HOUSTON — Houston Mayor John Whitmire’s administration again delayed a proposed application for a $150 million U.S. Department of Justice grant after pulling the item from the City Council agenda Monday, two days before council members were scheduled to consider it.
The funding would come from the DOJ’s Model Cities Initiative, which lists immigration law enforcement operations among the priorities that applicants must align with in their proposed initiatives.
Whitmire’s administration previously pulled the application from the Sept. 16 City Council agenda after questions about the grant’s potential connection to immigration enforcement.
Whitmire downplayed that connection during an interview Friday, saying Houston does not enforce federal immigration law.
“It sure kind of alarms me when you make people think we’re trying to get money for immigration enforcement,” Whitmire said. “We don’t enforce immigration. You know that. We follow the state law.”
Under HPD policy, officers must contact U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement when they encounter someone with a civil immigration warrant. Officers can also wait a “reasonable amount of time” for federal agents to arrive.
The City Council and Whitmire attempted to limit coordination with ICE in April, but Texas Gov. Greg Abbott threatened to revoke more than $110 million in public safety funding for Houston.
Whitmire said the city has sought clarification on the DOJ grant guidelines. He said HPD’s internal legal analysis found that the grant requirements largely match what Houston already does under state law and city ordinances.
DOJ guidelines set Sept. 1 as the application deadline. A DOJ spokesperson declined to say whether the department would extend the deadline for Houston.
“We have received dozens of applications and are actively reviewing them,” the spokesperson said. “We have nothing further to add beyond the guidance that has already been released.”
The Model Cities Initiative seeks to reduce violent crime in major metropolitan areas. President Donald Trump announced the program in June and said it would provide more police resources and target violent offenders.
Houston’s proposed program would focus on crime suppression, public safety technology and intelligence, victim protection, street-level stabilization, recidivism, youth violence and police readiness, according to the Mayor’s Office of Public Safety and Homeland Security.
Whitmire’s office did not respond to questions Monday about the latest delay.
Meanwhile, HPD data show that Houston recorded fewer crimes during the first six months of 2026 than during the same period in 2025. Violent crime and trafficking declined nearly 13%, murders fell about 38%, and property crimes dropped nearly 24%.
Houston recorded more than 470 murders in 2021 compared with 268 in 2025, according to HPD data.
