President Trump has talked for a while about his desire to ban sanctuary cities, and Texas has turned out to be the trailblazer of the effort. This week, Texas’ Republican governor Greg Abbott signed a state law banning sanctuary cities. The Texas legislature, which meets every two years, is in session this spring, and the law was one of Abbott’s major goals for this session. When the session opened in January, Abbott immediately deemed it an emergency agenda item.
So what is a sanctuary city? In short, it’s a local government that prevents police from enforcing federal immigration laws.
The Texas law does several things:
- Prevents local entities like universities who have their own police forces from directing officers to look the other way regarding immigration status
- Charges local officers who protect sanctuary cities with a criminal offense and steep fines (as much as $25,000 daily)
- Allows officers to question immigration status, even a routine traffic stop
- Removes from office those government officials (elected or appointed) who circumvent the new law
Opponents of the law say sanctuary cities are not a problem in Texas, and vow to fight the new law in court, and they give a whole host of reasons why the law won’t work. They argue that it subjects people to rampant racial profiling and would therefore alienate nearly half the state population.
They also argue it would essentially turn police officers into immigration officials and take them away from the more important tasks like protecting citizens and communities from violent crime. This could also then sour the relationship between police officers and the minority community.
As you might have guessed, Abbott was of course immediately condemned, with opponents like the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) describing the law as a “colossal blunder”. Spokesperson Thomas Saenz even went further by describing the lawmakers who championed the bill as “racist” and “small-hearted.”
Texas American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) executive director Terri Burke said, “This racist and wrongheaded piece of legislation ignores our values, imperils our communities and sullies our reputation as a free and welcoming state. We will fight this assault in the courts, at the ballot box, and in the streets if we have to.”
Sheridan Aguirre is a member of United We Dream, an immigrant youth network that issued this written statement after Abbott signed the bill: “With SB 4, Texas Republicans have cemented their reputation among generations of young Latinos and people of color to come. We’ve made up our minds — we will not be silenced and we will remember who terrorized our families.”
Democratic critics launched very personal attacks against Abbott, saying he chose Sunday night to sign the bill on purpose, as a slap in the face to the mostly Christian Texas Latinos who worship on Sunday. Abbott himself is Catholic, and is usually supported on other issues like abortion by the Texas Conference of Catholic Bishops. However, this time, Abbott and the bishops do not see eye to eye—the bishops strongly oppose the bill and on Friday asked Abbott to veto it.
Despite the political and personal attacks, Abbott remains steadfast and counters his opponents by saying, “Texans expect us to keep them safe, and that is exactly what we are going to do by me signing this law.” Abbott signed the law on May 7 live on social media, a first for a Texas governor. Abbott’s staff chose Facebook to reach a wider audience, and it worked—there were 400,000 views within an hour of the signing.
Abbott went on to counter detractors by saying that the law is iron-clad: “We’ve addressed possible challenges; the key provisions in the bill have been tested at the U.S. Supreme Court and approved.”
Abbott, who has steadfastly advocated for much stricter enforcement of immigration law, considers Sunday night’s signing a major victory, as do his supporters on the issue, who say it has been long overdue in keeping criminal immigrants off Texas streets and from committing more serious crimes.
Abbott concludes, “It simply makes sense. Citizens expect law enforcement officers to enforce the law, and citizens deserve lawbreakers to face legal consequences.”
~ Christian Patriot Daily
