Texas Sanctuary Cities Ban: San Antonio PD to drop policy, Mexico blasts new state law

Texas charged to the forefront of the national debate over immigration as Republican Gov. Greg Abbott signed a so-called “sanctuary cities” ban that lets police ask during routine stops whether someone is in the U.S. legally and threatens sheriffs with jail if they don’t cooperate with federal immigration agents.

Abbott signed the measure on Facebook Live Sunday evening without advance notice, which critics said was to avoid protesters.

The law allows police to inquire about the immigration status of anyone they detain, a situation that can range from arrest for a crime to being stopped for a traffic violation.

It also requires police chiefs and sheriffs – under the threat of jail and removal from office – to comply with federal requests to hold criminal suspects for possible deportation. Republicans have a strong majority in the Legislature and shoved aside Democratic objections, even as President Donald Trump’s efforts to withhold federal funding for sanctuary cities have hit roadblocks in federal courts.

“Let’s face it, the reason why so many people come to America is because we are a nation of laws and Texas is doing its part to keep it that way,” Abbott said.

The Mexican government is expressing regret over the ban on so-called sanctuary cities, saying the law could step on the rights of its citizens who choose to live just across the border.

The Secretary of Foreign Relations on Monday said in a statement the law “criminalizes even more the phenomenon of immigration.” It says the law foments racial discrimination and will reduce collaboration between police and immigrant communities.

Mexico is Texas’ largest trading partner and shares close ties with the state.

Meantime, San Antonio’s police chief says the department will abandon its policy of prohibiting officers in the nation’s seventh-largest city from asking about a person’s immigration status due to Texas’ new law banning so-called sanctuary cities.

Chief William McManus on Monday ripped Republican lawmakers over the law signed Sunday night, which opponents say is the nation’s most anti-immigrant law since an Arizona crackdown in 2010.

Texas’ law takes effect in September and will allow police officers to ask about a person’s immigration status during routine stops. McManus says that could include people even stopped for jaywalking.

He says a written department policy prohibiting questions about immigration status was added several years ago following community meetings. Abbott says the law will help fulfill a duty to keep “dangerous criminals off our streets.”

Texas is the nation’s second most populous state, and opponents say Hispanics will now be subjected to racial profiling and predicted the law will have a chilling effect on immigrant families.

The bill won’t take effect until Sept. 1. Terri Burke, executive director of the ACLU of Texas, said “we will fight this assault in the courts” and the ballot box. Abbott said key provisions of the bill had already been tested at the U.S. Supreme Court, which struck down several components of Arizona’s law but allowed the provision permitting police to ask about immigration status.

The term “sanctuary cities” has no legal definition, but Republicans want local police to help federal immigration agents crack down on criminal suspects in the U.S. illegally. Some Democrats said the timing of the signing particularly stung after three recent federal court rulings that found intentional discrimination in Republican-passed voting laws.