Fourth Amendment

Houston Irks Texas Gov. Greg Abbott by Reminding Cops To Comply With the Fourth Amendment

The governor is threatening to defund the police because of an ordinance noting that an ICE administrative warrant "does not justify a stop, arrest, or continued detention" by city officers.

Jacob Sullum | 4.22.2026 4:55 PM

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Two weeks ago, the Houston City Council enacted an ordinance clarifying the extent to which local police may cooperate with federal immigration enforcement. When police detain a pedestrian or driver, the ordinance says, they may not prolong the stop after its purpose has been accomplished simply because a background check reveals a civil administrative warrant issued by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

That ordinance irked Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who threatened to withhold $110 million in state public safety grants unless it is repealed. The ordinance also provoked a lawsuit by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who argues that it violates a state law saying "a local entity" may not "prohibit or materially limit" a "peace officer" from "assisting or cooperating with a federal immigration officer as reasonable or necessary." But on its face, the ordinance merely requires that the Houston Police Department (HPD) comply with the Fourth Amendment.

"During a field encounter," the ordinance says, "officers may temporarily detain an individual only as long as reasonably necessary to complete the legitimate purpose of the initial stop or investigation. An ICE administrative warrant is civil in nature and, alone, does not justify a stop, arrest, or continued detention by local law enforcement, like HPD. If independent reasonable suspicion of a criminal offense sufficient to justify arrest or continued detention does not exist, the individual must be released."

That policy is surely inconvenient for ICE, but it is consistent with what the Supreme Court has said about the limits that the Fourth Amendment imposes on police stops. In the 2015 case Rodriguez v. United........

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