{"id":266382,"date":"2026-04-25T23:19:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T23:19:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/266382\/"},"modified":"2026-04-25T23:19:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T23:19:09","slug":"austin-dallas-revise-police-policy-allowing-more-ice-cooperation-after-abbott-funding-cut-threat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/266382\/","title":{"rendered":"Austin, Dallas revise police policy allowing more ICE cooperation after Abbott funding cut threat"},"content":{"rendered":"

(The Texas Tribune) – The City of Austin on Friday announced it is updating Austin Police orders to clarify when officers should contact Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents about people they detain. It is the third city in Texas to revise its policy on local law enforcement\u2019s cooperation with federal immigration authorities this week, amid massive funding threats from Gov. Greg Abbott<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On April 16, the governor\u2019s office warned<\/a> Austin and Dallas that millions in grants \u2014 including more than $55 million in World Cup public safety funding for Dallas \u2014 could be at risk if city police failed to change their general orders limiting officers\u2019 coordination with ICE. Austin risked $2.5 million in grants for sexual assault evidence testing, victims assistance programming and other public safety initiatives.<\/p>\n

A press release about the new orders states that officers should contact ICE \u201cwhen operationally feasible\u201d if a person detained by an officer is found to have an administrative warrant issued by ICE. The orders also direct Austin police to \u201cnot take an unreasonable amount of time assisting\u201d with the warrants.<\/p>\n

The new orders come a day after Austin received a deadline extension<\/a> to update their rules, which placed restrictions on when and how an officer could contact ICE. It is unclear what exact language was changed, as Austin officials did not immediately provide the text of the new general orders for city police, but said they would be available online next week.<\/p>\n

Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis said in a statement that the updated general orders allow the city to properly allocate resources to maintain public safety.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy focus \u2014 and the focus of every Austin Police officer \u2014 remains on public safety and community policing,\u201d Davis said.<\/p>\n

Andrew Mahaleris, Abbott\u2019s spokesperson, said in a statement that the governor\u2019s office had lifted the funding hold and \u201cexpects full contract compliance moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGovernor Abbott has been clear: cities in Texas must fully comply with state law and cooperate with federal immigration authorities to keep dangerous criminals off our streets,\u201d Mahaleris said.<\/p>\n

Dallas on Thursday removed its ban on police officers prolonging a person\u2019s detention during encounters like traffic stops to hold them for Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents. Dallas Police Chief Daniel Comeaux announced<\/a> that the department had updated its general order to affirm that local officers will \u201ccooperate with federal authorities when required\u201d while still protecting the safety of all residents.<\/p>\n

In particular, Dallas revised policy<\/a> says it allows police officers to ask people for their immigration status when they are lawfully detained and share that information with federal authorities. It also does not ban Dallas police from supporting ICE agents as \u201creasonable or necessary,\u201d including providing enforcement assistance.<\/p>\n

More notably, the updated version left out language from the original general order that says officers \u201cmay not prolong the detention of an individual in order to further investigate the individual\u2019s immigration status or to hold them for federal authorities.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, the policy still maintains that officers will not stop or contact people solely for the purpose of determining immigration status. Dallas police also may not ask victims, witnesses or people reporting crimes about their immigration status \u2014 unless it\u2019s necessary for investigation or if there\u2019s probable cause that they had engaged in a separate criminal offense.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs Mayor of Dallas, public safety is my highest priority, and I agree with Governor Abbott that federal immigration enforcement plays a role in keeping our city safe,\u201d Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson said in a statement to The Texas Tribune. \u201cI appreciate Chief Comeaux\u2019s ensuring the Dallas Police Department\u2019s internal policies reflect its longstanding practice of cooperating with all of our state and federal law enforcement partners, including those that enforce our nation\u2019s immigration laws.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mahaleris said in a statement on Thursday that the governor\u2019s public safety office is currently reviewing Dallas\u2019 updated policy.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the City has begun making changes to meet the Governor\u2019s expectations that its policies require full cooperation with DHS, the Public Safety Office has extended the deadline for complying with the certification and will continue to engage with the City,\u201d Mahaleris said. \u201cGovernor Abbott will continue to use every necessary tool to protect Texans.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prior to the updated policy, Democrats and community organizations in North Texas had released a joint letter<\/a> on Wednesday pushing back against the governor\u2019s threat to Dallas.<\/p>\n

In addition, Houston has also updated<\/a> its ICE ordinance and police department\u2019s policy this week in response to a $114 million funding threat from the governor.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 The Texas Tribune. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(The Texas Tribune) – The City of Austin on Friday announced it is updating Austin Police orders to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":266383,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[102,104,103],"class_list":{"0":"post-266382","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-dallas","9":"tag-dallas-headlines","10":"tag-dallas-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266382","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=266382"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266382\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/266383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=266382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=266382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=266382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}