TX: Sanctuary city bills vague on policing

Sanctuary city bills vague on policing

Officers can't check status of immigrants or make arrests
By JASON BUCH
STAFF WRITER
Jan. 25, 2011, 12:27AM

Even if the Legislature abolishes so-called sanctuary cities, something Gov. Rick Perry says needs to be done at the start of the legislative session, police won't have a means of checking immigration status or the authority to arrest illegal immigrants.

Perry has declared banning sanctuary cities an emergency item, which means lawmakers can begin considering the issue in the first 30 days of the legislative session.

Catherine Frazier, a spokeswoman for Perry, said the governor simply wants police officers to have the discretion to ask about immigration status.

Lack of jurisdiction
None of Texas' largest cities has such a law, but most major police departments — including the Texas Department of Public Safety — do not check for immigration status, mostly because state and local police do not have jurisdiction to make arrests on immigration violations.

In November, lawmakers rushed to file bills that address illegal immigration, ranging from legislation that would require police to ask about immigration status in certain circumstances to a proposed law that would make being an illegal immigrant in Texas a misdemeanor trespassing violation.

Police officers in the state's largest cities generally don't address the issue of immigration unless a subject is arrested.

But even if officers on the street are required to ask about immigration status, they don't have any way of verifying that information.

And even if someone admits to being in the country illegally, the most an officer can do is call U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Police in Texas do not have jurisdiction to arrest on immigration violations.

Outcome unclear
"If I don't have any reason to arrest him for whatever I stopped him for, I've got to let him go," said Lon Craft, director of legislative affairs for the Texas Municipal Police Association, which backs the call to ban sanctuary cities .

While police in Austin, Dallas, San Antonio and Houston do not ask about a subject's immigration status, the municipal or county jails in those cities work with ICE to determine if anyone arrested is an illegal immigrant.

In Houston, a police department policy instructs officers not to ask about immigration status until an arrestee is taken to jail.

Dozens of bills have been filed so far on illegal immigration. Several, including one by Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, would deny state grants to cities that don't enforce immigration laws.

Several similar bills have been filed in the House, including one by Rep. Debbie Riddle, R-Tomball, that would allow police to arrest illegal immigrants on trespassing charges.

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