Houston limits police interactions with ICE
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Houston City Council Member Alejandra Salinas, right, with Council Member Abbie Kamin, speaks in support of the changes last month outside City Hall. Photo: Raquel Natalicchio/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images
New rules will dictate how Houston Police Department officers can interact with ICE agents after City Council passed a measure Wednesday that curbs cooperation with the federal agency.
Why it matters: The change limits how long Houston police officers can hold people for immigration reasons, but council members who proposed the new rules say the fight is far from over.
Catch up quick: An HPD policy enacted in February 2020 mandated police officers to contact ICE agents when they encounter someone with an administrative warrant for removal from the U.S.
- Initially, there was no limit to how long they could wait for agents to show up. Last month, HPD shifted its policy to limit the time officers wait for ICE to 30 minutes.
Driving the news: Under the rules approved Wednesday, HPD officers can detain someone only as long as necessary for the initial reason for the encounter, like a traffic stop.
- That means that while officers must still call ICE if the suspect has an administrative immigration warrant, they no longer have to wait for ICE agents if there's no other reason to further detain the person.
- The new ordinance also requires additional transparency from HPD on how often it contacts ICE.
- The ordinance passed 12-5, including support from Mayor John Whitmire.
Flashback: The initial proposal included a provision that gave HPD officers discretion on whether to contact ICE about administrative warrants, but it was removed from the proposal by the city attorney's office over concerns it could violate state law.
Friction point: Council Members Alejandra Salinas, Abbie Kamin and Edward Pollard — who are attorneys and worked together on the proposal — disagreed with those concerns.
- During Wednesday's meeting, Salinas asked Whitmire to call a public hearing where council members could discuss the merits of the assessment and vote on considering the provision.
- Whitmire said he'd "take it under advisement."
What they're saying: "This ordinance keeps officers focused on solving crime, not waiting on ICE to detain families," Salinas said in a statement after the vote. "It is not everything we fought for, but it is meaningful progress."
The other side: Council Members Twila Carter, Amy Peck, Willie Davis, Fred Flickinger and Mary Nan Huffman — who voted against the ordinance Wednesday — said in a joint statement the changes that were approved will "likely have unintended and harmful consequences."
- "We are particularly concerned that placing a national spotlight on our city will create unsafe situations for our community and exacerbate the pressure placed on law enforcement," they wrote.
- They also said the ordinance places "onerous" reporting burdens on police officers and that it will "make officers afraid to do their jobs."
By the numbers: Officers referred people to ICE agents 186 times from 2020 through December 2025, per HPD data obtained by Axios.
- Nearly 150 of those referrals happened last year after the Trump administration ramped up immigration enforcement.