Gov. Abbott's office threatens to pull $2.5M in grants over Austin's revised ICE policies

AUSTIN, Texas - Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's office is taking aim at Austin over Austin police's revised general orders regarding ICE cooperation and immigration operations.

Abbott's office has sent similar letters to Dallas and Houston, threatening millions in funding if the cities do not walk back the policies.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Austin police no longer authorized to make arrests, detentions based on ICE admin warrant

What they're saying:

In the letter to Austin Mayor Kirk Watson, Andrew Friedrichs, executive director of Abbott's Public Safety Office (PSO), says that the revised general orders are in violation of a Feb. 2025 certification from the City Manager "as a condition for receiving any grants from PSO".

At that time, the city manager certified that the city and APD would "participate fully . . . in all aspects of the programs and procedures utilized by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security . . . to (1) notify DHS of all information requested by DHS related to illegal aliens in [APD’s] custody; and (2) detain such illegal aliens in accordance with requests by DHS."

In addition to this, the certification asserted that the city of APD did not have or would have any policy that would limit or impede that full participation, says the letter, and that if the city failed to comply at "any time during the certification period", the PSO could terminate any grants made to the city and require repayments.

What's next:

At risk is $2.5 million in Public Safety Office grants for FY 2026 that the city would be required to repay in its entirety within 30 days of termination.

The city has until April 23 to confirm if it will repeal the revised orders.

APD's revised General Orders

The backstory:

In March, the Austin Police Department revised its General Orders regarding officer cooperation with ICE and immigration operations.

The new orders state that Austin police officers are not authorized to make an arrest or detention based solely on an administrative warrant from ICE. APD officers are also not required to contact ICE or "unreasonably prolong a detention" in order to contact ICE.

The orders now outline the actions an officer will take if they learn that someone in their custody has an ICE administrative warrant versus an ICE detainer request.

The revisions were requested due to the fact that the original policy did not specify the difference between an ICE detainer and an ICE administrative warrant, according to paperwork obtained by FOX 7 Austin.

The changes came after APD contacted ICE regarding a five-year-old and her mother who were taken into custody in the Oak Hill community in January.

At the time, APD said that during the course of officers responding to a disturbance on Blue Stem Trail, officers identified a person with an ICE administrative warrant.

APD notified ICE and federal authorities arrived and took custody of the woman and her child.

Other cities receive similar letters

Dig deeper:

This is not the first letter Gov. Abbott's office has sent out with regard to city ICE policies.

In a letter to the City of Dallas, Abbott says the city stands to lose nearly $90 million in funding if it did not change its ICE cooperation policy. 

In response, the city says they intend to fully comply with all state and federal laws. 

Abbott also sent a similar letter to the City of Houston, saying it would have to pay back $110 million if they did not repeal an April 8 ordinance, specifying that officers cannot hold someone longer or extend a stop to wait for ICE, altering a policy that required officers to give immigration authorities 30 minutes to respond to the scene.