Chief, city acted within the law
Senate Bill 4, the so-called anti-sanctuary cities bill, was always a bad idea. The fact that the attorney general is using the law to file a lawsuit against San Antonio simply validates that.
The bill is counterproductive in that it creates a fear-saturated environment in which immigrants distrust local law enforcement, which means they will not come forward to report crimes or agree to be witnesses in court to those crimes. The lawsuit performs the same odious duty because it would have had San Antonio Police Chief William McManus hand the immigrants, suspected of being smuggled, over to immigration authorities, after which, how could they not fear deportation. This lawsuit simply adds to the fear — telling immigrants that local law enforcement will, in all cases, become enforcers of federal immigration laws.
The measure tells police departments they cannot bar officers from inquiring about immigration status of those they detain or arrest. And it says that officials of local governments who don’t honor “detainer” requests from federal immigration authorities can be jailed and fined.
The San Antonio Police Department will not hand over suspected immigrants without a federal deportation warrant. This is as it should be. To do otherwise, in our view, would violate rights. This lawsuit stems from a December 2017 incident in which San Antonio police were alerted to a possible smuggling operation. When police arrived, a dozen Guatemalan immigrants were still there. Police arrested the driver. McManus, the lawsuit alleges, released the immigrants to a private entity rather than turning them over to immigration authorities. And the attorney general seems to object to the legal advice these immigrants received as a result. So, when is getting legal counsel thwarting the law?
The attorney general says that the driver has not been prosecuted. But police make arrests and county prosecutors prosecute. At the time, RAICES — the private entity that took in the immigrants — said they would be available to talk to authorities.
In treating these immigrants as victims rather than making police officers an arm of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), McManus was honoring legal process, not violating it.
We have no idea how this lawsuit — which could levy as much as much as $11.6 million in fines against the city — will end. We do know that the fear this law — and, now, this lawsuit — spark will make communities less safe.
McManus and the city acted within the law. If courts rule otherwise, fear wins.