3 San Antonio council members request special meeting to consider limiting city cooperation with ICE

Three San Antonio City Council members are calling for a special meeting to limit the city’s cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

KSAT obtained a copy of the Nov. 6 memo, which was signed by Teri Castillo (D5), Jalen McKee-Rodriguez (D2) and Ric Galvan (D6).

“Existing mandates and practices by State leadership, including Governor Greg Abbott, requiring Texas municipalities and their police departments to cooperate with Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) under threats to withhold funding will presumably be impacted by the results of the November 3, 2026 elections,” the memo says.

In April, Gov. Greg Abbott threatened to cut around $200 million in public safety funding to Houston, Dallas and Austin unless the cities changed policies he said limited police cooperation with federal immigration authorities.

The council members request a special meeting no later than 2 p.m. Nov. 17 to discuss an ordinance that would update the San Antonio Police Department’s cooperation procedures with ICE.

Read the full proposed ordinance below:

“The San Antonio Police Department personnel shall contact ICE regarding a person only if that person is already going to jail on new charges or other warrants and has a positive National Crime Information Center (NCIC) hit for an ICE administrative warrant. The fact that a person is, or is suspected to be, subject to immigration enforcement shall not, by itself, be a basis to contact ICE, to prolong any detention, or to take any person into or hold any person in custody. If a person is not otherwise going to jail on new charges or other warrants, Department personnel shall not contact ICE regarding that person.”

Houston Mayor John Whitmire similarly directed police on Friday to contact ICE only when someone is arrested for a jailable offense and has an administrative ICE warrant.

While Whitmire’s order was announced as effective immediately, the San Antonio City Council would need to vote to implement the proposed ordinance.

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