Okay.
Mayor John Whitmire
Mayor John Whitmire has delayed Houston City Council’s vote on whether to revoke its new policy limiting the police department’s interactions with immigration agents after Gov. Greg Abbott’s office extended the city’s deadline to make a decision as he threatens to pull $114 million in grant funds.
The policy, which the council passed last week by a 12-5 vote, eliminated Houston’s prior requirement that officers wait 30 minutes for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to pick up someone with a civil immigration warrant.
Abbott’s office originally gave the council until Monday to make a decision on whether to repeal the ordinance or repay the public safety grant funds. In response, Whitmire called a special council meeting Friday.
The mayor then scrapped that plan Thursday afternoon, saying Abbott has extended the city’s deadline to Wednesday, when the council is scheduled to discuss the issue during in its regularly weekly meeting.
“This strikes a balance to protect our people, essential services, and our finances,” Whitmire said in a Thursday statement. “As I said earlier, this is a crisis… We are making significant progress through constructive conversations.”
To revoke the new policy, the council would need to suspend its rules, as ordinance dictates the council can only reconsider a policy change 90 days after it is passed. To do so would require a two-thirds vote, or 12 council members, according to an email from the city’s agenda director to Council Member Alejandra Salinas’ office.
If that vote passed, council would then vote on whether to revoke the policy. That would require a majority, or 9 council members.
See here and here for the background. Reporter Abby Church also explained the process in this Twitter thread. If you assume that CMs Salinas, Pollard, and Kamin are not going to change their votes, and the five who voted against the ordinance originally will support plus the Mayor will vote for the reconsideration now, then the Mayor needs to sway at least six of the remaining eight: CMs Jackson, Evans-Shabazz, Thomas, Castillo, Martinez, Castex-Tatum, Ramirez, and Alcorn. I’m sure they didn’t have the votes today. Whether they can get them by Wednesday, I have my doubts.
On a side note:
This broke my brain.
So the state just didnt notice the City of Austin was doing this until Houston adopted a similar policy?
— Jordan Thomas (@JRDNLTHMS) 3:07 PM – 16 April 2026
I’m old enough to remember when it was things that Austin did that prompted unhinged rage from state Republicans. Now it’s Houston. When did we become their pet project?
One more thing:
Whitmire has also dismissed the idea of suing the state to block Abbott’s action, despite the urging of advocates and council members.
“We’ve got to correct that policy,” Whitmire said. “And it does not matter what a council member’s legal opinion is. There’s only one opinion that matters, and that’s the governor’s.”
First, that’s not how this works. And second, if this is true then why hasn’t he fired City Attorney Arturo Michel for gross incompetence yet? He approved the ordinance that passed, saying it was in compliance with state law. That means either he was wrong or Abbott is full of shit. Either one calls for action. And yet here we are.
UPDATE: Like it or not, we’re going to court.
The delay comes as Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued the city, saying its new policy “blatantly violated the law,” and as Abbott’s grant funding threats extended to the cities of Austin and Dallas, broadening a fight that has roiled Houston politics for weeks.
“I will not allow any local official to push sanctuary policies that make our communities less safe,” Paxton said in a late Thursday statement. “Houston has no authority to ignore the Constitution and the laws duly enacted by the Legislature. I’m calling on Houston to immediately repeal this ordinance.”
[…]
Council Member Alejandra Salinas, one of the authors of the proposal, had earlier this week joined efforts to ask the city to file suit against the state to stop officials from taking the grant money. Now, Salinas says it is no longer a question about whether the city should go to court.
“We’re already there,” Salinas said in a statement. “The mayor and city council must vigorously defend the law we voted for and that the city attorney deemed legal. I stand ready to work with my colleagues to defend our laws and protect Houstonians’ constitutional rights.”
We should have sued first, that’s what I think. Good thing Paxton has a recent track record of filing press releases as complaints and briefs, so a good defense may be all that’s needed.
UPDATE: KUHF adds a new detail.
If a special meeting had remained scheduled for Friday, Whitmire would have needed a two-thirds majority vote on the city council in order to advance a repeal item. During the regular council meeting on Wednesday, the item will need only a simple majority in order to pass.
Before canceling Friday’s meeting, Whitmire’s administration placed an item on the agenda for Wednesday’s meeting “relating to Law Enforcement Field Encounters and Interactions with Federal Immigration Authorities.”
Nancy Sims, a political analyst at the University of Houston, said Whitmire likely would not have had enough votes to repeal the ordinance by Friday.
“So, by extending the deadline, it gives the mayor more time to work with city council members to find a viable solution,” she said. “And so, it makes sense that he’d postpone it to give himself and council members more time.”
That’s still three votes other than his own that the Mayor needs to find. We’ll see what happens.