Texas House Passes Draconian Anti-“Sanctuary Cities” Bill

(Press Release) On April 27th, the Texas House passed Senate Bill 4, a dangerous anti-“sanctuary city” bill.

In response, CPPP Executive Director Ann Beeson issued the following statement:

“Today the Texas House of Representatives passed a bill that is counter to Texas values, bad for business, and harmful to children. SB 4 threatens immigrant families and the Texas economy by placing unjust burdens on campus police and local law enforcement to enforce federal immigration law.

“Amendments to the House version of SB 4 passed late in the night will exacerbate the climate of fear in immigrant communities and undermine public safety. The bill now allows police to inquire about immigration status during any lawful detention rather than only after an arrest is made. It also would enable the removal from office of any elected or appointed official found to be in violation, in addition to imposing criminal penalties on local police and sheriffs who refuse to comply with detainer requests.

“We are quite concerned that the bill applies to campus police at Texas colleges and universities. Immigrant students who are able to attend Texas colleges because of the Texas Dream Act paid $58.3 million in tuition and fees at Texas colleges in fiscal year 2015. SB 4 will deprive our state of the many talents of these students, threatening our future economic competitiveness.

“Nearly 2.4 million children in Texas live with one or more parents who is an immigrant, and an estimated 834,000 of these children live with one or more parents who are undocumented. These children deserve to learn and contribute to our state, not to fear their parents will be deported.

“Instead of making communites safer, the bill will drain revenue from Texas cities and counties needed for public safety. The costs to Texas county jails for complying with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement detainer requests totaled $61 million in 2016. The Senate version of the bill provides no support for this cost, while the House bill establishes a grant program to help offset some of these costs – by competing with other important services funded by the Governor’s Criminal Justice Division.

“SB 4 harms immigrant families, public safety and the Texas economy. Its passage marks a dark chapter in Texas history.”