Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit against Houston, claiming its ICE policy violates state law and SB4.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit against Houston, claiming its ICE policy violates state law and SB4.

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As a political chess match wages on between Houston leaders and the state over its ICE policy, the Attorney General is now bringing the battle to the courtroom. 

On Thursday, Paxton filed a lawsuit against the City of Houston, Mayor John Whitmire, city council members and Houston Police Department’s Chief J. Noe Diaz. 

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“I will not allow any local official to push sanctuary policies that make our communities less safe,” Paxton said in a statement. “Under my watch, no Texas city will be a safe harbor for illegals. The Texas Legislature passed strong legislation that specifically stops the type of lawless ordinance that Houston adopted.”

In the lawsuit filed in Fort Bend County, the state argues that Houston’s ordinance is “designed to subvert state law that mandates cooperation with federal immigration enforcement officials.”

The filing centers on Senate Bill 4, a 2017 law that requires local law enforcement agencies to cooperate with federal immigration authorities. The state claims Houston’s policy “prohibit[s] or materially limit[s]” that cooperation, which it argues is in direct violation of state law.

This all comes less than a week after the Harris County GOP leadership filed a formal complaint with Paxton’s office over Houston’s immigration ordinance.

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At issue is a recently passed city ordinance that restricts how Houston police officers can act on ICE administrative warrants during field encounters. The ordinance states that such warrants are civil in nature and “alone, does not justify a stop, arrest, or continued detention by local law enforcement.”

Paxton’s office is asking the court to declare the ordinance void and to order the city to repeal it, while also seeking a temporary and permanent injunction to block its enforcement.

“Houston has no authority to ignore the Constitution and the laws duly enacted by the Legislature,” Paxton said. “I’m calling on Houston to immediately repeal this ordinance.”

The lawsuit marks a sharp escalation in an already tense back-and-forth between city and state leaders.

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Earlier this week, Mayor Whitmire announced that Houston had been given until Monday, April 20, to respond to the state’s freeze on public safety grant funding tied to the ordinance. He described the situation as “a crisis,” warning that the loss of funding could impact police, fire services and preparations for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. However, the meeting was postponed until next week. 

Despite the city council’s 12-5 vote to approve the measure last week, Houston police have not yet changed their procedures. Department leadership has said the ordinance will require updates to policy that are still being worked out.

Meanwhile, members of Houston’s City Council have called out the mayor for what they described as flip-flopping on the issue now that there is state involvement. 

“The mayor promised Houston wouldn’t be pushed around,” Council Member Ed Pollard said. “He stakes his credibility on relationships in Austin and being the leader who could hold the line when pressure came. The first real test arrived, and he caved: Letters from Greg Abbott and Ken Paxton should not dictate how the largest city in Texas governs itself.”

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A special-called City Council meeting to address the issue was originally scheduled for Friday but has since been postponed to April 22.

“As I said earlier, this is a crisis,” Whitmire said in a statement. “We have already lost state grant funding, which affects the Houston Police and Fire Departments, public safety services across our city, preparations for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, and the Department of Homeland Security. Our public safety departments rely on a combination of local, state, and federal resources to operate effectively.    

As legal challenges now move forward, the outcome could determine not just how Houston handles immigration enforcement, but how much authority cities across Texas have to set their own policies under state law.

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