Two Democrat lawmakers have filed bills to repeal a Texas law that required county sheriffs to enroll their departments in a federal immigration enforcement participation program.
Senate Bill 8, signed by Gov. Greg Abbott in June 2025, required sheriffs of counties with populations of 100,000 or greater to participate in ICE’s 287(g) program. However, House Bill 123 and Senate Bill 99 filed Monday by State Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer (D–San Antonio) and State Sen. José Menéndez (D–San Antonio) respectively seek to repeal these laws.
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Section 287(g) Program authorizes the delegation of “state and local law enforcement officers the authority to perform specified immigration officer functions under ICE’s direction and oversight.” The program operates through three different models of greater or lesser involvement for local officers, and has been in place since 1996.
In addition to mandating participation in the 287(g) program, SB 8 also provides “financial assistance to locally elected sheriffs in counties with populations under 1 million to help cover the costs of participating in the 287(g) program through grants.”
“It’s not just about securing the border, it’s about public safety,” said State Rep. David Spiller (R–Jacksboro), who had carried the measure in the Texas House.
He added, “The focus previously before President Trump got back in office was mainly [to] secure the border. That’s being done, but we still have to deal with what’s happened over the past four years—and quite frankly the years before that—so the focus is still the same but it’s slightly directed more toward just public safety concern.”
The bill filed by Martinez Fischer seeks to repeal “laws requiring agreements between certain sheriffs and the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement to enforce federal immigration law and providing a grant program to cover the costs of implementing those agreements.”
The bill references Chapter 753, Government Code specifically, which was put into place by Senate Bill 8, and would also prevent the comptroller from awarding grants that would help sheriffs participate in “immigration law enforcement agreements,” as specified under Subchapter C, Chapter 753.
The filings come shortly after Mayor John Whitmire directed the Houston Police Department to only report individuals arrested for “jailable offenses” to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Austin Mayor Kirk Watson has similarly called for the city council to revisit its ICE policy.
