Houston Reverses Anti-ICE Stance After Texas Cuts Their Funding

Houston, Texas Mayor John Whitmire has folded and is repealing the city’s new ordinance that limited police cooperation with ICE.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s office froze more than $110 million in state funding after Houston passed their sanctuary-style rules. The mayor quickly reversed course to restore cooperation with federal immigration agents.

“Yesterday, about 3 o’clock they closed our account,” Whitmire admitted in front of news cameras. So we’ve got to address this serious matter.”

He referenced the prior policy “that was working well” and stated: “The law requires us to look for warrants.”

Whitmire acknowledged the funding hammer: “The funding, not only threat, but removal” and stressed public safety comes first, saying “There’s only one that matters, and one opinion that matters. He grants them. We agree to follow the law. Starting with public safety.”

In 1982, Whitmire was elected to the Texas State Senate as a Democrat. The left leaning The Texas Tribune portrayed Whitmire as “a lightweight in the 1970s and even the 1980s.”

In 1992, Whitmire and his family were robbed at gunpoint. Whitmire said that experience led him to focus his legislative efforts on public safety.

“I thought he was definitely going to kill me, my wife, and my 9-year-old daughter. It just changes your life forever.”

In 1993, Lieutenant Governor Bob Bullock (D) appointed Whitmire chair of the state Senate Criminal Justice Committee where he served as chair for the remainder of his legislative career.

On Whitmire’s career in the legislature, the liberal and woke Texas Monthly said, “Whitmire…whose only previous contribution to the Senate was a series of one-liners, was the class clown who made straight A’s when he finally decided to do his homework.”

In 2023, Whitmire ran for Mayor of Houston in a nonpartisan election. Whitmire and U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D) advanced from the November 7, 2023, general election, receiving 42.5% and 35.6% of the vote, respectively. Whitmire defeated Jackson Lee 64.4% to 35.6% in the December 9, 2023, runoff election. Whitmire said that, as mayor, he would focus on public safety and infrastructure.

In office, Whitmire agreed to a new contract with the city’s firefighter unions, finally ending an eight-year stalemate.

Houston’s liberal city council basically sought the stance about not supporting ICE, but when Texas held the line and the funding, the Democrats blinked. The anti-ICE experiment lasted until the checks stopped.