Houston’s mayor announced that his city’s police department would limit cooperation with ICE just days after the Democratic Party historically flipped Texas.

Mayor John Whitmire, a Democrat, said Friday that the Houston Police Department would no longer contact ICE only because someone has an administrative immigration warrant during a routine encounter that does not end in an arrest.

Whitmire said at a press conference that his executive order sought to ‘begin a healing process’ while also noting that he made the move ‘knowing that elections matter.’

Democrats reclaimed power in Texas this week for the first time since the mid-90s as voters rejected the Republican Party and ushered in a blue wave across the red stronghold.

The Houston mayor added that he looked to ‘reduce fear and anxiety’ of workers and students,’ noting that he consulted with governor-elect Gina Hinojosa, lieutenant governor-elect Vikki Goodwin and comptroller-elect Sarah Eckhardt, all Democrats, before issuing the directive.

‘This is the right thing to do at the right time,’ Whitmire said.

Whitmire said the city would go after immigrants who ‘pose a danger’ and not ‘those that are going about their family business, work and education.’

Going forward, Houston police should only contact ICE when the person arrested is being booked into jail on new criminal charges and if the agency has issued an administrative warrant indicating that the individual is wanted by immigration officials.

Houston Mayor John Whitmire, a Democrat, announced Friday that the city’s police department would limit cooperation with ICE

Houston police will no longer contact ICE only because someone has an administrative immigration warrant during a routine encounter that does not end in an arrest 

If someone was involved in a traffic incident, Whitmire said law enforcement would ‘write a citation or you warn them and they go about their way.’

‘No contact with ICE over nonviolent, non–jailable offenses,’ Whitmire added.

Whitmire insisted that the executive order would improve Houston’s public safety, adding that he took ‘the responsibility of making this change.’

He said he believed the executive order limiting cooperation with ICE would be seen as a ‘model’ for cities across Texas.

There were 88 immigration-related contacts between Houston police and ICE from July to September, according to Click2Houston. Seventeen encounters resulted in people being transferred to ICE.

In July, undocumented migrant Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, 52, was killed by an ICE officer after he allegedly attempted to evade arrest during a traffic stop. 

ICE officer Mario Alberto Morales, 33, was recently charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after surveillance video showed him pursuing and striking migrant Miguel Parra Hernandez, 48, with an unmarked SUV in Houston on October 10. 

The Houston mayor noted that he issued the new directive roughly two months before Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott leaves office in January 2027.

Abbott threatened to cut about $114 million in public safety funding to Houston in April unless the city repealed a separate ordinance limiting police cooperation with ICE.

That ordinance, which Whitmire voted for but did not create, eliminated a requirement that officers wait up to 30 minutes for ICE to pick up someone with a nonjudicial administrative warrant.

If ICE agents did not appear within that time, officers would take the individual’s information and release them.

Abbott was upset by Hinojosa, who will become the state’s first Latina governor, in Tuesday’s election by 706,262 votes, or about seven percentage points.

Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa and Senator-elect James Talarico were part of the historic blue wave that swept Texas this week

Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott previously threatened to cut $114 million in public safety funding to Houston unless the city repealed a separate ordinance limiting cooperation with ICE

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton had sued Whitmire and members of the Houston city council over the earlier order.

Paxton accused Whitmire of violating a 2017 Texas state law that prevented cities from adopting policies limiting the enforcement of immigration laws.

‘I will not allow any local official to push sanctuary policies that make our communities less safe,’ Paxton said in April. ‘Under my watch, no Texas city will be a safe harbor for illegals.’

The Houston City Council eventually amended the directive by deleting text saying that an ICE administrative warrant alone did not justify a stop or arrest and that the person must be released if ‘reasonable suspicion’ of another crime did not exist, according to the Houston Chronicle.

Whitmire said the changes allowed the city to recover the ‘critical’ public safety funding. His staff negotiated the changes with Gov. Abbott’s office, per the outlet.

Paxton was defeated by Democrat James Talarico in the midterm election, while another Democrat, Nathan Johnson, also won the election to succeed him as Texas AG.

As part of that blue wave, the Houston mayor is unlikely to face pushback from the state’s incoming Democratic administration for the new executive order issued Friday.

ICE officer Mario Alberto Morales, 33, was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after video showed him hitting a migrant with an unmarked car October 10 in Houston

Surveillance footage captured Morales running over Parra Hernandez as the migrant ran away during a pursuit through a parking lot

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which is ICE’s parent agency, told the Daily Mail on Saturday morning: ‘We remain disappointed that sanctuary politicians seek to limit cooperation with ICE, as our law enforcement are simply fulfilling their sworn duties to serve and protect our communities.’

‘The Supremacy Clause makes it clear that sanctuary politicians do not control federal law enforcement,’ the spokesperson added, referring to how federal law is considered to be superior to state law in the Constitution.

‘Partnerships with law enforcement are critical to having the resources we need to arrest criminal illegal aliens across the country,’ the DHS spokesperson added.

The spokesperson also highlighted five of the illegal migrants arrested by ICE in Houston, including Alexander Sanchez Montano, of Cuba, convicted of burglary, homicide and burglary; Dinh Nguyen, of Vietnam, convicted of burglary and homicide; Javier Gallegos Rangel, of Mexico, convicted of burglary, illegal re-entry, resisting an officer, assault, burglary and obstructing police; Julio Camey, of Guatemala, convicted of a child fondling sex offense; and Noi Ly, of Cambodia, convicted of aggravated kidnapping and burglary.

Whitmire’s announcement came on the same day that Stephen Miller was named the new White House chief of staff by President Donald Trump, replacing Susie Wiles.

Miller, one of Trump’s most loyal and longest-serving advisers, is known for his hardline views on immigration.

Critics cite him as the architect of some of Trump’s most divisive policies, including separating migrant families during deportations in the President’s first term.

Miller was also a strong supporter of Trump’s executive order that restricted entry into the US from a number of Muslim-majority nations, which critics called the ‘Muslim ban.’

The Daily Mail has reached out to the Houston mayor’s office for further comment.