The mayor of Houston, Texas, has signed an executive order directing the city's police force to significantly restrict its cooperation with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Under the new policy, Houston police will contact ICE only when a person is being arrested for a jailable offence. People stopped for minor traffic violations will no longer be referred to ICE solely because they have an administrative immigration warrant.
Mayor John Whitmire signed the order on Friday, days after Democrats swept statewide offices in Texas, a traditionally Republican state.
Whitmire said he had consulted Texas's newly elected governor, lieutenant governor and comptroller before acting. He described the move as an effort to reduce fear and anxiety across the city.
"Elections matter," Whitmire told reporters. "I do this to begin a healing process," he said, adding that he hoped the executive order would become a model for other Texas cities.
Houston Police Chief J. Noe Diaz appeared alongside Whitmire at the news conference and said he supported the change. He added that his department had already begun implementing the new policy.
The decision reverses a policy Whitmire himself put in place in April, under pressure from outgoing Republican Governor Greg Abbott. Abbott had threatened to withdraw approximately $110 million 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 authorities from restricting cooperation with federal immigration agencies. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton also sued the mayor, the city council and the police chief over the ordinance.
"We're taking an interpretation of the law today, working with the newly elected members of the state leadership, in implementing this policy," Whitmire said. "We don't want people to worry about their workers, their family members, their students."
The issue has drawn intense scrutiny in Houston. According to reports, city police contacted ICE at least 107 times in the first eight months of 2025, compared with nine times throughout the whole of 2024.
In July, an ICE agent fatally shot Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a longtime Houston resident.
FIEL Houston, an immigrant rights group, welcomed the order but said it was long overdue. "Today Houston won. Today our community can breathe easier," said Cesar Espinosa, executive director of FIEL Houston.
The announcement appeared to have an immediate effect beyond Houston. In Austin, Mayor Kirk Watson asked city officials on Friday to revise their own policy on ICE warrants.
