Sessions: Texas has taken a 'leadership role' on immigration
Sessions: Texas has taken a 'leadership role' on immigration
By Alejandra Matos
Updated 4:07 pm, Friday, October 20, 2017
Photo: John Locher, STF
FILE - In this July 12, 2017, file photo, Attorney General Jeff Sessions speaks to federal, state and local law enforcement officials about sanctuary cities and efforts to combat violent crime, in Las Vegas. The Justice Department escalated its promised crackdown on so-called sanctuary cities on July 25, saying it will no longer give cities coveted grant money unless they give federal immigration authorities access to jails and provide advance notice when someone in the country illegally is about to be released. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)
AUSTIN — U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions praised Texas lawmakers and Gov. Greg Abbott for taking a tough stance against illegal immigration and defended a controversial state law that outlawed sanctuary cities.
In a speech to law enforcement officials Friday, Sessions commended the state for passing Senate Bill 4. The law gives police officers greater freedom to ask people about their immigration status, and mandates cooperation with federal immigration authorities.
The law went into effect Sept. 1, but parts of it are remain tied up in the courts. The Department of Justice filed a brief earlier this month in favor of the law.
"I am confident that Texas will prevail in court," Session said. "But I would urge every so-called sanctuary jurisdiction to reconsider their policies."
Vowing to get rid of what he called the most "generous immigration laws in the world," Sessions outlined the Trump administration's immigration policies, released earlier this month. They include funding of the border wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, a crackdown on the influx of Central American minors and limits on funding to "sanctuary cities."
Trump last month put an end to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which gave young immigrants brought to the country illegally by their parents a work permit and a reprieve from deportation.
"It's the kind of bold agenda that the American people have been waiting for," Sessions said. "It is reasonable and it will work."
Sessions said those policies are necessary to carry out law and order in the country. He highlighted several crimes involving immigrants living in the country illegally, including the 2011 death of Houston police officer Kevin Will.
Johoan Rodriguez, who was not a legal citizen, was intoxicated and drove his vehicle through a police barricade, killing Will. Rodriguez was sentenced to 55 years in prison.
"Officer Will's last words were telling someone to get out of the way of the car," Session said. "He died protecting innocent people."
The sound of dozens of protesters in front of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Texas echoed through the room as Sessions delivered his speech.
Some held signs of Sessions dressed as a Klansman They also laid down a sheet made out to look like a white robe and hood, and protesters stomped on it.
Lizeth Urdiales, 22 of Austin, was recovering from surgery, but wanted to support her friends and family at the protest.
"I'm just here participating and taking it slow, but also doing what I can," she said. “With everything that I’ve been through, I wanted to make sure I did everything I could to be here for my friends and my family and my community. It’s important for all of us to take up that opportunity.”
Urdiales said she does not agree that the U.S. immigration system is as "generous" as Sessions claims.
"I know what it’s composed of and what it’s like to go through," she said. "The U.S. policy is complicated to exclude countries with black or brown people.”
Astrid Dominguez, immigrants' rights strategist for the ACLU of Texas, said in a statement that Sessions' remarks were fraught with scare-mongering, misinformation and scapegoating.
"In fact, the only undisputable statement Mr. Sessions made today was that law enforcement is not the problem," she said. "He is the problem. Governor Abbott is the problem. President Trump is the problem."
Paul Cobler contributed to this report.
http://www.chron.com/news/politics/texas/article/Sessions-Texas-has-taken-a-leadership-role-on-12294016.php
