Houston Police Will Stop Contacting ICE for Minor Traffic Stops
Mayor John Whitmire issued an executive order limiting cooperation with federal immigration agents, citing a need to reduce community fear following recent high-profile incidents.
By Matthew Collins ·
Houston residents facing routine traffic stops will no longer have local police automatically contact federal immigration agents. Mayor John Whitmire issued an executive order on Friday directing the Houston Police Department to limit cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The new rules apply specifically to nonviolent cases and minor infractions where suspects do not hold active criminal warrants.
Under the new directive, officers will only notify ICE if a suspect has committed a jailable offense and holds an ICE warrant. For nonviolent situations, such as minor traffic violations, police will issue citations and release the individuals. Police Chief J. Noe Diaz confirmed that officers will not contact ICE for administrative warrants if the person is not arrested. This administrative process previously led to confusion and delays during traffic stops.
The policy shift follows a period of intense scrutiny regarding federal enforcement tactics in the city. Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare announced that a grand jury indicted ICE agent Mario Alberto Morales on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. The prosecutor stated that Morales intentionally struck an undocumented Mexican man with his vehicle. Teare is also investigating the July 7 fatal shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo by an immigration agent.
National policy changes have influenced local procedures since President Donald Trump returned to the White House. The administration added more than 700,000 administrative immigration warrants to a national criminal database used by police departments. Unlike criminal warrants signed by judges, these administrative warrants are issued by immigration officials and often identify people with civil violations. Local police previously contacted ICE when they encountered individuals with these warrants, a practice that became controversial after the Houston Chronicle reported that local police contacted ICE at least 107 times in the first eight months of 2025. That figure was up from nine times in all of 2024.
The decision arrives after months of tension between city and state leadership. Governor Greg Abbott threatened to withhold roughly $110 million in state public safety grants, arguing that Houston's past restrictions violated the state’s 2017 Senate Bill 4. Whitmire, who voted against SB 4 as a state lawmaker, stated the new order aims to reduce fear and anxiety across the community. He also noted that elections matter, coming just weeks after Democrats won statewide elections for top offices.
Houston Controller Chris Hollins described the move as a promising first step but argued the mayor should have acted sooner. In a statement, Hollins said, “ICE killing a man in our city and running over another wasn’t enough to move the mayor. I’m glad an election was.” Meanwhile, Austin Mayor Kirk Watson asked city officials to revise their own policy governing ICE warrants after facing similar pressure from the state.
