Texas Scorecard By Michael Wilson April 8, 2026
Critics argue the measure effectively turns Houston into a sanctuary city in defiance of state law.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.”
More:
https://texasscorecard.com/local/houston-city-council-revives-sanctuary-policies-for-illegal-aliens/
