Houston police stop alerting ICE
The gist
Houston Mayor John Whitmire directed police to contact ICE only when a person is already jailed on new charges with an NCIC hit.
The order reverses an April policy the city adopted after Texas threatened $110 million in funding.
How it unfolded
- Apr 2026Whitmire and Houston City Council members moved to give officers discretion over contacting ICE and barred detaining people on civil immigration warrants.
- Apr 2026Gov. Greg Abbott threatened to revoke more than $110 million in public safety funding; the city reversed the measure and required officers to hold immigrants a 'reasonable' time for ICE to respond.
- Apr 2026 – Sep 2026In the department's first two reports, officers contacted ICE nearly 200 times, including at least 36 instances of handing people directly to ICE.
Key terms
- ICE
- Federal law enforcement agency under the Department of Homeland Security that enforces immigration and customs laws.
- NCIC hit
- A record in the FBI's national crime database indicating a person has a criminal history or outstanding warrant.
Source: Wikipedia