Houston Mayor John Whitmire has ordered city police to limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities following months of public anger over ICE enforcement operations, including the fatal shooting of a Mexican national, and amid a major political shift in Texas after this week’s midterm elections.
The decision breaks with policies backed by Republican Governor Greg Abbott and the Trump administration, which have sought to expand cooperation between local police departments and federal immigration authorities.
“I do this to begin a healing process,” Whitmire said on Friday, adding that the move was intended to “reduce fear and anxiety across our community”. He also acknowledged the political significance of the decision, saying: “I also do this knowing that elections matter.”
Under the new policy, Houston police will contact Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) only when someone arrested for a jailable offense also has an administrative ICE warrant issued by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Houston Police Chief Noe Diaz said officers would no longer notify ICE about individuals involved in minor traffic violations who receive citations.
“For example, if our police officers pull someone over for a minor traffic infraction and they write a citation, that person receives a citation and goes about their day,” Diaz said.
Previously, officers were required to notify ICE whenever searches of the National Crime Information Center database showed an administrative immigration warrant associated with someone they encountered.
Whitmire said he had ordered the changes through an executive order and called on Congress to address federal immigration enforcement practices.
“ICE needs better training. They need body cameras. They need to be trained in de-escalation,” he said, adding: “But this can only be done in Washington. I can only control what I can control.”
The announcement follows months of protests over the fatal shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a 52-year-old Mexican national who had lived in the United States for decades without legal immigration status.
Officials said Araujo was not the intended target when an ICE officer fatally shot him as he was driving to work in Houston.
Public anger over the incident intensified scrutiny of federal immigration enforcement, while another ICE officer was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon a week before Whitmire’s announcement after allegedly striking a man with a vehicle in Texas.
Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security criticized Houston’s decision, with a spokesperson telling local broadcaster KPRC 2 that the department was disappointed by efforts to restrict cooperation with ICE.
“Partnerships with law enforcement are critical to having the resources we need to arrest criminal illegal aliens across the country,” the spokesperson said.
The dispute also reflects growing resistance to the Trump administration’s immigration policies following Democratic victories in Texas and nationally. Democrats secured control of both chambers of Congress in Tuesday’s midterm elections, while Texas elected its first Democratic governor since 1995, Gina Hinojosa, and its first Democratic senator since 1988.
Austin has also begun implementing a similar policy change.
At the state level, Abbott has threatened to withdraw millions of dollars in funding from Houston, Dallas and Austin unless their police departments fully cooperate with federal immigration authorities.
Whitmire had previously resisted calls to restrict cooperation with ICE over concerns that the White House could respond by deploying additional federal immigration officers to the city.