How State Laws Team Up ICE And Local Police

It has been a fraught and confusing few weeks for Austin’s immigrant community, advocates and residents after Austin Police Department Chief Lisa Davis stated that APD would be changing its rules on when and how officers contact Immigration and Customs Enforcement. It’s a departure from APD’s previous general orders, but new orders are yet to be issued.

City leaders and APD have said state laws are pushing local law enforcement to work with ICE. But what are these laws, and what do they require of local law enforcement? Let’s get into it.

Administrative Warrants and SB 4

On January 5, APD officers responded to a disturbance call. Once they arrived, officers ran a background check on the woman who called. During that process officers discovered the woman had an active ICE administrative warrant, according to a memo from Chief Davis to city officials. APD officers contacted immigration officers, and the woman and her child were detained and deported. That decision raised questions about how APD handles administrative warrants.

But what are ICE administrative warrants?

“Administrative warrants are not real warrants,” says Austin City Councilmember Chito Vela, who previously worked as an immigration attorney. “They're not signed by a judge. They don't give anybody other than immigration authorities the power to arrest and detain someone.”

Vela says administrative warrants used to just be internal ICE documents, but recently these warrants started appearing in federally maintained databases used by police. In a memo APD said since 2025, the National Crime Information Center database, which is used to conduct identity checks, has been ‘flooded’ with administrative warrants. The memo went on to say that APD general orders don’t have clear guidelines in dealing with administrative warrants. That's caused confusion and the need for a clearer policy

“We have been a little behind the curve in responding to these documents and getting both legal guidance and getting policies to allow our patrol officers to inform them as to what they're supposed to do,” Vela says. “And we're trying to balance our obligations under state law. SB 4 in particular.”

Chief Davis also cited Senate Bill 4 as the reason why the Austin Police Department needed to change its rules over how the department works with ICE. The bill, among other things, does not allow cities or other entities to make policies that restrict their officers from cooperating with ICE.

“What that means is that APD could not have a policy telling its officers you cannot communicate with ICE,” says Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, an immigration attorney. “That would be in violation of SB 4.”

But things were murky around administrative warrants and SB 4. Chief Davis stated in a memo that APD’s new general orders can’t stop officers from calling ICE when coming across administrative warrants. According to KUT, the proposed new orders would leave it up to the discretion of an officer if they want to call ICE when seeing an administrative warrant. However, officers will need permission from their shift commanders on whether they can wait while ICE responds.

As of publishing, APD’s new orders aren’t out yet, but Vela says he hopes a clear policy can be written that complies with state laws while still maintaining trust with communities.

“It needs to be a situation where that person is a real danger,” Vela says. “Not a situation where we have a mother and a child with no criminal history and no criminal background.”

But there’s another new state law that not only requires local law enforcement to cooperate with ICE, but to also serve as deputies for the agency.

ICE and County Sheriffs

Senate Bill 8 is a state law that Texas passed in the 2025 legislative session. It requires a sheriff of a county with a population of over 100,000 to request to enter into an immigration law enforcement agreement with ICE. Most counties meet that population threshold. These agreements, called 287(g) agreements, serve as contracts between ICE and local law enforcement agencies, according to Texas A&M University law professor Huyen Pham who has studied aspects of the law.

“It allows a local law enforcement agency to choose certain officers who are trained and then deputized to enforce immigration laws,” says Pham.

The 287(g) program has three models that departments can pick from when deciding how they will work with ICE: the taskforce model, the jail enforcement model, and the warrant service officer program. Sheriff’s departments statewide have until the end of the year to sign an agreement. If not, they can face legal consequences. Pham says each model varies in level of involvement. She says the taskforce model requires the most involvement, resources and time from deputized officers.

“It gives those deputized officers the most authority, and it allows them to exercise their authority, during the course of their routine police duties,” says Pham. “So they can exercise that authority kind of on the beat.”

“In other words, they can enforce immigration law during routine police activity,” says Lincoln-Goldfinch.

That means deputized sheriffs can question people during regular routine police work, like traffic stops or investigations.

The other models work within county jail, rather than in the streets. Pham says the jail enforcement model starts at the booking process.

“Basically, allows those deputized officers to exercise their immigration powers, but … only after a person has been arrested,” Pham says. “So it centers those activities at the detention center.”

The warrant service model requires the least resources, according to Pham. Local deputized officers are given limited authority to serve and execute administrative warrants on people already detained in the jail.

“That means somebody gets booked and there's a sheriff within the jail whose job it is to apply and execute Ice warrants,” Lincoln-Goldfinch says.

Depending on the model and the agreement with ICE, a few officers can be trained and deputized or many more. It can depend on the size of the sheriff’s department and what resources they have to dedicate to different models.

“Let's say we have a county that's wanting to do the least restrictive agreement,” says Lincoln-Goldfinch. “They might … only train and deputize several of their agents to be in the jail. But if somebody is doing the task force model, they might end up having a much larger, broader trainings to where all those sheriffs who are out on patrol are trained to enforce immigration law. So that's also going to be part of the level of cooperation is how many of our officers are we putting toward this.”

So, who’s signed?

As of recording, Travis County as well as Hays County hasn’t signed an agreement yet. Other nearby counties have already signed a type of agreement. Williamson County has signed a warrant service officer model, Bastrop County and Caldwell signed a taskforce model. Over 200 counties in Texas have signed agreements since 2025.

Lincoln-Goldfinch says that while some counties haven’t signed yet, discussions are probably underway.

“Probably most counties are already working on this and deciding what they're going to do, with an aim at having something finalized by the end of the year under the requirement of SB 4,” says Lincoln-Goldfinch.

So, what can you do?

It’s important for residents to know their rights, like knowing which state laws are in effect and your right to remain silent. But it’s also important to know that immigration law is complex and people, even law enforcement, can get it wrong. Lincoln-Goldinch says that’s why it’s important for people to stay safe.

“I think we have to be aware of our rights, but also very rational and pragmatic in these moments,” Lincoln-Goldinch says. “So my advice as an attorney is that we all need to stay calm and do our best in these moments to de-escalate, and sometimes justice has to come later.

She says it’s also important to come up with an emergency plan of action if something should happen. That plan could look like having emergency contacts ready, establishing designated caregivers for children, or setting up your finances. She also encourages immigrants to consult with an immigration lawyer about any questions or concerns they have.

“It's much better to think through what we're going to do and what our strategy is going to be before an emergency occurs, like an arrest or a detention,” Lincoln-Goldinch says.

She also says concerned residents can be involved by voting in upcoming elections.

“Activism is our response to events where we protest and we call our legislators. Organizing is the in-between work,” Lincoln-Goldinch says “And right now there's a lot of organizing needed to think through.”

Residents are also welcome to attend a forum next Thursday, Feb 5 with Councilmember Vela, Councilmember Vanessa Fuentes, and Chief Davis. They will be discussing APD’s immigration policies.