Dominic Anthony Walsh / Houston Public Media
Mayor John Whitmire listens to a public speaker on March 31, 2026.
Civil rights organizers, activists and immigrant advocates turned out in force at the Houston City Hall on Tuesday to speak in favor of a city council proposal intended to curtail coordination between the Houston Police Department (HPD) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
After community members weighed in, the police union and city attorney made conflicting claims about whether or not the proposal would actually change HPD policy.
The array of perspectives came one week before the city council was slated to consider the matter.
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Members of the public speak out
On March 19, council members Alejandra Salinas, Edward Pollard and Abbie Kamin announced their push for an ordinance with three components — removing a requirement that HPD officers contact ICE about civil immigration warrants, prohibiting officers from detaining people solely due to those warrants, and requiring Mayor John Whitmire’s administration to regularly update the public about local immigration enforcement.
Last week, the city’s legal department determined officers must contact ICE about all warrants. Salinas, Pollard and Kamin criticized the finding but revised the proposed ordinance to remove officer discretion.
“Please know our focus is to try to pass these two items first, and then we will work together with community to address the additional provision that is deemed unlawful,” Salinas told members of the public on Tuesday, adding, “We’ll have the fight on the (civil) warrants piece.”
More than 100 people signed up to speak about the proposal during the public comment session Tuesday evening. The vast majority were in favor, with a small handful opposing the measure.
Dominic Anthony Walsh / Houston Public Media
Council Member Alejandra Salinas listens to a public speaker on April 1, 2026.
Hany Khalil, executive director of the Texas Gulf Coast Area chapter of the AFL-CIO, said union officials “believe the deleted officer discretion provision is lawful, and we’ll continue advocating for that.” But, he added, “The labor movement is very practical. We would like to see progress made when progress is on the table.”
“Houston is built by working people from all backgrounds, including immigrant workers who are vital to our economy, our unions, our families,” Khalil said. “But when workers fear that interacting with police could lead to deportation and a harm to their families, they’re less likely to report crimes, take their kids to school, speak up about unsafe conditions on the job or even report to work, making all of us less safe and the economy more vulnerable.”
While the majority of speakers said they wanted to see the proposed measure passed, many criticized the city legal department’s determination that officers must contact ICE.
In Dallas, officers have discretion about whether or not to contact ICE about civil immigration warrants. Officers in Austin must contact their supervisors, who have authority to make a decision. Like HPD, the police department in San Antonio requires officers to contact ICE.
“The two remaining provisions of the Salinas ordinance are good … but the removal of the discretion provision was asinine and ridiculous,” said Steven Wu, executive director of immigrant advocacy group Woori Juntos. “How are we allowing an appointed official to dictate the will of the people? I need the city council members, especially those who are attorneys, to talk with him and convince him and tell them that he is wrong.”
Police union and city attorney disagree about department policy
In an interview with Houston Public Media on Wednesday, City Attorney Arturo Michel pointed to a state law throttling cities’ ability to curtail collaboration with ICE.
“To provide officers discretion would put them in violation of the law,” Michel said. “The remedies here are pretty draconian. Elected and appointed officials can lose their job. They can be removed by the attorney general. You can face fines up to $25,000 daily.”
He referenced an investigation of the Dallas Police Department by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who in March said the department’s stated policy “raises serious concerns that the City of Dallas and its police department may be violating Texas law, which prohibits local entities from adopting sanctuary city policies that limit immigration enforcement.”
Dominic Anthony Walsh / Houston Public Media
Council member Alejandra Salinas listens to City Attorney Arturo Michel on April 1, 2026.
Michel said HPD already prohibits officers from detaining people solely due to civil immigration warrants. The assertion appeared to conflict with the police department’s public statements.
HPD publicly said in March that officers would wait 30 minutes for ICE to respond to notification about warrants during traffic stops. The department circulated a directive to officers stating HPD supervisors would “ensure that the (ICE) agent arrives to take custody within 30 minutes of the warrant verification.”
But Michel said officers — according to their training and current guidance — must release individuals once the reason for the traffic stop has been addressed, even if the stop concludes before the 30-minute mark. He said the Fourth Amendment prohibition on unreasonable searches and seizures required that approach.
“The behavior that the Prop A is seeking already exists and will continue to exist,” Michel said, adding, “I’ve been working with HPD legal, and I think the revised Prop A is going to get support.”
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Responding to Michel’s statement, Houston Police Officers’ Union president Douglas Griffith told Houston Public Media, “He’s wrong.”
“He needs to do a little more research on how long you can hold a traffic stop,” Griffith said.
About the city council members’ proposal, Griffith said, “They need to let us do our job and continue to do their job at this horseshoe — which is not to make law. Their job is to run the city. So why don’t they shut up and run the city.”
Dominic Anthony Walsh/Houston Public Media
Houston Police Chief Noe Diaz, right, and Houston Police Officers’ Union president Douglas Griffith speak at a Houston City Council meeting on Wednesday, May 21, 2025.
A spokesperson for HPD referred back to Chief Noe Diaz’s comments at a news conference in March.
After the department notifies ICE about a warrant, Diaz said at the time, “There will be a 30-minute window for federal law enforcement to respond to the scene if they choose to.”
Pollard, one of the three council members pushing for the change, argued the conflicting perspectives underscored the need to enshrine the prohibition on prolonging traffic stops.
“Police officers are to follow the law,” Pollard said. “People in my position are who make the law, and we want to ensure they have clear guidance on what they can and can’t do because we want them to feel protected and for them to feel as if they’re doing the right thing by the public.”
The revised measure is slated to appear on the city council’s agenda on Apr. 8.