Houston Drops Anti-ICE Rule to Salvage World Cup Security Funds

An official World Cup 2026 ball during a news conference in Houston.

Photographer: Kirk Sides/Houston Chronicle/Getty Images

Houston city leaders abandoned plans to halt cooperation with federal immigration authorities after the Texas state government threatened to withhold $114 million in funds targeted mostly for security at FIFA World Cup matches.

Less than eight weeks before the city’s first World Cup game, the city council voted Wednesday to amend an ordinance that had forbidden police from detaining people subject to deportation warrants.