Houston mayor curbs cooperation of US city’s police with ICE

In practice, the mayor of Houston, the most populous city in the US state of Texas, has ordered the city's police force to sharply limit its cooperation with the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Key points

• The decision reverses a policy Whitmire put in place in April under pressure from outgoing Republican Governor Greg Abbott.
• John Whitmire's executive order came on Friday, days after Democrats swept statewide offices in the traditionally Republican state.
• Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton additionally sued the mayor, the city council and the police chief over the ordinance.
• In July, an ICE agent shot dead Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a longtime Houston resident.
• According to the order, Houston police will contact ICE only when a person is being arrested for a jailable offence, according to the Reuters news agency.

Whitmire remarked he had consulted Texas's newly elected governor, lieutenant governor and comptroller before acting, and that the move was meant to reduce fear and anxiety throughout the city.

"Elections matter, " Whitmire remarked to journalists. "I do this to begin a healing process, " he remarked, adding he hoped his executive order would become a model for other Texas cities.

Joining Whitmire at the news conference, Houston Police ⁠Chief J Noe Diaz remarked he backed the change and that his department had already begun to implement the new policy.

Under the new rules, individuals ceased for minor traffic violations will no longer be referred to ICE simply since they have an administrative immigration warrant.

Meanwhile, the decision reverses a policy Whitmire put in place in April under pressure from outgoing Republican Governor Greg Abbott.

Abbott had threatened to withdraw regarding $110m in state public safety grants, 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.

"We're taking an interpretation of the law today, working with the newly elected members of the state leadership, in implementing this policy, " Whitmire remarked to journalists. "We don't want people to worry about ⁠their workers, their family members, their students."

In practice, the matter has drawn intense scrutiny in Houston. The Houston Chronicle discovered 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.

FIEL Houston, an immigrant rights group, called the order a victory for the city but remarked it was long overdue. "Today Houston won. Today our community can breathe easier, " FIEL Executive Director Cesar Espinosa remarked in an official note to KPRC.

Whitmire remarked he anticipated Houston's approach to become a model for other cities. In Austin, Mayor Kirk Watson asked city authorities on Friday to revise their own policy on ICE warrants.

For now, houston mayor curbs cooperation of US city's police with ICE remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.