Houston Mayor Limits ICE Cooperation After Democrats Sweep Texas, Saying ‘Elections Matter’
Houston Mayor John Whitmire signed an executive order Friday sharply limiting when city police may contact U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, declaring that “elections matter” after Democrats swept Texas statewide offices.
Under the order, Houston Police Department officers may contact ICE only when a person is arrested for a jailable offense and also has an administrative ICE warrant, the Associated Press reported.
“I do this to begin a healing process, reduce fear and anxiety across our community,” Whitmire said at a news conference. “I also do this knowing that elections matter,” Houston Public Media reported.
Police Chief J. Noe Diaz said HPD will no longer contact ICE solely because someone has an administrative warrant if that person is not arrested. A traffic citation, he said, means the motorist goes about their day.
“As the mayor stated, the message is clear. ICE will only be contacted if someone commits a jailable offense,” Diaz said, according to FOX 26 Houston.
When an arrested person has a qualifying warrant and is booked into jail, Whitmire said officers will notify ICE and leave further response to Harris County Jail and county officials.
Abbott’s Funding Threat Reversed in Spirit
The shift undoes the practical effect of a retreat Whitmire made under pressure from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott earlier this year. In April, Whitmire joined council members seeking to curb ICE coordination, then reversed course after Abbott threatened more than $110 million in public-safety funding.
City leaders at the time also faced reminders of more than $260 million in direct state appropriations to Houston in 2025. Whitmire had argued a fight with Austin would jeopardize future dollars for policing, transit and health services.
Department reports show officers contacted ICE nearly 200 times from April through September, including at least 36 handoffs directly to federal agents, Houston Public Media found. Some contacts followed 911 calls for help, including a suicide attempt and a domestic-violence incident.
Whitmire said he has spoken with newly elected statewide Democrats and believes Senate Bill 4-style immigration priorities will not dominate the incoming state leadership. He is moving ahead even though Abbott’s administration remains in office for about two more months.
“It will improve our public safety. It will reduce the fear and anxiety of students, our workers, and I will take the responsibility of making this change,” Whitmire said.
Council Member Alejandra Salinas, who pushed the April ordinance and opposed its reversal, called Friday’s order “a great step forward” and said the city was finally acknowledging fear caused by prior enforcement practices.
Neither Abbott nor the Texas attorney general’s office immediately commented. Immigration hawks argue narrowing ICE contact after a statewide Democratic sweep invites sanctuary-style non-cooperation in America’s fourth-largest city.
For Trump allies who spent two years pressing Texas cities to assist federal removals, Whitmire’s “elections matter” framing is an early signal that Democratic governors and mayors intend to unwind local cooperation the moment statewide power shifts.
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