The Texas House State Affairs Committee has approved and sent to the full House a watered down bill outlawing so called 'Sanctuary Cities,' News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
The House bill retains State Senate language which calls for criminal charges and the potential jailing and removal from office of any Sheriff, Police Chief, or other city or County officials who refuses to cooperate fully with Immigration 'detainers,' which are requests by immigration officials to hold county jail inmates who are set to be released so Immigration officials can process them for deportation.
But, unlike the Senate version, the House bill only requires local police and deputies to inquire about the immigration status of a person who has been arrested. The Senate version requires that the immigration status of all individuals who are 'detained' by local police, including those who are pulled over for traffic violations, be checked, and individuals who are considered 'witnesses.'
Despite the changes the Texas Democratic Party denounced the bill as the 'Trump Deportation Force.'
“S.B. 4 is rotten at its core," party Deputy Executive Director Manny Garcia said. "It will morally and economically bankrupt our great state. Regardless of what Texas Republicans do now, under the glare of disgusted Texans, there’s no fixing this Trump deportation force bill. This is not the Texas we know and love.”
A bill to eliminate Sanctuary Cities is among the top priorities of Gov. Abbott, who says no local officials have the right to violate federal law. Many local law enforcement officials point out that honoring immigration detainers is not the law, and say that if they become known in neighborhoods as agents of federal Immigration officers, it will severely damage their ability to get witnesses to crimes, for example, to talk with them.
The measure now goes to the full House, but would have to be reconciled with the tougher Senate version before going to Gov. Abbott's desk for his signiture.