Thread: Houston, Dallas police oppose immigration bill

Houston, Dallas police oppose immigration bill

Published June 14, 2011

U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agent Sanchez drinks water from a gallon jug as he patrols along the Rio Grande in Penitas, Texas Wednesday, June 8, 2011.

Top police officials from Houston and Dallas told state legislators that a proposed bill meant to crack down on illegal immigration could end up hampering public safety.

They said Monday that they oppose legislation that would free up officers in so-called sanctuary cities to ask about the immigration status of anyone pulled over during a traffic stop, questioned as a witness or otherwise detained.

Houston Police Chief Charles McClelland Jr. and Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez testified at a Senate hearing that the immigration bill the Legislature is likely to approve could make immigrants afraid to report crimes and cause the further crowding of jails.

"Jails should have the room for people we are afraid of, not the people we are upset with," Valdez said.

Gov. Rick Perry added immigration enforcement measures to the call of the Legislature's special session last week and the Senate Transportation and Homeland Security Committee held a public hearing on Monday.


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The bill would prohibit local law enforcement agencies from adopting policies to bar officers from asking people they pull over or otherwise detain whether they are in the country legally.

Agencies that adopted such policies would lose access to state grants.

None of Texas' major cities claims to be a sanctuary city, but many police departments discourage their officers from asking about immigration status.

The bill's sponsor, Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, said police take an oath to uphold the law, both federal and state, and should be freed up to ask about detainees' immigration status because they could catch criminals or aspiring terrorists who slipped into the country.

The bill sends "a loud and clear message to criminal aliens that we will not tolerate their presence in Texas," Williams said.

Monday's hearing was packed with opponents of the bill, who argue that police authority to detain someone is too vague and will lead to racial profiling against Latinos and the further distrust of police among immigrant communities.

"You get a climate of fear," said Olga Garza Kaufman, of San Antonio, who was born in Mexico and later moved to Texas with her family. "My parents were perfectly legal, but they were afraid of police. That's what happens when you have a culture that does not value its immigrants."

Senate Democrats have fiercely opposed the bill and were able to block it during the regular session. But Republicans hold overwhelming majorities in the House and Senate and voting rules that helped Democrats block the bill wouldn't apply in the special session, clearing the way for the bill's likely passage.

Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, suggested it would be unlikely that a white woman with blonde hair and light eyes, such as herself, would be asked about her immigration status during a traffic stop.

McClelland estimated it would cost his department more than $4 million to train 5,000 Houston police on immigration matters and Valdez estimated it would cost her jail an extra $467,000 a month to house immigration violators until they are picked up by federal immigration officers.

Republican committee members tried to rally support for the bill, arguing that it allows but does not mandate immigration status checks and that it wouldn't go as far as other states have in trying to enforce immigration in public schools, rental housing and other areas.

Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, noted that Texas allows illegal immigrants who graduate high school in the state to pay in-state tuition to public universities.

Perry and Senate Republicans have argued that the federal immigration enforcement has failed and that Texas must protect its own borders.

"We go above and beyond," Shapiro said. "There are states all over this country are putting these harsh immigration laws in place in sheer frustration that the federal government has turned a blind eye."

This is based on a story by The Associated Press.

Read more: http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/politi ... z1PFcthuNX
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Man! they just won't give up on that tired excuse: "it could make illegal immigrants afraid to report crimes". BULL! These pro-illegal law enforcement officers just don't want to. If you don't WANT to enforce the law then you are in the WRONG business! It's NOT up to YOU to pick and choose which laws get enforced!

And to be honest such REFUSAL makes me wary of YOU AND your office of which side of the law you are on. That should NOT be the case, you are painting ALL LEO's with this brush when that is certainly not the case. Maybe it's time for these Police Chiefs to step aside and let people who will apply THE LAW equally to take over. ( That's just my opinion)

Need Help Here to Call TX and NC


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