“Elections have consequences.”
Words to live and die by in American politics. Famously uttered by former President Barack Obama in 2009, versions of the aphorism have since become a cutting political shorthand for the sentiment that “we won, you lost, deal with it.”
Following Democrats’ generational victory in the 2026 midterms, the combined threat, taunt, and promise is already being wielded with gusto. On Friday, Houston Mayor John Whitmire signed an executive action ordering the Houston Police Department to end cooperative policies with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Earlier this year, Texas Republicans passed a controversial law, SB 4, that allowed state law enforcement to engage in immigration enforcement activities. The same law banned cities and local jurisdictions from enforcing “sanctuary” policies protecting undocumented migrant residents from immigration enforcement. Now, with Democrats controlling every statewide seat in Texas as well as the statehouse, the fear of retaliation by the state government is no longer a barrier.
“Elections matter,” Whitmire said during a press conference on Friday. “I was on the Senate floor when SB 4 was approved. I voted against it […] I voted no because we were concerned about the fear, the anxiety that it would create.”
“ICE will only be contacted if someone commits a jailable offense,” he explained, adding that he believed the policy change could begin to rebuild “trust” and “reduce the fear and anxiety and not just in some of our communities but all across Houston.”
Ahead of the election, a series of violent encounters involving ICE agents reignited tensions within the state. In Houston, a federal immigration agent has been charged with aggravated assault after allegedly running over Miguel Parra Hernandez — a Mexican construction worker — while chasing him in his SUV during an ICE raid.
In September, agents shot and wounded Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, a Venezuelan man, during a traffic stop, sparking protests around Austin.
Migrant detention centers in Texas have become hotbeds for allegations of abuse, neglect, and civil rights violations. This year alone, six migrants have died while being held in Texas’ ICE detention facilities. It’s no wonder that Hispanics in the state wholly abandoned Republicans this election cycle, and as the new, Democratically led government assumes power, Whitmire’s executive order looks like the first step in major transformation within the state.
