Texas Legislature passes ban on so-called ‘sanctuary cities’

“The Texas sanctuary city ban wins final legislative approval”.

Both the Texas Senate and House have passed strict measures created to prohibit sanctuary cities – but each chamber’s version must now be reconciled before Abbott can sign them into law, according to the Associated Press.

Travis County Sheriff Sally Hernandez has been an outspoken critic of the bill. In an op-ed in the Dallas News, David Pughes, the interim chief of police for Dallas, and Art Acevedo, the chief of police for Houston, said that this bill will create a bigger divide between police and immigrant groups and increase crime against immigrants.

This is the first bill to officially clear all hurdles, but there are still quite a few more left that have a long way to go before reaching the governor’s desk. Brian Bridwell, R-Granbury, also sponsored Senate Bill 21, the accompanying legislation.

“The bill will not immediately take effect because of strong opposition by Democrats in both the Senate and the House”, said Democratic Sen. You know if you ask people on college campuses, ‘How many Senators are there?

SB 4 allows the removal from office sheriffs and police chiefs who refuse to comply with ICE detainer requests.

Governor Greg Abbott released the following statement after the Texas House of Representatives passed a resolution (SJR 2) calling for a Convention of States. It also allows police to check the immigration status of anyone they detain – including children. The measure would effectively reverse some cities’ current policies, which forbid police officers from asking such questions.

One that may still make it: A bill that repeals mandatory state safety inspections for personal vehicles, a step that more than a dozen states already have taken. Immigrant advocates said the bill has some of the nation’s toughest penalties, adding that it’s comparable to Arizona’s 2010 “show me your papers” law, which was later amended. “And I felt it was a racial profiling stop”, Starr said.

Critics of the bill said it would make immigrants afraid to report crimes or participate I police investigations out of fear that they could be deported.

The number of Latinos reporting rape in Houston is down 42.8 percent from a year ago, Garcia said, and reports of other violent crimes has dropped 13 percent, due to fear of deportation. “We will let the court systems figure this out”.

“There are ways to challenge the bill before September to prevent its implementation and we’ll be looking to challenge this as soon as possible”, said Marisa Bono, a staff attorney with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

“Do you not worry?”

When the bill was approved in the Senate, floor discussion focused on classes that are sometimes offered in Houston and elsewhere around Texas that help students obtain Florida gun licenses, since that state’s license will work in Texas but has lower fees.