Overview
- Mayor John Whitmire unveiled proposed amendments Tuesday, with a Wednesday vote set as Houston seeks to unfreeze more than $110 million in public-safety grants and faces an active state lawsuit.
- The draft broadens when officers can extend a stop by removing the word “only” and adding that detention may continue for “other legitimate purposes discovered during the detention.”
- The proposal redefines ICE administrative warrants as orders “commanding the arrest” for removal cases and adds language that the policy will not prohibit or materially limit cooperation required by state law or agreement.
- Gov. Greg Abbott has threatened to claw back the grants and said the comptroller could withhold about $40 million a month in the city’s sales-tax rebate until any repayment is made, which city leaders warn could hit HPD operations and World Cup 2026 security planning.
- Civil rights groups argue the rewrite would gut the protections council passed April 8, the police union backs the mayor’s changes as aligning with state law, and several council members criticized receiving the new language hours before the vote.