{"id":249140,"date":"2026-04-14T12:39:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T12:39:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/249140\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T12:39:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T12:39:09","slug":"texas-attorney-general-ken-paxton-investigates-austin-police-ice-policy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/249140\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton investigates Austin police ICE policy"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Texas Attorney General\u2019s Office is investigating the city of Austin over a policy that limits how police interact<\/a> with federal immigration agents, setting up a potential clash over state law requiring cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.<\/p>\n

The investigation comes after policy changes implemented by Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis in March that prohibit Austin officers from arresting or detaining someone based solely on a noncriminal ICE warrant \u00a0\u2014 a move city officials argue is legal but critics say may conflict with Senate Bill 4, the state\u2019s 2017 law prohibiting cities from limiting police cooperation<\/a> with federal immigration agents.<\/p>\n

City spokesperson Jenny LaCoste-Caputo confirmed to the American-Statesman on Monday night that the Attorney General\u2019s Office sent a letter Friday notifying the city of the investigation.<\/p>\n

City Manager T.C. Broadnax said in a written statement the policies were revised earlier this year to help officers navigate an influx of administrative warrants, which are issued by ICE to arrest individuals for immigration violations. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe revised General Orders were designed to ensure the City can continue meeting our local public safety needs, provide clarity for our officers, and continue complying with all legal requirements, including the U.S. Constitution and SB4,\u201d Broadnax said.<\/p>\n

The Police Department\u2019s General Orders are the policies that guide officer conduct.<\/p>\n

Austin City Council Member Jos\u00e9 \u201cChito\u201d Vela, who helped craft the Police Department\u2019s new ICE policy, said his office worked with the city attorney and legal experts to ensure that the new guidelines comply with state and federal laws.<\/p>\n

\u201cI firmly believe any good-faith investigation will confirm that,\u201d Vela said in a written statement.<\/p>\n

Mike\u00a0Siegel, another council member,\u00a0issued a statement on social media saying “the city is in full compliance with the law, and Paxton\u2019s grandstanding does nothing to change that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The March<\/a> changes clarified that ICE administrative warrants alone are not sufficient grounds for Austin officers to detain or arrest individuals. However, the policy does not ban officers from contacting immigration agents, a limitation that Davis said would infringe on SB4.<\/p>\n

The new policy allows officers to wait for ICE agents to arrive and make an arrest only if they receive approval from supervisors.<\/p>\n

That policy came about a month after the Statesman reported<\/a> that Austin police officers had called ICE on a Honduran immigrant who had called 911. Austin police said it believed the woman was abusing emergency calls; yet, her eventual removal \u2014 along with her U.S. citizen child \u2014 triggered public backlash<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Robert<\/p>\n

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)<\/p>\n

Read More: Austin police weren\u2019t required to call ICE. They did for a mother and daughter<\/a><\/p>\n

ICE can issue its own administrative warrants to arrest someone for an immigration violation. However, unlike criminal warrants, they are not signed by a judge and are not legally binding on local law enforcement agencies.<\/p>\n

News of the attorney general\u2019s investigation in Austin comes the same day the Houston Chronicle reported<\/a> that Gov. Greg Abbott threatened to pull more than $100 million in grant funds from Texas\u2019 largest city after it adopted a policy limiting police cooperation with ICE. The Attorney General\u2019s Office also opened an investigation into whether Houston violated state law, the Chronicle reported.<\/p>\n

The Texas Attorney General\u2019s Office and the governor\u2019s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment Monday night.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Texas Attorney General\u2019s Office is investigating the city of Austin over a policy that limits how police…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":249141,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,1823,134,133,4921,94643,55314,100,8070,94644,4479,2943],"class_list":{"0":"post-249140","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-austin","8":"tag-austin","9":"tag-austin-city-hall","10":"tag-austin-headlines","11":"tag-austin-news","12":"tag-austin-police","13":"tag-federal-immigration-agents","14":"tag-immigration-agents","15":"tag-investigation","16":"tag-lisa-davis","17":"tag-police-cooperation","18":"tag-texas-attorney-general","19":"tag-texas-attorney-generals-office"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=249140"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249140\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/249141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}