Gov. Greg Abbott on Thursday warned Dallas that he would pull $32.1 million in state funds if the city does not repeal police department rules around collaboration with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
In a letter to Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson, Andrew Friedrichs, the executive director of Abbott’s Public Safety Office, said the Dallas Police Department’s internal rules regarding immigration may violate the city’s agreement with the state for the funding.
The threat to Dallas is part of a broader push by Abbott to force major cities into closer alignment with federal immigration enforcement. The governor issued similar warnings this week to Houston and Austin for their respective immigration-related policies.
Dallas police’s general orders — the department’s internal rules that guide officer conduct — may also “imperil” the city’s ability to receive more than $50 million in federal funds to help cover public-safety costs tied to the 2026 FIFA World Cup, Friedrichs wrote in the letter.
“A city’s failure to comply with its contract agreement with the state to assist in the enforcement of immigration laws makes the state less safe,” Andrew Mahaleris, an Abbott spokesperson, said in a statement to The Dallas Morning News. “It can have deadly consequences. Cities in Texas are expected to make the streets safer, not more deadly.”
Dallas police spokespeople did not immediately comment Thursday afternoon on the letter, nor did a spokesperson for Johnson’s office.
The letter sets a deadline of April 23 to “confirm that the City will not enforce, and will act to repeal” the general orders on immigration. Failure to do so would see the city repaying the funds it has already received.
The department’s general orders on immigration outline that officers are not to act as front-line immigration enforcers during routine policing, barring them, for example, from stopping or contacting any person for the “sole purpose of determining immigration status.”
The orders also state that officers “may not prolong” a person’s detention to investigate their immigration status or to hold them for federal authorities.
The dispute follows a separate City Hall fight last fall over whether Dallas police should join the federal 287(g) program, which would have given local officers some immigration-enforcement authority. City Council members ultimately shelved that idea.
This story is developing. Check back for updates.
Staff writer Aarón Torres contributed to this article.