HOUSTON — Houston Mayor John Whitmire has issued an executive order instructing city police officers to sharply curtail cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, city officials announced Friday.
Under the new directive, Houston Police Department officers will no longer notify ICE if they encounter a person with an administrative immigration warrant during routine, nonviolent interactions such as traffic stops. Police Chief J. Noe Diaz said officers will only contact federal immigration authorities if a person is being booked into custody for a jailable criminal offense.
Reversing course after state election
The executive order marks a significant shift for Texas’ largest city. In April, Whitmire had rolled back local restrictions on ICE coordination after outgoing Republican Gov. Greg Abbott threatened to cut roughly $110 million in state public safety funding. Abbott and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton had argued that local limits violated Senate Bill 4, a 2017 state measure barring cities from impeding immigration enforcement.
However, Tuesday’s midterm elections dramatically altered the political landscape in Texas. Voters elected Democrat Gina Hinojosa as the state’s first Latina governor and first Democratic chief executive in three decades, while Democrat James Talarico won a U.S. Senate seat. Democrats also captured majorities in both chambers of Congress.
“Elections matter,” Whitmire told reporters at a Friday news conference, explaining that he had consulted with incoming state leaders before modifying the city’s stance. “I do this to begin a healing process.”
Whitmire told The Associated Press that individuals stopped for minor infractions will simply be cited or warned without triggering federal detention referrals. “You write a citation or you warn them, and they go about their way. No contact with [ICE] over nonviolent, non-jailable offenses,” Whitmire said.
Federal pushback and community reaction
The Department of Homeland Security swiftly criticized the mayor’s order. In a statement provided to Houston television station KPRC 2, a DHS spokesperson expressed disappointment with local leaders who limit coordination, arguing that federal agents need partnerships with municipal departments to apprehend dangerous offenders.
“When politicians bar local law enforcement from working with DHS, our law enforcement officers have a more visible presence so that we can find and apprehend the criminals let out of jails and back into communities,” the spokesperson stated, adding that federal authorities retain independent jurisdiction under the U.S. Constitution’s Supremacy Clause.
Local advocates welcomed the announcement. Cesar Espinosa, executive director of the immigrant rights group FIEL Houston, told KPRC 2 that the decision was a crucial relief for immigrant residents, though he noted the organization felt the change was long overdue.
Tensions surrounding immigration enforcement in Houston have escalated in recent months. An analysis by the Houston Chronicle revealed that city police contacted ICE at least 107 times during the first eight months of 2025, compared with only nine instances throughout 2024. Community anger also mounted earlier this year after an ICE officer fatally shot Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, an undocumented Mexican national who authorities later acknowledged was not the intended target of the operation.
Broader impact across Texas
Houston’s policy change may signal a wider trend across urban Texas centers. In Austin, Mayor Kirk Watson asked city administrators Friday to review and update municipal procedures governing federal immigration warrants.
Chief Diaz confirmed that Houston officers have already begun receiving instructions under the new directive. While the policy curtails notifications during field encounters, federal agents remain free to carry out independent operations within the city.
