be shifting too. In The AP Voter Poll, a survey of more than 5,000 voters in Texas, more than half of voters in the state's Senate race said the Trump administration's actions on immigration enforcement had "gone too far". About two in 10 said they had "not gone far enough", and a similar share said they had "been about right" — roughly in line with what voters said nationally.

What to watch next

Three things will determine whether the order holds. First, the legal question: Senate Bill 4 remains on the books, and Attorney General Paxton's lawsuit against the city is still pending. Whitmire's argument is that the new interpretation of the law, agreed with the incoming state leadership, allows the change — a claim that may yet be tested in court.

Second, the transition: Abbott and other Republicans remain in power until January, when Hinojosa takes office. Until then, the state could still threaten the public safety grants that forced the April reversal.

Third, the copycat question: Austin is already reviewing its own policy, and other Texas cities will be watching whether Houston's order survives its first legal and political challenges. If it does, Friday's order could mark the start of a wider pullback from local cooperation with federal immigration enforcement in the state that has been its most enthusiastic partner.

Frequently asked questions

What exactly does the Houston order change?

Police will no longer contact ICE during routine encounters — such as traffic stops or citations that do not lead to an arrest — solely because a person has an administrative immigration warrant. Officers will still contact ICE when a person is arrested on a charge that can lead to jail.

Does the order stop ICE from operating in Houston?

No. Federal agents can still operate in the city independently, and the order does not bar police from contacting ICE after an arrest for a jailable offence. It limits the city's own routine referrals, not federal enforcement.

Why did Whitmire act now?

He said the change followed Democrats' sweep of statewide offices in Tuesday's midterm elections, including Gina Hinojosa's defeat of Governor Greg Abbott, and that he had consulted the newly elected governor, lieutenant governor and comptroller before signing the order.

What happened to the earlier policy?

Whitmire put the earlier, more cooperative policy in place in April after Abbott threatened to withdraw about $110 million in state public safety grants and Paxton sued the city, arguing a council ordinance limiting ICE contact breached Senate Bill 4.

Could the order be challenged?

Yes. Senate Bill 4, the 2017 state law barring local police from restricting cooperation with federal immigration authorities, remains in force, and the attorney general's lawsuit is pending. The order's survival is likely to depend on the courts and on the incoming state leadership taking office in January.

For now, Houston's immigrant communities have the order Whitmire promised — a beginning, in his words, to "a healing process". Whether it becomes a model for other Texas cities, or a brief experiment ended by the courts, will be decided in the weeks after the new state leadership takes office in January.