HB 123 and SB 99 Would End Texas Counties' State-Mandated Cooperation With ICE — the 287(g) Duty Harris County's Sheriff Works Under Too
Two San Antonio lawmakers used the first day of bill filing to take on one of the Abbott era's signature mandates: the state law that requires every Texas county sheriff with a jail to apply for a federal immigration-enforcement agreement. Their bills would repeal the mandate outright.
The first day of bill filing for the 90th Texas Legislature produced an early marker of how much has changed in Austin. State Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer and State Sen. José Menéndez, both San Antonio Democrats, filed House Bill 123 and Senate Bill 99, companion measures that would repeal Texas counties' state-mandated cooperation with federal immigration enforcement, the San Antonio Current reported Monday.
What the bills would undo is specific. Under current Texas law, every county sheriff's department that operates a jail is required to apply for a 287(g) agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement — the federal program that lets local officers carry out certain immigration-enforcement duties. The Current notes the agreements historically centered on people booked into county jails, though recent investigative reporting has found some departments using them to turn routine traffic stops into immigration enforcement. Under outgoing Gov. Greg Abbott, municipalities that refused to cooperate with federal immigration officials faced the withholding of state funds.
"During this historic session, we have the opportunity to make real, meaningful change," Menéndez said in his statement, saying his team worked with constituents, advocates and experts on the package. The filing lands in the first session in decades with Democrats controlling the Texas House, which convenes January 12 — a fact that gives a repeal bill a hearing path it has never had, in at least one chamber.
For Houston, the bill is not an abstraction. The mandate HB 123 and SB 99 would repeal is written to cover every Texas county sheriff's department with a jail — the same legal category the Harris County Sheriff's Office works in, running one of the largest county jails in the state. Whether Harris County cooperates with ICE would remain a choice either way; what the bills would change is whether Austin can order it. That question — who decides, the county or the state — is now formally on the 90th Legislature's table.
