(Houston, Texas)—After seeing Texans vote Governor Greg Abbott and Ken Paxton out of their offices, Houston Mayor John Whitmire finally ordered police officers not to collude with ICE, despite being strongly urged to do so by the Houston Leads coalition and other immigration advocates for over a year.
Whitmire’s flip-flopping on police/ICE collusion has gone full circle. Earlier this year he voted to approve an ordinance that set clear parameters on how police would work with ICE on routine traffic stops. But after Abbott threatened to withhold millions in funds due to the ordinance, Whitmire and the majority of the CIty Council voted to amend and weaken the ordinance. This ordinance remains in place.
The amended ordinance showed that the majority of the City Council and Whitmire were willing to bow to political pressure and sacrifice the rights of Houston’s community members. Houstonians deserve leaders who put their constituents first even if it riles up state leaders. Houstonians deserve leaders who are willing to be bold and not ones who are willing to serve up vulnerable communities on a platter in exchange for money. Let us not forget that Whitmire’s Administration submitted the Model Cities Initiative application which would require Houston to comply with the Department of Justice’s mass deportation agenda in exchange for the possibility of receiving almost $150 million in return. It has and will continue to be about money.
Data shows that from 2020 through 2024, HPD called ICE approximately nine times during routine encounters with the community. In 2025, the Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC) found that Latinx drivers were disproportionately targeted for immigration enforcement by the Houston Police Department with HPD calls to ICE dramatically increasing. On 17 occasions, HPD physically transported Houston drivers from the scene of the traffic stop to ICE custody, in violation of their Constitutional rights. We issued a report Danger on the Road that takes a look at continuing trends in 2026.
The ILRC will continue to monitor HPD’s and Houston Mayor John Whitmire behavior and continue to call for accountability for the waste of our local resources to do the federal government’s bidding through pressure from the state.