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Update, 4/16/2026, 5:43 p.m.: Off the radar no more. On Thursday, mere hours after we published a report that pointed to Dallas’ trepidation when it comes to wading into the immigration waters as reason for state leaders laying off, Gov. Greg Abbott announced that Dallas, too, is under the microscope.
The Dallas Morning News reports that Mayor Eric Johnson recieved a letter this afternoon threatening $32.1 million in state funding if Dallas does not repeal rules surrounding the local police department’s role in immigration enforcement efforts. Also under threat are $50 million in federal funds meant to aide public safety efforts during the FIFA World Cup.
The notice accuses Dallas officials of making our city less safe through its internal policing policies, such as the one that states a DPD officer may not stop or detain a person for the sole purpose of immigration enforcement. Dallas has until April 23 to comply with the governor’s directive.
Original article below:
Last November, Dallas city leaders found themselves in the hot seat as tension surrounding local law enforcement’s cooperation and coordination with federal immigration enforcement efforts came to a head.
After months of community organizers and advocates taking to the city council lectern to ask for transparency, police Chief Daniel Comeaux let it slip that he’d rejected a $25 million contract offered by ICE that would have reimbursed the police department for the arrests of undocumented Dallasites. The admission caused Mayor Eric Johnson to call for a joint council meeting, arguing that such a fiscal decision should have been made by “elected policymakers after receiving public input.” Johnson’s reaction inspired its own wave of outrage.
After a particularly tense council meeting, in which nearly 70 public speakers voiced their disappointment that the subject was on the agenda in the first place, a majority of council members agreed that Comeaux had made the right call. (At the meeting, representatives from ICE largely disagreed with Comeaux’s characterization of the partnership offer, but the horseshoe didn’t buy what the feds were selling.)
Since that meeting, ICE has largely stayed off the city council’s public radar, even as the agency has come under intense national scrutiny and local advocates have pushed the council to adopt policies that would ban a partnership between the agencies.
This week has shown that for Dallas officials, that was probably a good thing.
Clashing Over Immigration
In the last week, Austin and Houston have found themselves in the crosshairs of Texas’ top Republicans over locally passed ordinances that aim to limit their police departments’ involvement in immigration enforcement efforts.
Gov. Greg Abbott is threatening to withhold $110 million in public safety funds from Houston after its city council passed an ordinance on April 8, overruling the local police department’s requirement that officers wait 30 minutes for federal agents to arrive at a scene if they encounter a person with an administrative immigration warrant during their duties. The council also requested that the department provide a quarterly report on its participation in ICE efforts.
According to the New York Times, Abbott’s threat, if carried out, would imperil Houston’s police and fire departments, which rely on that funding. It could also cripple preparations for the FIFA World Cup less than two months before the tournament begins, creating a scenario that Houston Mayor John Whitmire described as a “crisis.”
“I repeatedly warned the ordinance sponsors” of the “legal and financial risks associated with this approach,” Whitmire said, although he did eventually vote in favor of the measure.
The state has given Houston until Monday to pledge not to enforce the new ordinance and to signal an intention to repeal it, the Times reports. Attorney General Ken Paxton has also initiated an investigation into whether Houston’s ordinance violates Senate Bill 4, which bans cities from adopting policies that “prohibit or materially limit the enforcement of immigration laws.”
Austin, too, has found itself on the other side of a Paxton investigation for similar reasons.
On March 4, the Austin Police Department published its new policy on handling interactions with ICE through a city memorandum. Like Houston’s ordinance, the policy prohibits APD officers from arresting a person solely because they have a non-criminal warrant from ICE. City officials claimed the policy change was necessary to ensure officers aren’t bogged down in administrative warrants that prevent them from responding to actual issues.
On April 10, Paxton notified Austin leadership that the city was under investigation. The probes set up a potential fight between Texas’ liberal cities and its conservative leadership over whether municipalities have any rights when it comes to responding to immigration enforcement efforts.
Worth the Fight?
As far as Dallas goes, the same strategy that has kept it off the radars of top Republicans has been frustrating for community advocates.
As recently as February 10, public speakers flooded the Community Police Oversight Board and urged Dallas officials to address what the speakers see as a “policy gap” that erodes “transparency” and “accountability” each time the Dallas Police Department assists with an ICE operation.
In January, Comeaux rejected the oversight board’s request to publish data on how often DPD interacts with ICE. While Comeaux has said that DPD officers will not conduct immigration investigations, ICE can request that the local police force be present during arrests and raids to help with tasks like enforcing a perimeter. At times when Dallas officials have attempted to take a stronger stance — like last March, when interim police Chief Michael Igo said that the department would not assist with the detainment of undocumented individuals — it has drawn swift attention from state leaders.
Following Igo’s comments, Paxton opened an investigation into Dallas’ public safety policies related to immigration. The Observer followed up with the attorney general’s to see what the outcome of that investigation was or if it is still ongoing, but did not hear back.
Still, some local advocates have specifically asked that Dallas pass a policy that would ban ICE agents from wearing masks, allow DPD officers to verify ICE agents’ identities, and require the department to publicly report interactions with the federal agency. If passed, those policies would almost certainly draw Dallas into the clash that Abbott and Paxton have proven they’re willing to have.
Some would argue it’s a fight worth having.
“I am demanding accountability for the sake of DPD’s reputation in the city of Dallas,” said Noeli Estrada, a community organizer, during the Feb. 10 oversight board meeting. “I think that the consequences of allowing this to continue are far more dire than the financial burden that this city will go through.”
