Dallas Police Chief Daniel Comeaux announced his department will comply with Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s recent immigration enforcement demands in an interview with WFAA Wednesday night.
Last week, Abbott sent a letter to Dallas officials threatening to withhold millions of dollars in state and federal funding if the Dallas Police Department was not in compliance with a state grant agreement that requires the city to work with the Department of Homeland Security on immigration enforcement.
Dallas PD’s current guidelines say officers “may not prolong the detention of an individual in order to further investigate the individual’s immigration status or to hold them for federal authorities.” Officers are also prohibited from stopping any person “for the sole purpose of determining immigration status.”
Abbott claimed this practice violates the grant agreement, and as a consequence the city could owe more than $32 million in grant repayment and risk losing $55 million in FIFA public safety money ahead of this summer’s World Cup games.
“We’re not immigration officers,” Comeaux told WFAA. “However, we will be in compliance with the governor. He’s the governor of the state of Texas. We’re in the state of Texas. So we will be in compliance.”
According to WFAA, the department reviewed its guidelines and adjusted wording to align with the Texas criminal code and ensure that policies involving cooperation with ICE are compatible with state and federal guidelines.
“We will have to make some adjustments,” Comeaux said. “But we are not immigration officers. We’re going to do our job as Dallas police officers. But there are going to be some tweaks in the general orders so we can line up with the state. My biggest thing is making sure that we keep everyone safe in Dallas. Part of keeping everyone safe is funding from the state of Texas. So we do need that funding. But our main focus is going to be everyone that lives in Dallas.”
Dallas’ relationship with ICE has been a consistent concern for residents, with community members demanding more transparency on how the federal agency operates in the city earlier this year.
In October 2025, Comeaux revealed he turned down $25 million to join a ICE 287(g) program, which would have allowed local officers to collaborate with ICE and perform federal immigration duties.
Local officials and immigration advocates have condemned Abbott’s recent threats, calling them “state overreach.”
“If public safety is the priority, it is unclear why Abbott would target funding for public safety efforts,” a coalition of city council members, advocacy organizations, and lawmakers said in a statement. “Our taxpayer dollars should be invested back into the safety and well-being of Dallas residents, not used as a leverage to override locally determined policing decisions by threatening to withdraw millions in public safety funding to force changes to these policies.”
Houston received a similar letter, in which Abbott threatened to withhold $110 million in public safety funding if a new city council-approved ordinance limiting officers’ involvement with ICE agents wasn’t repealed.
The Houston City Council voted 13-4 to repeal the ordinance on Wednesday.
