Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis addresses community concerns about Austin police officers cooperating with federal immigration agents during a town hall at Govalle Elementary School in Austin Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026.
Mikala Compton/Austin American-Statesman
As Austin police finalize their policy on federal immigration administrative warrants, the department is navigating a legal and political minefield — balancing Texas law, which limits how far cities can go in restricting immigration enforcement, with calls from residents to scale back cooperation with federal agents.
That tension was apparent during a town hall earlier this month, when some residents urged Police Chief Lisa Davis to disobey state law and prohibit city police from communicating with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in all circumstances. City leaders have dismissed this idea, though they said they are examining what guardrails they could implement to limit when Austin police call ICE. The debate comes after the American-Statesman reported that Austin police had contacted federal immigration agents over administrative warrants — those issued by ICE for alleged immigration violations.
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But a Statesman analysis found Austin is far from alone. Across Central Texas — and in major cities statewide — law enforcement agencies largely rely on officer discretion when confronted with ICE administrative warrants, citing legal uncertainty and concern that stricter limits could conflict with state law. With few explicit policies and limited tracking of outcomes, the result is a patchwork system that offers little transparency into how often local police assist federal immigration enforcement — or what happens after they do — leaving chiefs and sheriffs navigating competing pressures from the state, the federal government and their communities.
“This is what keeps chiefs up at night, the struggle to deal with, on one hand, the federal government and, on the other hand, maintaining public trust,” said Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum, a national association of police leaders. “It’s really challenging to be an American police chief or sheriff. They’re supposed to be solving the immigration crisis.”
Community members attend a town hall addressing community concerns about Austin police officers cooperating with federal immigration agents at Govalle Elementary School in Austin Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026.
Mikala Compton/Austin American-Statesman
Unlike criminal warrants, ICE administrative warrants are not issued by a judge and are not legally binding for a local law enforcement agency. However, since the federal government added more than 700,000 immigration-related administrative warrants to the federal database of warrants and criminal information a year ago, along with instructions directing officers to call ICE to update information on individuals, questions about how to respond have intensified. City reports show that Austin police officers contacted ICE more than three dozen times last year, often after encountering ICE administrative warrants.
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The Statesman interviewed the Austin area’s four main sheriff’s offices — Travis, Hays, Williamson and Bastrop counties — and the seven suburban police departments: Buda, Kyle, Pflugerville, Georgetown, Elgin, Bastrop and Manor. The Round Rock Police Department did not answer the Statesman’s specific questions and refused to provide additional information.
Almost all agencies cited Texas law to justify policies that leave the decision to individual officers in the field. Since 2017, Texas law forbids local law enforcement agencies from crafting any policy that “prohibits or materially limits the enforcement of immigration laws,” including by limiting an officer’s ability to communicate with ICE.
Several police chiefs and county sheriffs said they were unaware of officers contacting ICE over administrative warrants, though many acknowledged they had only recently learned of the warrants’ addition to the federal database. A Statesman review of other large Texas police departments found similar policies leaving contact with ICE to officer discretion.
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In some cities, though, the approach is far more directive. Houston police instruct their officers to contact ICE on administrative warrants — a policy that resulted in more than 100 calls to federal immigration agents in just the first 10 months of 2025. The San Antonio Police Department’s policy directs officers to call ICE if they decide not to arrest an individual for a crime. Bastrop County Sheriff Maurice Cook said his deputies follow the instructions on the federal warrants database, including those provided by ICE.
Robert Saulter holds a photo of a man who died in ICE custody as he questions Police Chief Lisa Davis during a town hall to address community concerns about Austin police officers cooperating with federal immigration agents at Govalle Elementary School in Austin Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026.
Mikala Compton/Austin American-Statesman
What agencies said
Of the Austin-area agencies surveyed, none except for Georgetown police said they had an explicit policy. Georgetown police, like others, does not restrict officers from contacting ICE. Its policy includes wording mirroring the state code — and codifying officers’ rights to contact ICE.
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Some, like Georgetown Police Chief Cory Tchida, Bastrop Police Chief Kristen Steffanic, Buda Police Chief Bo Kidd and Hays County Sheriff Anthony Hipolito said they believe their officers rarely if ever encounter ICE administrative warrants.
Enforcing ICE administrative warrants, several agencies said, is also too much of a drain on limited personnel.
“We don’t enforce any immigration violations,” Williamson County Deputy Nolan Johnson told the Statesman. “We’re plenty busy dealing with criminal violations and traffic stops.”
Fort Worth and Dallas police departments provided the Statesman policies that leave contact with ICE up to an officer’s discretion, similar to Austin’s current approach.
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What more could be done?
Austin has not yet announced a final version of its rules on administrative warrants, which will be added to the General Orders, the police department’s policy manual. At the Feb. 5 police town hall, Council Member José “Chito” Vela told the Statesman he hoped the final policy could require police officers to seek permission from their commanders before they contact ICE. The guidance Davis issued last month requires officers to get supervisor permission only if they plan to wait with an individual after contacting ICE.
Adding supervisor permission has been among the desired guardrails of immigration activists and lawyers like Krystal Gómez, managing attorney at the Texas Immigration Law Council. Gómez said she hopes law enforcement agencies also require officers to document when they call ICE and to inform individuals of their rights, including when a stop has ended and they’re free to leave.
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“I think we can do a lot of mitigation of harm,” Gómez said. “Making sure that our constitutional protections are intact.”