Texas Senate OKs bill to effectively abolish sanctuary cities

A bill that withholds state dollars for sanctuary cities in which police fail to enforce immigration laws at the request of federal officials cleared the Texas Senate on Wednesday.

Under Senate Bill 4, law enforcement in cities, counties and on college campuses would have to hold an arrested person in custody while US Customs and Immigration Enforcement looks into his or her immigration status. If the entities fail to do so, they could be denied state grant money.
On Tuesday, Texas state senators approved the bill along party lines, with 20 Republicans backing it and 11 Democrats opposed. The bill went through a procedural vote Wednesday before heading to the House.
"Elected officials do not get to pick and choose which laws they will obey," Republican Gov. Greg Abbott said in a prepared statement after the Tuesday vote. "Today's action in the Senate helps ensure that Sheriffs and officials across Texas comply with federal immigration laws and honor Immigration and Custom Enforcement detainer requests that keep dangerous criminals off of our streets."

The measure comes just days after President Donald Trump signed an executive order that strips sanctuary states and cities of federal funding if they "attempt to shield aliens from deportation."

Perry's bill would also allow crime victims to sue local officials who release immigrants that the feds suspect are in the country without proper documents -- if those people go on to commit felonies within 10 years of their release.

so does this mean EVERY arrested person will be detained and made to verify citizenship/immigration status? Will this require additional manpower?

Sure that's real? What does Perry have to do with anything in Texas law?

It means following and enforcing the laws that we have.

I think that was a previous bill introduced but was not acted on.

Here is the story.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/07/us/texas-sanctuary-city-fight/

so, this is the law in Texas?

" law enforcement in cities, counties and on college campuses would have to hold an arrested person in custody while US Customs and Immigration Enforcement looks into his or her immigration status "

that seems like a lot of manpower hours,,,, lets see if it has any impact upon anything,,,,

looking at it practically, unless TEXAS also has a law requiring everyone carry id everywhere and at all times,,,,,, I could be arrested for public intoxication walking in a park

without ID, I would have to give them my name and sit through some questions that help them Identify me specifically and then also verify somehow that I had not just given the name of someone else I knew. That seems like it would require man hours and technology and enough to handle EVERY arrest made,,,,

but whatever makes Texans feel better,,,,their state and their call

It's still a bill but will likely pass. The real teeth in the thing is
making it possible to prosecute and sue local officials who do not comply with the state and federal laws. This will create a self enforcing environment.

their talking about an hour at most in delays.. the computers are pretty fast now, so the biometrics come back faster...

yea, better to stay where you are.

yea, weed is legal in Nevada now... i might have to move there...

Sanctuary cities harbor fugitives (illegals) they should get help and should be held accountable for it. Glad Texas is trying to step up

agreed... either follow the laws, or have anarchy... the liberals seem to want to choose which laws to follow and not follow...

Exactly! How Texas does it is our business. Illegals can go to other states and they can pay in sanctuary cities. Shouldn't collect federal money for breaking the law. I bet if they make the tax payers of the cities pay, there would be an uprising

pick me up on the way

I hope so, and if found to be illegal, since it is a boarder state a good drop kick should land their a**es back where they belong.

Go Texas :)

Would be nice to see 49 other states to follow.
I am all for "LEGAL" immigration. Totally against illegal

Well said

I'd be more interested in the practical application too.

I mean:

As shown by the Obama administration, when AZ tried to do something like this, ICE wouldn't show up.
AZ would detain/arrest people, call ICE, and ICE would just ignore the request...until the clock ran out for the legal time limit allowed for them to hold people, necessitating release.

So does this mean the state law means indefinite detainment until ICE shows up? Days, weeks, months, years? Stop illegal immigration and the economic damage by spending 30k a year to detain them until we can determine they're here illegally so we can spend a bunch more money to deport them?

Obama already helped set the legal precedent that it's completely illegal for state/local law enforcement to ask people if they're illegal.
Obama already helped set the legal precedent that even if someone confesses to being an illegal immigrant to state enforcement it doesn't "count."
That only federal officers are allowed to determine if someone is legal or illegal.
State law enforcement can't just call up ICE and say "hey, we gots us a list here o'names fer yous ta check yer database, tell us which ones is ill-legal and den come pick em up."

All state officials can legally do is detain/arrest someone, call ICE and say "we suspect this person is an illegal. Can you come determine that for us?"
And god help the enforcement agency that bases their suspicion of illegal based on the illegal telling them they're illegal, or because they don't speak english, or may be a "victim" of some kind of profiling.
What is legally allowed to elicit suspicion warranting a call to ICE is vague compared to what can't be used.

ICE has to go in and interview each detainee, or it's not complying with federal law.
In sweeps in AZ the sheriff would have dozens to more than a hundred people at any one time in jail waiting for ICE to come interview.
And there are currently only like 5,000 ICE agents.


That's kind of a meaningless proposal.
How are state agencies supposed to know the people the feds suspect of being here illegally? Especially if they aren't allowed to determine if someone is here illegally, and suspicion of illegality is limited?
Do the feds maintain a database of all individuals that are illegally in the country? Does state law enforcement have direct unfettered access to some kind of federal suspicious person population databases?


IMO (based on the OP) the law Texas passed seems more like pandering to constituents while not really doing anything meaningful.
Passing something to pass something to look like they're doing something while it's not really going to do or change anything at all.

If you go thru the legal process, go thru the vetting... then welcome :)...that is what America is all about.

You want to sneak across our boarder, totally give the finger to our laws, then you have absolutely no right to b*t*h when you get caught and deported.... none.. zero.

People forget (or don't care) about one thing.

We have no idea who these people are.. what they were like back in their country. what ( if any ) crimes they committed back there. That is what the vetting and legal process is all about.

So now we have over 200,000 illegal aliens sitting in our prisons and jails. God only knows how many more out loose on the streets. Mostly hard core gang bangers. Do you really think they were alter boys back home?, that they were not doing the same thing there?

And these are the people who the bleeding hearts open their arms too

Unbelievable!