A trio of Houston City Council members — all of whom are attorneys — say police don’t have to call ICE every time they encounter an undocumented immigrant, and they want an ordinance on the books to prove it.
At-Large Council Member Alejandra Salinas and District C Council Member Abbie Kamin announced their proposal, deemed Proposition A, at City Hall on Thursday. District J Councilman Edward Pollard also signed on to the ordinance but did not attend Thursday’s press conference.
The four-page ordinance is under legal review and will go before the council for a vote in the next couple of weeks, Salinas said. It essentially states that:
- HPD is not required to call ICE for administrative immigration warrants, which are civil in nature, not issued by a judge, and do not provide legal authority to local police for arrest or detention.
- Routine traffic stops must end when their lawful purpose ends, not when ICE arrives, reinforcing Fourth Amendment constitutional protections.
- HPD must provide regular reports to the city council and the public on how often HPD asks about immigration status or contacts federal immigration authorities.
Salinas said similar ordinances exist in Austin, Dallas and Bexar County. Proposition A is backed by the ACLU of Texas and a coalition of community organizations and faith leaders, several of whom attended Thursday’s press conference.
“This ordinance does not prevent cooperation with federal immigration enforcement,” Salinas said. “This ordinance does not violate state law. It does not prevent officers from doing their jobs. Rather, it does the opposite. It empowers them to focus on keeping our communities safe.”
The proposal comes about a week after Mayor John Whitmire and Police Chief Noe Diaz issued a directive to HPD officers that when they become aware of an administrative, or non-criminal immigration warrant, they must call a sergeant to the scene. If the sergeant determines that ICE should be involved, the federal agents have 30 minutes to respond. Additionally, HPD officers can’t transport someone to ICE based solely on the administrative warrant.
The updated policy was a response to reports that at least two officers “delivered” people to ICE because non-criminal warrants showed up in a national database. Diaz acknowledged those actions were policy violations and said the new directive is an effort to clarify and tighten up the protocols.
It’s not good enough, Salinas said, acknowledging that she believes the chief’s changes were made in good faith. Many undocumented immigrants who have lived in Houston for decades are afraid to leave their homes, she said, and police should remain focused on preventing crime and protecting families, not wasting time waiting to see if federal agents will show up on a non-criminal warrant.
At its core, the American dream is about something “deeply human,” that people should be safe and have the chance to build better futures for their families, Salinas said. “All of us are safest when there is trust between the community and the government. That trust is being tested.”
Kamin thanked HPD and said that local law enforcement is not the enemy.
“They’re here to keep us safe and they do so with extremely limited resources, resources that are stretched too thin because of what ICE has done in abusing the systems that local law enforcement rely on,” she said. “Children are being detained in ICE facilities here in our state beyond the legal limits that are laid out under long-standing agreements. Children are not criminals. Afghan war veterans who support U.S. Special Forces and were evacuated to this country under the promise of protection are not criminals.”
Houston Federation of Teachers president Jackie Anderson pointed to a statistic that’s been repeated frequently: Houston ISD enrollment has dropped by 4,000 students because kids are afraid to go to school.
“Right now, fear is walking into our classrooms with our students,” Anderson said. “When a child is afraid, they cannot learn. We cannot teach children who are worried about whether their family will be there when they return home. You can’t ask students to focus on reading, math and science when they are carrying fear instead of backpacks full of confidence.”
Another speaker, representing the Workers Defense Action Fund, said members of her organization no longer want to go to the grocery store for fear they could be nabbed by immigration authorities.
“The Houston metro area leads the country in immigration arrests and detention,” she said. “HPD calls to ICE increased by over 1,000 percent in 2025. What will those numbers look like in 2026? We are seeing family members withdraw from their communities. Families are afraid of reporting crime. Instead of helping our communities and keeping our families safe, HPD is playing ICE agents, tearing our families apart. Let’s not do their jobs for them.”
Salinas was elected in December to replace Letitia Plummer, who resigned to run for county judge. Kamin won the Democratic primary for Harris County attorney earlier this month and will face Republican Jacqueline Lucci Smith in November. Pollard is rumored to be eyeing the mayor’s seat in 2027.