Bill to outlaw “sanctuary cities” may lead to civil rights suits,

TALLAHASSEE — A bill in the Legislature to outlaw “sanctuary cities” would also force some sheriffs and jail workers to break with judicial precedent, opening cities and counties up to civil rights lawsuits.

The bill, championed by House Speaker Richard Corcoran, would require police to honor all requests by Immigration and Customs Enforcement to hold undocumented immigrants — even though federal judges have repeatedly ruled such holds unconstitutional.

It’s “flat-out unlawful,” Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said.

“You can’t do that,” he said of requiring police to abide by a state law that conflicts with federal rulings. “That doesn’t withstand federal law.”

With strong backing from Corcoran, however, the bill is expected to pass the House. That will allow Corcoran to later tout his conservative credentials in a GOP primary for governor, where an overwhelming majority of voters support tougher measures.

In the past two years, versions of the bill didn’t even make it to Senate committee hearings. But with Corcoran’s Senate rival, Sen. Jack Latvala, R-Clearwater, out of the picture after resigning over sexual harassment accusations, the bill’s odds might be better this session.

If so, it would not only change how some police interact with ICE, but it also would prevent any communities from changing it.

Casting a vote in favor of any “sanctuary” policy — essentially, anything that impedes immigration agents from doing their jobs — could subject them to thousands of dollars in fines and allow the governor to remove them from office.

The bill’s House sponsor, Larry Metz, R-Yalaha, compared it with a city council going against federal law by voting to legalize cocaine.

“Would that be a legal vote?” Metz said. “Once you make something expressly illegal, they [officials] should be held accountable for that.”

It’s unclear how many police departments would have to change to comply with ICE detainers. A 2016 report from the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida found at least 30 police departments that limit how often they honor detention requests, but many have changed their policies since President Donald Trump has been elected, including MiamiDade County.

When police arrest someone, they often check with ICE to see if ICE would like to keep them. ICE will sometimes ask for the person to be held for 48 hours after they would normally be released, giving agents enough time to pick up them up or check out their immigration status.

But at least a dozen federal judges have ruled that if the 48-hour hold is not accompanied by a warrant, it is nothing more than a request, and since a request is not a legal basis for holding someone, it’s a violation of their Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable searches and seizures.

“It puts localities in a terrible bind,” said Shalini Agarwal, managing attorney for the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Florida office. “Either they have to pay tens of thousands of dollars in fines, or else follow this sanctuary cities bill and expose themselves to legal liability.”

Metz said his bill complies with the law, since ICE has recently changed how it handles detainer requests.