Abbott vs. Austin & Houston: Immigration Grants at Stake

0:00Texas Governor Greg Abbott is escalating his battle with Austin and Houston over their new limits on police working with federal immigration agents. Houston passed a rule this month to cut back cooperation with ICE, prompting Abbott to threaten pulling $110 million in state, public safety grants. Then on Thursday, he hit Austin with a similar warning, demanding they repay $2.5 million within 30 days if they don't reverse their policy shift. His police updated their orders last month, saying officers can't arrest someone just based on an ICE administrative warrant and must check with. A supervisor before calling in feds, this came after backlash from a case where cops alerted ICE dees during a 9-1-1 call, leading to a deportation that upset locals. Abbott's team says these moves make Texas trees deadlier by blocking help on immigration enforcement. Houston's mayor called it a crisis, pulling together an emergency council meeting originally set for Monday, April 20th, but now push too.

1:01Wednesday, April 22nd, after getting extra time from the governor's office to talk things out. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton jumped in too, probing both cities for possibly breaking Senate bill 4, the 2017 law, against sanctuary policies. He even filed a lawsuit Thursday against Houston leaders, claiming their ordinance straight up violates state rules on cooperating with immigration. Customs are heating up between cities, state officials, cops and communities to balance safety funding with local rules, but the pressures on ass, grants hang in the balance and legal fights brew. I'm Cory with the story, and you've been listening to El Paso News today, AI-powered local news.