Houston ICE Cooperation: Whitmire Order Tests SB 4

Houston ICE cooperation now turns on whether police make an arrest. Mayor John Whitmire signed an executive order on Nov. 6 directing the Houston Police Department to stop contacting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement about people stopped for nonviolent, non-jailable offenses, even when a records check turns up an ICE administrative warrant. Issued three days after Democrats swept Texas statewide offices, it reverses a policy adopted in April under pressure from Gov. Greg Abbott and tests the state’s 2017 anti-sanctuary law before a new governor and attorney general take office.

The change lands at the roadside. “HPD will no longer contact ICE if they have an administrative warrant and they are not arrested,” Police Chief J. Noe Diaz said, according to the Texas Tribune. People stopped for minor violations will be cited or warned and released, while officers will still notify ICE when someone arrested for a jailable offense has an immigration warrant. Whitmire told the Associated Press the city would focus on immigrants “that pose a danger,” and added, according to the Tribune, “I also do this knowing that elections matter.”

How a name check became an immigration screen

An ICE administrative warrant is signed by an immigration officer, not a judge, and authorizes only a civil immigration arrest by federal officers. The Trump administration has added more than 700,000 of these warrants to a national criminal database, the Texas Tribune reported, so a routine name check at a traffic stop can flag someone never charged with a crime. In Houston, HPD contacted ICE at least 107 times in the first eight months of 2025, compared with nine times in all of 2024, according to Houston Chronicle findings cited by the Tribune.

The city tried to pull back once before. An April ordinance ended the practice of holding people while officers waited for ICE on administrative warrants. Abbott warned it put about $110 million in state public safety grants at risk, and Attorney General Ken Paxton sued Whitmire and council members under the 2017 law, the AP reported. On April 22 the council voted 13-4 to amend the ordinance, and HPD told officers to contact ICE on administrative warrants and wait a “reasonable” time for pickup.

The Senate Bill 4 problem has not gone away

Texas Senate Bill 4, now Chapter 752 of the Government Code, bars cities and counties from adopting policies that prohibit or materially limit the enforcement of immigration laws. That includes stopping officers from asking about the immigration status of a person under lawful detention or arrest, or from assisting federal immigration officers. The attorney general enforces it through civil penalties, and officials who violate it can be removed from office. The Fifth Circuit upheld most of the law in 2018 in City of El Cenizo v. Texas.

Whitmire’s order is narrower than the April ordinance. It does not bar officers from asking about status or change detainer handling at the Harris County jail, which the sheriff runs; it governs only when patrol officers initiate contact with ICE about people they are not arresting. The open legal question is whether declining to make that call “materially limits” enforcement. A driver pulled over for a traffic violation is under lawful detention, which is exactly the category the statute protects. A court could read the phrase to reach only refusals to help when ICE asks, or any decision not to initiate contact.

Abbott and Paxton hold their offices until January, and both have used SB 4 against Houston this year. The Department of Homeland Security said, “We remain disappointed that sanctuary politicians seek to limit cooperation with ICE,” according to Fox News. City Controller Chris Hollins called the order “a promising first step,” the Tribune reported.

The January handover matters, but only so far. Gov.-elect Gina Hinojosa and Attorney General-elect Nathan Johnson could decline to enforce SB 4 against Houston, but they cannot repeal it. That takes the Legislature, and Republicans kept control of the state Senate even as Democrats won the governor’s and attorney general’s offices and the Texas House. Nor does the order limit ICE’s own arrests in Houston, such as those in the Lone Star Mission operation that ICE says produced 4,170 arrests in Texas.

Other places are recalibrating too. Washington’s mayor-elect has targeted D.C. police cooperation with ICE, and New York’s ban on 287(g) agreements survived a sheriffs’ injunction bid. The difference is that New York’s law restricts local cooperation, while Texas law mandates it, which leaves Houston’s order more legally exposed.

What to watch

State response before January: whether Abbott freezes grants again or Paxton files a new SB 4 action while both are still in office.
The 2027 legislative session: any attempt to amend or repeal SB 4 will need the Republican-held state Senate.

This article is for general information and is not legal advice.

Sources

Vasanth Vaidyanathan, Esq.

Administrator

Vasanth Vaidyanathan is an immigration attorney with over 20 years of experience focused exclusively on U.S. immigration and nationality law. He holds an LL.M. from California Western School of Law, San Diego and advises individuals and businesses on employment and family-based immigration matters, including H-1B, PERM, EB categories, and adjustment of status. He has also been a featured speaker at immigration seminars across the U.S. To reach Vasanth visit: https://www.vnathan.com/

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