Houston Mayor John Whitmire, a Democrat, said the city was in a “crisis situation” after Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) threatened to withdraw $110 million in state funds over changes to the city’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement laws.
In a Monday letter to Whitmire, Abbott’s office demanded that Whitmire confirm by April 20 that he would neither enforce nor work to repeal a Houston ordinance limiting when the Houston Police Department can call ICE.
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In a statement, Whitmire said he was “considering all options” in response to the threat.
“Houston enforces state and local law-not federal law, and we are not ICE. However, Governor Abbott disagrees,” he said in a statement.
The governor argued that the new ordinance violates an April 15, 2025, agreement between Houston and the Public Safety Office of the Governor, which confirmed the city would “participate fully … in all aspects of the programs and procedures utilized by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.”
Though Whitmire signed the new ordinance into law, he criticized its Democratic sponsors, saying he “repeatedly warned them” about the “legal and financial risks associated with this approach.”
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“This is a crisis situation,” the Houston mayor said. “The potential loss of state funding poses real challenges for the Houston Police and Fire Departments and will impact public safety services across our city, the 2026 FIFA World Cup preparations, and the Homeland Security Department. Our public safety departments rely on a combination of local, state, and federal resources to operate effectively.”
Though Houston is a Democrat-controlled city in Texas, the deep-red state is controlled by a thoroughly Republican legislature, giving the city limited options.
