Austin Police Department bars arrests on ICE administrative warrants without criminal charges

March 24, 2026

The Austin Police Department updated its policy on March 5 to stop officers from detaining or arresting someone solely because of an administrative warrant from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The revision distinguishes those civil ICE warrants from criminal warrants and restricts arrests to situations where a separate criminal charge exists.

Chief Lisa Davis told a recent town hall that ICE issued more than 700,000 administrative warrants during the past year, a figure she offered while discussing the policy change. Unlike criminal warrants, these ICE administrative documents are not approved by a judge and do not grant authority to conduct searches, a distinction the new policy highlights.

Daniel Woodward, an attorney with the Texas Civil Rights Project, said clarifying the difference is useful because only ICE reviews the probable cause behind such warrants. He warned that rules directing officers to take specific actions could lead to more contacts with immigration enforcement, rather than fewer, and that people can show up with administrative warrants in everyday, noncriminal situations.

Woodward described common scenarios, such as domestic violence calls, where officers record names and birthdates and run background checks. If an administrative warrant appears, an officer could end up detaining someone who came to the police for help, he said, which can undermine trust between communities and law enforcement.

APD noted that before the new rule, officers responded in January to a disturbance involving a woman who had an administrative warrant. The department informed ICE, and the woman and her 5-year-old child were later deported to Honduras. That incident factored into the public concern that prompted the policy review.

Under the March 5 policy, when officers encounter an administrative warrant but no separate criminal charge exists, they are required to notify a supervisor and provide information about the warrant. The policy also allows officers or supervisors to contact ICE, a provision included to comply with a 2017 Texas law that bars local policies from prohibiting cooperation with immigration authorities.

Woodward said the policy aligns with Fourth Amendment limits on unreasonable or prolonged detention when no independent criminal basis exists, but he questioned provisions that ask officers to hold someone until ICE arrives. APD did not answer multiple requests for comment about the change.

Austin Equity and Inclusion, which runs the city's Immigrant Affairs programs, will host a virtual session on April 2 at 6 p.m. to explain recent immigration policy updates and community resources.