Notes on the Houston City Council Meeting on April 8, 2026

Agenda

1. Two Public Hearings
2. Mayor’s Report
3. Consent Agenda (items that require a vote, like purchases, resolutions, ordinances, etc.)
4. Council Member Pop-Off*

*I do not have space to include pop-off in the slides version, please see my website to read those.

Two Public Hearings

There were two public hearings regarding tax credits for three apartment complexes. These hearings are required by law. There was a brief presentation from a person from the Housing and Community Development Department and no public speakers.

The Mayor’s Report

Mayor Whitmire plugged the Art Car Parade on Saturday, the Tour de Houston on Sunday, Fleet Week April 15-22, and mentioned ongoing preparations for the FIFA World Cup. He mentioned a $180M Toyota Center revamp, paid for by the state and Tilman Fertitta.

Agenda Items, Selected Works

• Item 5 approved $715K for the NoTraffic Autonomous Traffic Management Platform. CM Castillo described this as AI traffic sensors already in use at 10 signals on Old Spanish Trail. He praised this tech, saying it helps with traffic flow and gives emergency vehicles signal priority. CM Alcorn also supported.
• Item 7 approved a $75K grant to Catholic Charities through March 2027 for the continuation of their Out of School Time Program.
• Item 8 approved a $1.1M grant to SEARCH Homeless Services for the continued operation of their day shelter through January 2027.
• Item 11 approved $3.5M to upgrade fire alarm systems at city hall.
• Item 13 approved an additional $674K (on top of $1.4M already spent) on tow-truck services for HPD and IAH.
• Item 15 approved $10M for development of a Taylor Gully flood mitigation project in Kingwood. Harris County Flood Control District will contribute the remaining ~$13M to complete the project. CM Flickinger thanked his colleagues for their support. He explained how nearby areas never flooded before, but the developers purchased the land, cleared it, and flooding began directly after.
• Item 17 approved $9.5M for petroleum storage tanks at various Houston Police locations and park facilities.
• Item 18 approved $2.4M to construct the new East Sunset Heights Park. CM Castillo praised the advocates working on behalf of this new park, which will convert an old METRO transit hub.
• Item 20 approved $262K to partially fund a study evaluating train impacts in the East End.

Item 28: New ICE Policy

Item 28 proposed an ordinance updating the policies that dictate how HPD interacts with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE). CM Salinas used Proposition A, with support from CMs Kamin and Pollard, to put this item on the agenda. (Prop A passed in 2023 and allows a coalition of three councilmembers to add an item to a council agenda, a privilege previously reserved for the mayor.) The agenda support document explains public concern regarding ICE, confusion about criminal versus administrative warrants, and conflicts with Senate Bill 4 (SB4), which keeps local entities from adopting policies that prohibit enforcement of immigration laws.

Prior HPD policy was to hold persons who have an ICE administrative warrant for 30 minutes to give ICE time to pick them up. The support document affirms that the Fourth Amendment of the US Constitution, which protects people from unreasonable searches and seizures, says that traffic stops may last only as long as reasonably necessary to complete the legitimate purpose of the stop and may not be prolonged to conduct unrelated detention activity. The support document also affirms that while cities must comply with SB4, state law does not require local law enforcement to exceed those obligations.

Today’s ordinance updated two policies:

• HPD will end the 30-minute hold policy for people with administrative warrants. Anyone who has committed a Class B misdemeanor or above, or who has an outstanding criminal law warrant, will still be taken into custody.
• City administration must provide council with quarterly ICE-related updates, including anonymized records detailing ICE status inquiries and ICE contact.
• A previous version of the ordinance would have given HPD officers discretion about whether or not to contact ICE for administrative warrants, but was deemed unlawful by the city’s legal department.

Mayor Whitmire lamented that Houston has to deal with immigration at all, saying it’s not a city responsibility. He empathized with the anxiety undocumented people face. He is committed to following the law and keeping turmoil out of Houston. He called this ordinance “a ratification of the good policies that HPD is conducting.” Whitmire criticized “some of our witnesses and speakers [who] have tried to politicize it.”

CM Salinas thanked individuals and organizations who supported this work, including 50 groups who signed on their support. She said, “I hope we continue to take steps forward to improve all our positions and reduce our cooperation with ICE to the bare minimum that’s required under state law.”

CM Martinez technically supported the ordinance, but was heavily critical. He implied the current discourse has created more fear in the immigrant community, which keeps people from calling the police. He encouraged community policing such as coffee with police events and Positive Interaction with Police (PIP) meetings. He challenged people who came to speak at public sessions to “help with this work … and find opportunities where you can connect with our local law enforcement who are doing great work.”

CM Flickinger took issue with Houston being lumped in with deportation numbers from Southeast Texas, which he implied creates misinformation. Flickinger said that of the 15K people deported from Southeast Texas, 10K were deported from jails and prisons, which the city has no control over. He said this ordinance only addresses the ~70 cases initiated by HPD discovering an immigration-related warrant, which he called a “rounding error.” He doubted the efficacy of this ordinance and said it will only placate public speakers.

CM Davis said this ordinance erodes trust in HPD by implying that the council does not trust HPD. He suggested that people who don’t trust HPD should not rely on them, saying, “Then don’t call them when you get robbed. Don’t call them when you have another issue.” He made a vague reference to his Hispanic wife. He said, “I was born in the civil rights movement,” perhaps to indicate his commitment to justice. He suggested this is “a bandaid on a shotgun wound,” a statement at odds with his earlier support of the status quo.

CM Evans-Shabazz condemned police stops based on racial profiling. She recognized the mayor’s efforts to keep the city protected. She criticized CM Davis for pitting his colleagues against HPD. She condemned people who hire immigrants, then call ICE once the work is done, saying, “it is a special place in hell for you because you are a thief and you have no moral fiber.” She stressed the council’s responsibility to take action.

CM Peck did not support this ordinance. She said changing the policy creates confusion and could expose the city to legal challenges and other unintended risks, like a national spotlight leading to unsafe conditions for the community and law enforcement.

CM Pollard gave props to CM Salinas for taking the lead on this. He said it was important to listen to the public commenters, the 50 organizations who signed on, and the people he represents. He praised the Prop A process, without which he said no meaningful change might have occurred. Pollard said the 30-minute wait policy might have been unconstitutional and that city legal said this ordinance is lawful. He praised Houston’s diversity and said they must protect everyone’s ability to thrive, regardless of status. He maintained that law enforcement should focus on criminals who create danger and commit harm.

CM Ramirez defended the ordinance, starting with his history as a Harris County prosecutor, where he often relied on the testimony of immigrants who he had to convince to come to court. Ramirez said the immigrant community does not feel safe calling HPD, “and when crimes go unreported, when people don’t speak out for fear of being taken into custody, criminals go unpunished.”

• Ramirez said that current federal and local policy places officers in an impossible position, outlining several instances where HPD called ICE on people who had called for help. “We can try all we want to convince the immigrant community that HPD has their back. But everyone knows that they’re just a computer hit away from being deported.” He asked, “Do we want to have he most effective police force possible to enforce serious state crimes and city ordinances, one the immigrant community trusts, or do we want a deportation force that enforces federal rule violations? Because you can’t have both.”
• Addressing misinformation, Ramirez said the ordinance does not prohibit communication between HPD and ICE, it does not create a sanctuary city, it does not allow criminals to go free.
• He used US Supreme Court legal precedent to explain how it is not illegal to be in the country as an undocumented person.
• Ramirez affirmed that this ordinance upholds the Fourth Amendment, saying the language was lifted from a US Supreme Court case. “That’s why our city attorney has said it is lawful, because it follows the Constitution.”
• He expressed regret that this has become a partisan issue. “The decisions we make as Houston City Council members should be about what’s best for Houston residents.”

CM Kamin strongly disagreed with the legal department’s determination on the portion of the ordinance regarding discretion. Kamin said she trusts HPD to act regardless of immigration status, but criticized ICE training, which she said pales in comparison to HPD. “ICE’s lackluster standards and lack of accountability is what is creating chaos in our communities.”

• Kamin pushed back on Flickinger’s “rounding error” remark. “These are people’s lives. These are people’s families.” She pointed to ICE raids in the Houston area.
• She said that mistrust in law enforcement creates a public safety risk, forcing victims of crime into the shadows, creating fear and trauma, and hurting the economy.
• She recognized individuals, organizations, and journalists who have been working on this issue. “We are not going to sit idly by amidst cruel, inhumane, and illegal actions by the federal government aimed at our vibrant immigrant community.”

CM Huffman did not support the ordinance, citing concerns about reporting requirements that could make HPD afraid to do their jobs.

This ordinance passed 12-5.

These people voted yes (to support the ordinance change): Mayor Whitmire, CMs Jackson, Kamin, Evans-Shabazz, Thomas, Castillo, Martinez, Pollard, Castex-Tatum, Ramirez, Salinas, Alcorn

These people voted no (against the ordinance): CMs Peck, Huffman, Davis, Carter, Flickinger

After the vote, CM Kamin reiterated her strong objection to the legal department’s removal of the discretion clause regarding administrative warrants, saying the city’s legal department is not independent and works for the mayor. She cautioned council about the “dangerous precedent that is being set,” and encouraged council not to “relinquish its authority on this or any other matter that may arise in the future.” She concluded with, “When it comes to the rights of Houstonians, ‘come and take it’ should be a defiant challenge, not an invitation.”

CM Salinas pushed back on colleagues who said this isn’t meaningful (Martinez and Flickinger). “Today we have ended the policy that allowed HPD to wait for ICE for 30 minutes. That is no longer the law of Houston.” She praised the new reporting requirements, which will show “how often somebody is pulled over and if ICE is contacted, the length of the stop, the officers involved, the purpose of the stop, and if there are issues and violations of the Fourth Amendment.” She said, “We cannot change federal immigration policy, but we can control how HPD supports that policy … We should not be doing anything more than what state law requires.” She expressed commitment to fighting “the city attorney’s wrong decision about administrative warrants.” Salinas pushed for a public hearing on the issue and Mayor Whitmire said he would “take it under advisement.”

Mayor Whitmire warned the state legislature is watching. “There’s a House and a Senate that are preparing legislation as we talk. So all I can say is be prepared. ”

CM Martinez said this ordinance will not erase fear and continued to place importance on community policing. He said everything else is “noise.”

Council Member Pop-Off

• CM Peck plugged the next Public Safety committee meeting on April 14.
• CM Evans-Shabazz recapped last weekend’s Easter events. She plugged the Emancipation Avenue ribbon cutting on 4/9 at 9:30am.
• CM Castillo plugged a virtual meeting on the Northside High School drainage and paving project on Thursday at 5:30pm, email his office for information. His office is accepting applications for the Horizons Internship program starting April 15. He plugged a park clean up on Saturday at Woodland Park, a FIFA-related project.
• CM Flickinger plugged a median clean up in Trailwood Village on 4/18. He plugged an electronics recycling event on 4/11 from 9aM-3pm in Clear Lake.
• CM Jackson plugged the Be Successful Job Fair 4/9 starting at 10am at the Acres Home Multi-Service Center.
• CM Thomas appreciated the immigration conversation, especially so close to Easter when many celebrated the resurrection of Jesus. “It’s also very clear that some of us would have nailed him to the cross.” She recapped her office’s mobile care day this past Saturday, saying, “Miracles are for everyone.” She described the services provided, such as showers, haircuts, housing help, and more. She maintained the importance of policy that supports permanent, supportive housing first as a means to end homelessness. She shared condolences for Janayea Carmouche.
• CM Castex-Tatum shared condolences for Janaeya Carmouche. She plugged a community bike ride at Blue Ridge Park 4/25 at 10am, a clean up day at the Fountain Life Center on 4/11 from 8am-12pm, a butterfly garden clean up on 4/11, and a South Post Oak community reserve public hearing on 4/16. The next Economic Development committee is 4/15 at 2pm.

Who took these notes? And what resources did they use?

My name is Emily Hynds. I am a writer, small business owner, producer of the monthly storytelling series Grown-up Storytime, and lifelong Houstonian. I am not a journalist or government official. I am a local government enthusiast who believes meaningful change starts at home. These notes are presented from my point of view and with my framing and are not comprehensive. Your notes will certainly be different and I would love to read them if you attend.

I watched this City Council meeting via HTV: https://www.houstontx.gov/htv/

While compiling these notes I used the following sources:
https://houston.novusagenda.com/agendapublic
https://houwatch.com
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/sports/rockets/article/toyota-center-renovation-upgrade-tilman-fertitta-22195107.php
https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/city-of-houston/2026/04/08/548492/ice-houston-police-city-council-prop-a/

You can find your City Council Member and their contact info at: https://www.houstontx.gov/council/whoismycm.html

Thank you to the volunteers who proofread these notes.
My Patreon is patreon.com/emilytakesnotes.