HOUSTON \u2014 Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton issued a news release, saying he\u2019s filed a lawsuit against the City of Houston, targeting Mayor John Whitmire, city councilmembers and the city\u2019s police chief over what he calls an unlawful immigration ordinance the city passed last week.<\/p>\n
The ordinance, which passed with a 12-5 vote, ended a Houston police policy that told officers to wait at least 30 minutes for ICE<\/a> to pick someone up if they had an immigration warrant. The ordnance was instituted April 8, 2026.<\/p>\n According to a news release sent out Thursday afternoon, Paxton argues the ordinance violates Senate Bill 4<\/a>, a law passed to prohibit \u201csanctuary cities\u201d during the 2017 legislative session. Under SB 4, local entities like Houston are prohibited from adopting, enforcing or endorsing policies that limit the enforcement of federal immigration laws.<\/p>\n The attorney general\u2019s office claims Houston\u2019s recently passed ordinance \u201cblatantly violates\u201d that law. Specifically, the measure prevents Houston police officers from stopping, arresting or continuing to detain someone based solely on an ICE administrative warrant while working in the field. Paxton contends that restriction would materially limit the enforcement of federal immigration laws.<\/p>\n The lawsuit seeks to permanently repeal the ordinance and provide legal protection for law enforcement officers who cooperate with federal officials on immigration enforcement.<\/p>\n \u201cI will not allow any local official to push sanctuary policies that make our communities less safe,\u201d Paxton said in a statement. \u00a0<\/p>\n You can read the full lawsuit here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Whitmire responded to Paxton’s lawsuit by issuing a statement that reads, “\u201dI think it\u2019s unfortunate that so much time and resources are being spent on an issue that should not be partisan. It interferes with our responsibility to keep Houston safe and protect all residents.\u201d<\/p>\n Texas Governor Greg Abbott threatened to freeze public safety funding to Houston if it moved forward with the ordinance. Houston Mayor John Whitmire, who voted for the new ordinance, reversed course after the state threatened to freeze funding and is now in support of a repeal.<\/p>\n Earlier on Thursday, Gov. Greg Abbott told KHOU 11\u2019s Orko Manna that the city\u2019s immigration ordinance violated an agreement the city made to work with federal immigration authorities.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n A special Houston City Council meeting that was scheduled for Friday has been pushed back to Wednesday<\/a> after the governor pushed the deadline to respond to the funding freeze to the same day.<\/p>\n