Foes of ‘sanctuary city’ law prepare for legal challenge

AUSTIN — Civil rights groups vigorously opposed to Texas’s new anti-”sanctuary cities” law — which would allow the jailing of sheriffs and police chiefs if they refuse to cooperate with federal immigration authorities — expect to file within the next two weeks long-awaited lawsuits seeking to block the measure, they said.

They are prepared to ask a federal judge to temporarily halt the law’s enforcement until the court can undertake a broader review of its constitutionality, while Republican state leaders who passed the law remain confident they will prevail.

The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, a constant thorn in Republicans’ sides from earlier legal battles, is expected to play a key role in the litigation over Senate Bill 4, which will allow police officers to question people about their immigration status if they are detained during routine interactions. Gov. Greg Abbott, who believes the law is legally sound, signed the bill May 7.

Thomas A. Saenz, MALDEF’s president and lead attorney, focused on a provision of the law that commits the state to use taxpayer money to defend every local entity that could be sued for incorrectly honoring a federal detainer request. In such a case, Saenz said, a police department could mistakenly hold the wrong person because they have a similar or identical name than the person’s listed on the detainer request, which would be a clear violation of constitutional rights.

“Lawsuits challenging and blocking the law before its implementation, while costly for the state, will actually save Texas money,” he said in a conference call with allied groups Wednesday.

Long before it won approval, Democrats drew parallels between SB 4 and a handful of notable immigration-related proposals passed by Republican legislatures, particularly in Alabama and Arizona, over the years that essentially use local police to target immigrants in the country illegally and help drive them out of the country.

Janet Murguía, the president and CEO of the National Council of La Raza, anticipated that SB 4’s legal challenge could differ from previous lawsuits due to Texas’s second-largest-inthe-country Latino population, which includes an estimated 11 million people.

“The most significant difference between Texas’ law and its counterparts is the sheer size of the number of people who now have targets on their backs because of this law,” she said.