HOUSTON, Texas — Houston could lose critical police, fire, and homeland security funding after state officials ruled that the city’s newly adopted immigration ordinance violates its public safety grant requirements, Mayor John Whitmire said Monday. The city stands to lose approximately $110 million in state grant funding if it does not reverse the newly enacted policy.
Mayor Whitmire said in a written statement that his office was notified by Governor Greg Abbott’s Public Safety Office that Texas will withdraw recently approved grant funding because the recent vote by the city council changing support for immigration enforcement violated the agreement between the city and the state, according to a report by KHOU, CBS11 in Houston.
“This is a crisis situation,” Whitmire 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.”
Fox 26 Houston reported directly from the governor’s letter to Mayor Whitmire, writing:
This letter serves to notify you that this new ordinance, Section 34-41 of the Houston Code of Ordinances, is in breach of your April 15, 2025, certification and imperils all grant agreements between the City and PSO (Public Safety Office) for Fiscal Year 2026. Please respond by April 20, 2026, to confirm that the City will not enforce, and will to repeal, the ordinance. Failure to do so may result in PSO exercising its sole discretion to terminate all such grants. Our records indicate that the City has received roughly $110 million in PSO grants in Fiscal Year 2026. If PSO elects to terminate those grants, the City would be required to repay to PSO the entire amount on or before the 30th day after PSO terminates.
City Council members recently approved a policy that restricts the Houston Police Department from honoring U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) immigration detainers during traffic stops. Council Member Alejandra Salinas claims that honoring immigration detainers in during traffic stops violates the 4th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, a claim frequently made by sanctuary jurisdictions.
Fox 26 quoted Salinas as saying:
Governor Abbott’s threat to strip critical public safety funding from Houston is an attempt to bully our city for doing what is right. This is not a surprise. It’s straight out of the schoolyard bully playbook. Governor Abbott is wrong on the law, and this ordinance is legal. Senate Bill 4 and the Governor cannot trump the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution.
We should not give into this unlawful intimidation.
Threatening to pull resources from police, firefighters, and emergency responders puts politics over public safety and does nothing to make Houston safer. I stand ready to work with Mayor Whitmire and City Council to defend the city’s laws and protect Houston residents.
The State of Texas claims that the ordinance approved last week prohibits the Houston Police Department from cooperating with ICE, KHOU reported. The ordinance prohibits HPD officers from detaining illegal aliens based on ICE administrative warrants. In the grant application, Mayor Whitmire signed an agreement pledging to fully cooperate with DHS and to notify federal authorities about individuals in custody. The agreement also pledges to honor detention requests.
Council Member Edward Pollard said that Mayor Whitmire reversed his position after being pressured by Austin. KHOU reported his statement, saying:
“The mayor promised Houston wouldn’t be pushed around. He staked his credibility on relationships in Austin and being the leader who could hold the line when pressure came. The first real test arrived, and he caved,” Pollard said in a statement.
Houston Police Officers Union Executive Director Ray Hunt told Breitbart Texas, “HPD created an acceptable policy on March 11th. Due to this ridiculous ordinance, a new policy is expected to be issued by April 14th.”
“If it’s legal, no problem. If we believe it is illegal, we will ask for an Attorney General’s opinion,” Hunt continued. “Our officers do not have to follow an illegal order.”
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton also launched an SB-4 investigation after receiving numerous complaints from people claiming the new ordinance violates the state’s tough anti-sanctuary city law.
In an interview on KSEV AM700’s Three Amigos Show, Paxton said he will not allow the City of Houston to override the Texas Legislature. “They cannot prohibit or materially limit cooperation with ICE, and…in my mind, they are absolutely doing that.”
“It creates liability for them, but it also creates tremendous risk, and there will be consequences, negative consequences, to what the city is doing if this is allowed to happen because people are going to get hurt and some are going to die,” the Texas AG concluded.
The standoff now places Houston in a race against the April 20 deadline as state officials weigh whether to revoke more than $110 million in public safety grants. City leaders must decide whether to amend or repeal the ordinance or risk triggering a full termination of state funding and a repayment demand. With legal challenges, political pressure, and public safety concerns converging, Houston faces a high‑stakes test of how far it is willing to go in defending the new “sanctuary city” policy.
Bob Price is the Breitbart Texas-Border team’s associate editor and senior news contributor. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s What’s Your Point? Sunday morning talk show. He also serves as president of Blue Wonder Gun Care Products.
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