Maverick County Sheriff Tom Schmerber and Constable Mario A. Hernandez Join as Plaintiffs in Federal Lawsuit Challenging Texas’ Senate Bill 4 Law on Sanctuary Cities
By: Miguel Munoz, Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc., Copyright 2017
Maverick County Sheriff Tom Schmerber and Maverick County Constable Precinct 3-AB Mario A. Hernandez joined as Plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit filed on Monday, May 8, 2017, in the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, San Antonio Division, in San Antonio, Texas, challenging the legality and constitutionality of the controversial Texas Senate Bill 4 Law on Sanctuary Cities signed into law by Governor Gregg Abbott on Sunday, May 7, 2017, after being approved by both the Texas House of Representatives and Senate.
Sheriff Schmerber and Constable Hernandez join the City of El Cenizo, Texas (Webb County), Mayor Raul L. Reyes of the City of El Cenizo, Texas, and the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) in the federal lawsuit filed on May 8th in the San Antonio, Texas federal district court requesting declaratory and injunctive relief against the State of Texas, Texas Governor Gregg Abbott, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, and other as-yet-unnamed Texas State Officials for “legal violations…in connection with their enactment, administration, enforcement (both threatened and actual) of Texas Senate Bill 4, signed into law by the Governor of Texas on May 7, 2017 (SB 4): (a) Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution; (b) Article I, Section 8, Clause 4 of the United States Constitution; (c) Article VI, Clause 2, of the United States Constitution; and (d) the Due Process requirements of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution.”
Texas Senate Bill 4 Sanctuary Cities law has received strong criticism from Texas law enforcement agencies, Latino Civil Rights and Advocacy Groups, the American Immigration Lawyers Association, Texas business groups, and the American Immigrant community. Among the concerns expressed about Senate Bill 4 include that it will cause city, county, and state law enforcement agencies to commit racial profiling and discrimination against Latinos, African-Americans, and all non-Anglo-Caucasian people; that it will cause city, county, and state law enforcement agencies to lose trust and cooperation from Immigrants in reporting and combatting criminal activities and have to enforce federal immigration laws reserved for federal agencies such as U.S. Department of Homeland Security; that it will cause city, county, and state law enforcement agencies a significant financial impact to enforce, detain, and incarcerate Immigrants for federal agencies; that it will penalize city, county, and state law enforcement agencies with fines and criminal penalties if they fail to enforce SB 4; that Immigrant families will be separated and broken up; that businesses will lose significant labor supply and increase their cost of business; and that peoples’ constitutional rights will be violated because the law is unconstitutional.
On the other hand, Texas Governor Gregg Abbott and Republicans contend that SB 4 simply requires city, county, and state law enforcement agencies to enforce and comply with federal immigration laws.
Texas Civil Rights groups argue that SB 4 is a continuation of Texas Republicans discriminatory attack on the growing Latino, African-American, minorities, and Immigrant communities in Texas, such as other Texas Laws like the Voter ID law being struck down as intentionally discriminating against Latinos, African-Americans, minorities, elderly, and college students from voting; and the intentionally discriminatory re-districting of Texas political districts like Congressional and State-wide districts to dilute Latinos, African-American, and minorities representation in state and federal government.
The federal petition alleges that “Plaintiffs further seek a declaration that they and their local governments comply with Title 8, Section 1373, of the United States Code (Section 1373) and that the State of Texas has violated the meaning and intent of Congressional enactments, and therefore sought to extend its authority into a filed pre-empted by federal law, insofar as State work with local entities in connection with Immigration enforcement has been impermissibly extended by the State to force legal government entities and officials to cooperate with State officials in a way that does, and is intended to, violate federal law, both constitutional and statutory. The State of Texas acts unconstitutionally when it acts to compel and coerce its local government and officials to violate federal law.”
The federal lawsuit alleges that Texas “SB 4 is a severe invasion of Plaintiffs’ sovereign rights as local governments to form their own laws and policies, without being commandeered by federal agencies and officials, even when officials of the State of Texas deputize themselves as subservient to the federal officials willing to enforce federal officials’ dictates regardless of legality. SB 4 not only interferes with Plaintifffs’ ability to direct the official actions of its officers and employees but also threatens new consequences for failing to comply with Section 1373. In this action, Plaintiffs seeks declaratory relief that SB 4 as it applies to Section 1373 is unconstitutional on its face and as applied to local governments and law enforcement agencies in general and specifically to Sanctuary City laws such as Plaintiff’s. The State of Texas and Governor Gregg Abbott may not commandeer state and local officials to enforce federal law, any more than federal officials may do so.”
The lawsuit alleges that Texas SB 4 Law “does not define the term ‘Sanctuary Cities,’ but the term is generally used by Texas officials to refer to policies seen as giving safe harbor to undocumented immigrants by failing to cooperate with federal Immigration officials to the full extent demanded by them, regardless of federal statutory and constitutional constraints.”
Plaintiffs request a preliminary injunction and a permanent injunction against Texas SB 4 being enforced and that SB 4 be declared unconstitutional.
Plaintiffs are represented by Attorney Luis Roberto Vera, Jr. of San Antonio, Texas. The State of Texas will most likely be represented by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton..
Texas Governor Gregg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton actually anticipated that the controversial SB 4 was going to be challenged that they filed their own federal lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, Austin Division, in Austin, Texas, requesting that SB 4 be declared constitutional on Monday, May 8,, 2017.
Now, there are two federal lawsuits filed regarding the controversial SB 4 and more are expected to be filed in the near future.
