The Office of Governor Greg Abbott delivered a letter to Mayor John Whitmire on Monday saying Houston’s new immigration ordinance violates a certification the city signed with the state and could cost it all public safety grants for fiscal 2026. Abbott asked Whitmire to confirm by April 20 that Houston will not enforce the ordinance and will move to repeal it.
The state said the ordinance breaches an April 15, 2025 certification between the City of Houston and the Public Safety Office of the Governor, and it warned that failure to comply may lead the office to exercise its sole discretion to terminate all such grants. The letter said the city’s move imperils grant agreements for Fiscal Year 2026, while Whitmire said Monday that Texas is withdrawing $110 million in public safety grants because the ordinance violates those agreements.
At the center of the dispute is Houston’s revised policy on how the Houston Police Department handles immigration warrants and contacts U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Under the ordinance, officers may detain someone only as long as reasonably necessary to complete the original purpose of a stop or investigation, and an ICE administrative warrant alone would not justify a stop, arrest or continued detention. If no crime is suspected, the person must be released. The updated ordinance also requires HPD to provide quarterly reports to city council members on its interactions with ICE.
The April 15 certification says the city would participate fully in programs and procedures used by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to notify DHS of information requested about undocumented immigrants in HPD custody and detain such immigrants in accordance with DHS requests. It also says the city and HPD do not have and will continue not to have any policy, procedure or agreement that limits or impedes HPD’s receipt of or DHS’s issuance of detainer requests. Abbott’s letter argued the new ordinance breaks that promise.
Whitmire said he voted for the revised “Prop A” ordinance on immigration last week, saying it affirmed Houston’s original policy that the city enforces state and local law, not federal law, and is not ICE. He added that Abbott disagrees. The friction now has two tracks: the grant threat from the governor’s office and an open investigation by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton into whether the ordinance violates Senate Bill 4. Abbott’s deadline gives Houston only days to choose between enforcing the ordinance or trying to keep the money attached to it.
