Texas goes on offense over ban
State files a lawsuit against officials who plan to keep operating as ‘sanctuary cities.’
The Texas attorney general announced Monday that the state had filed a lawsuit against local officials he said were hostile toward a ban on “sanctuary cities” that threatens to punish sheriffs and police chiefs who refuse to cooperate with federal immigration agents.
Atty. Gen. Ken Paxton said the state’s new law, signed a day earlier by Gov. Greg Abbott, was vital to securing the state’s borders.
“Unfortunately, some municipalities and law enforcement agencies are unwilling to cooperate with the federal government and claim that [the law] is unconstitutional,” Paxton said in a statement.
The state’s complaint is a preemptive move against immigrant advocacy groups that have promised to challenge the law, formerly Senate Bill 4, which becomes effective Sept. 1. The law allows police to ask about immigration status during routine stops and threatens authorities with fines and jail time if they do not comply with federal requests.
Opponents have argued that the law is potentially unconstitutional and could lead to officers engaging in racial profiling.
Among the defendants named in the lawsuit is Sheriff Sally Hernandez of Travis County, which includes the state capital, Austin, who said this year she would not voluntarily comply with federal requests to detain people solely on the basis of their immigration status.
Other defendants include Austin Mayor Steve Adler, the interim city manager, Austin’s entire City Council, and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.
“For five months, we’ve been on the sidelines while the Legislature has treated Austin’s safety like a political football,” Adler said in a statement. “I’m glad the action is moving to court where it’s not about politics, it’s about the law. A judge will decide whether the United States of America or Texas determines federal immigration policy and whether local police and prosecutors have the discretion to keep their communities safe.”
Austin City Councilman Gregorio Casar, a Democrat who represents a heavily Latino district, said Republican leaders in Texas were trying to pressure elected officials into betraying their immigrant constituents, but that he and others were committed to fighting the “racist and unconstitutional” law.
Thomas A. Saenz, president and general counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said the lawsuit was frivolous and premature, demonstrating the state’s “apparent high anxiety” about its new law.
Hernandez’s office declined to comment, instead reissuing a statement made when the bill passed the Legislature last week.
“This is not in the best interest of public safety,” Hernandez said. “It ties the hands of our law enforcement agency and pushes victims of crime into the shadows. While I hate seeing a state law like this come to pass, I have always followed the law and that will not change.”
The state’s lawsuit asks the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas to rule that the new law does not violate the 4th Amendment right to protection against unreasonable searches and seizures or the 14th Amendment right to equal protection and is not preempted by federal law.
“Governments throughout Texas have a clear duty to continue holding undocumented and suspected criminal aliens pursuant to [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] detainers,” Paxton, a Republican, said in a statement. “This is a public safety issue that requires swift resolution.”
Law enforcement officials across Texas were revising policies in preparation for the new law.
San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said Monday that his department would remove a policy that prohibits his nearly 2,400 officers from asking about a person’s immigration status. But he warned that the law could endanger public safety by discouraging immigrants from reporting crimes and interacting with law enforcement officers.
“We don’t want people to fly under the radar,” McManus said at a news conference. “We want them to help us solve crimes.… I’m afraid that people will shy away from the police altogether.”
The Republican governor on Sunday hailed the nation’s most sweeping law to target sanctuary cities for immigrants as “doing away with those that seek to promote lawlessness in Texas.”
Sheriffs and police chiefs across Texas have spoken out against the measure, testifying to legislators that it is likely to damage police relations with the community and potentially lead to racial profiling and lawsuits.
The Mexican government also decried what it called the negative effects of the law. The Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the state’s new legislation further criminalizes immigration, “foments acts of racial discrimination” and “contains various elements that could be harmful for the rights of Mexican [citizens] and people of Mexican ancestry” who live in Texas.