Houston City Council passed an ordinance Wednesday redefining the boundaries of its police department’s interactions with federal immigration authorities, a move that critics are calling a de facto sanctuary city policy in violation of state law.
Approved in a 12-5 vote, the ordinance eliminates the previous requirement that Houston Police Department officers hold individuals up to 30 minutes to allow ICE agents time to respond to the scene. Under the new policy, a routine stop ends when the original lawful reason for the stop ends.
The measure, which was filed by council members Alejandra Salinas, Abbie Kamin, and Edward Pollard, also establishes a quarterly public reporting requirement for HPD, detailing how often officers inquire about immigration status or contact federal authorities.
The backdrop to Wednesday’s vote traces back to March, when Mayor John Whitmire and Police Chief Noe Diaz announced a directive requiring officers to call a supervisor to the scene any time a background check revealed an immigration warrant. If that supervisor confirmed the warrant was valid, ICE had a 30-minute window to arrive and take custody. Officers who previously transported individuals solely on the basis of an administrative immigration warrant were told that practice was a deviation from policy.
Administrative immigration warrants are civil documents issued by ICE itself, not by a judge, and ICE added more than 700,000 of them into the National Crime Information Center database used by officers last year. Councilmember Kamin argued during a March press conference that the federal agency had been leveraging that flood of warrants to co-opt local officers into doing immigration enforcement work.
Mayor Whitmire, who supported the final ordinance, posted on X Wednesday: “I’ve always been clear: Houston follows local and state law. We are not ICE, and we do not enforce federal immigration law. Today, I joined a majority of City Council to pass a sensitive ordinance on immigration procedures. Staying focused on public safety not politics.”
The five council members who voted against the measure issued a joint statement warning that placing national attention on Houston’s immigration practices would create unsafe situations for both the community and law enforcement, and that the reporting requirements were designed to pressure officers to not make immigration-related inquiries they might otherwise conduct.
“In short, this ordinance will make officers afraid to do their jobs,” the dissenting members—Amy Peck, Willie Davis, Fred Flickinger, Twila Carter, and Mary Nan Huffman—wrote. They also raised concerns that eliminating a defined timeframe for ICE to respond creates confusion for officers and legal exposure for the city.
The Houston Police Officers’ Union came out sharply against the ordinance as well.
In a statement signed by union president Douglas Griffith, the organization said council members were overstepping into police matters the department had already addressed internally under Chief Diaz. The union noted that only around 75 traffic stops last year resulted in someone with an immigration warrant being turned over to ICE, framing council’s focus on that number as misplaced given the city’s $170 million budget deficit and deteriorating infrastructure.
Griffith also warned that without a defined window for ICE to respond, individual officers could face personal liability if someone they are required to release goes on to commit a crime. “The Houston Police Officers’ Union does not agree with any change in policy outside of what Chief Diaz has already done,” Griffith wrote, adding that the union would not support any council member who voted for the ordinance.
Scott Bowen, Republican candidate for Texas House District 129, told Texas Scorecard: “The ordinance passed by the Houston City Council is, in effect, a sanctuary city policy. It hamstrings our police officers’ ability to cooperate with the federal government and remove dangerous illegal aliens from our city. The Legislature must act to ensure compliance with the state’s existing ban on sanctuary cities and that all levels of law enforcement in Texas are required to cooperate with ICE.”
That existing ban is Senate Bill 4, signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott in 2017. SB 4 requires local government entities and law enforcement officials to comply with federal immigration laws and detainer requests and creates criminal penalties for entities that do not enforce the law.
The law also includes penalties for local governments, including removal from office for elected or appointed officials who do not comply, fines of up to $25,000 per day, and a Class A misdemeanor charge for a sheriff, chief of police, or constable who knowingly fails to comply with ICE detainer requests.
Whether the new Houston ordinance crosses the legal line under SB 4 is already under review. The initial version of the proposal included a provision giving HPD officers discretion on whether to contact ICE at all about administrative warrants, but it was removed by the city attorney’s office over concerns it could violate state law.
Jess Fields, a prominent community leader in the Houston area, called the council vote a “flagrant” violation of state law and invoked the names of two Houston-area girls killed by individuals in the country illegally. Twelve-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray was murdered in 2024 by two Venezuelan nationals who had entered the country illegally and were released by Border Patrol. Seven-year-old Ivory Smith was killed in a December 2024 car accident in northeast Harris County, allegedly struck by a drunk driver who was a Venezuelan national in the country illegally, had a prior criminal record, and had been released from a county jail that refuses to cooperate with ICE.
“Mayor John Whitmire beat Sheila Jackson Lee promising to be tough on crime and for him to now tie the hands of Houston Police and go against the wishes of officers themselves is nothing less than a complete betrayal,” Fields told Texas Scorecard.
Fields also argued the state needs to escalate its response. “The illusion of local control for many years prevented Texas from cracking down on these leftist city officials but they are political subdivisions of the state and must obey state law. Sanctuary cities are illegal in Texas.”
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