Texas Legislature: Sanctuary cities bill may die

by Zahira Torres \ Austin Bureau
Posted: 05/24/2011 12:22:36 AM MDT

AUSTIN -- A so-called sanctuary cities bill -- identified as a priority by Gov. Rick Perry -- may be headed to its death.

That is, unless Republican leaders bypass tradition and rules in the state Senate to pass the measure, which would help shore up the party's conservative flank.

The bill puts local governments at risk of losing state grant funding and being sued if they establish a policy that keeps law-enforcement and other employees from questioning the immigration status of people they detain or arrest.

Under the bill, individual officers could enforce immigration laws, even if their bosses believe that duty should stay within the purview of the federal government.

Wednesday is the last day for bills to pass in the Senate, and 21 votes are needed for legislation to be debated on the floor.

Republicans, who make up 19 of the 31 members of the Senate, need the help of two Democrats. But the Senate's 12 Democrats on Monday released a joint letter signaling that they are united against the measure and that their Republican counterparts would have to run them over to pass the "Arizona-style" legislation.

They said the bill would lead to racial profiling and cited a study by the Center for American Progress, which found that "four months after the passage of SB 1070 in Arizona, cancellations of conventions alone cost Arizona $45 million."

Normally, the lack of votes for debate in the Senate is enough to kill a bill, but death is never a sure thing in the TexasLegislature.
Republicans can break with tradition, suspend legislative rules and force the measure through without the minority party. Democrats, though, can talk the bill to death through a filibuster to exceed the midnight deadline for passage.

But Republicans can still attach the measure to another bill as an amendment in conference committee as long as it is ruled germane.

State Sen. JosĂ© RodrĂ*guez, D-El Paso, said Democratic senators are not alone in their opposition to the sanctuary cities bill.

"There's a lot of Republicans who don't like it, who don't support it but feel pressure to do so because the governor has been so vocal about it," he said.

Perry made the anti-sanctuary-cities legislation an "emergency item" after winning his re-election campaign last year against former Houston mayor Bill White, a Democrat.

Perry, who has denied speculation that he may be considering a bid for president, can revive the issue in a special session if it fails to clear the Legislature by Monday.

Political analysts have said the measure would likely be popular with tea party voters but could alienate Latinos.

State Rep. Burt Solomons, R-Carrollton, who authored the legislation, has said he does not know of any sanctuary cities in Texas. Still, he says local governments cannot "pick and choose which laws to enforce."

No hard and fast definition of what constitutes a sanctuary city has been provided.

"By anyone's definition, El Paso is not a sanctuary city," Mayor John Cook said in a letter sent to some state lawmakers. "The City Council has never adopted policies to interfere with the enforcement of federal laws, nor do we intend to do so in the future."

But a 2006 civil-rights lawsuit puts El Paso County officials in a tougher spot if the bill becomes law.

Back then, former American Civil Liberties Union activist Carl Starr sued the county in federal court after a sheriff's deputy stopped a bus he was riding in and allegedly asked each person to provide proof of citizenship.

The lawsuit led to a settlement that required county officials to establish a clear written policy prohibiting deputies from enforcing civil immigration laws and to train them on the limits of their authority to enforce those laws.

County Attorney Jo Anne Bernal said the sanctuary cities legislation would land the county back in federal court defending against lawsuits.

El Paso County could lose between $7 million and $20 million in grant money if the sanctuary cities bill becomes law, Bernal said. Abolishing the county policy in order to keep state funds would open the door to more lawsuits and lead to an unfunded mandate to train more than 1,000 county employees to enforce federal immigration law, Bernal said.

El Paso County participates in the federal immigration enforcement program called Secure Communities, which checks the immigration status of people booked into Texas jails for serious crimes.

"One of the fallacies of this bill and its whole argument is that there is no definition of what a sanctuary city is," Bernal said. "People think of sanctuary as a situation where you are welcoming and inviting an illegality, and El Paso does not welcome or invite any illegality."

The House nearly two weeks ago passed the sanctuary cities bill. Republican state Rep. Dee Margo is the only El Paso lawmaker who voted for the legislation. He said city and county officials never called him about their opposition to it.

"I am fine with it as is because I don't think it does anything to us," Margo said. "As I've read the bill, I don't see anything that would be harmful to the city or the county."

Margo and other Republicans say the bill does not require officers to enforce immigration law, but rather. gives them the discretion to do so.

Businessman José Luis Mauricio Esparza said such legislation would discourage Mexican investors from expanding their businesses in Texas. El Paso has seen an influx of Mexican businesses sprout up as a result of the violence across the border in Juárez.

"Fortunately, we have New Mexico right next door," Esparza said. "We can go to Las Cruces, but ideally, that is not what we want. We would want to contribute to the economy in El Paso."

Under the bill, any Texan could complain to the state's attorney general if they believe a local government has established a so-called sanctuary city policy. The attorney general could then file a lawsuit against that city.

The stipulations in the bill also apply to police at school districts and hospitals.

So, if two children get in a fight on a campus, school district police could ask about their immigration status.

The bill would "promote a climate of fear in our schools," Ysleta district Superintendent Michael Zolkoski said in a letter. "Learning at the high levels we expect cannot take place when students are afraid."

Law-enforcement leaders in the state have called the bill an unfunded mandate because of the costs to house undocumented immigrants in jails, train officers and fight lawsuits.

They also say the measure would eliminate the trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve, discourage people from reporting crimes and lead to slower response times by law officers.

Zahira Torres may be reached at ztorres@elpasotimes.com; 512-479-6606.

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