AG Ken Paxton sues San Antonio, saying the city is violating Texas' anti-"sanctuary cities" law
The attorney general's office seeks more than $11 million in fines against San Antonio and accuses the city of "thwarting federal immigration enforcement."
by Emma Platoff Nov. 30, 2018Updated: 2 hours ago Texas is suing the city of San Antonio for an alleged violation of the state’s new anti-“sanctuary cities†law, in the state’s first enforcement action against a city under the controversial statue.
The lawsuit, filed Friday in Travis County District Court, centers on a December 2017 incident when San Antonio police discovered a trailer carrying 12 individuals from Guatemala who were suspected of being undocumented. The city’s police department charged the driver with smuggling of persons, but released the migrants without involving federal immigration authorities, as the new law requires, according to the state’s lawsuit.
The 2017 "sanctuary cities" law, known as Senate Bill 4, says police departments can't bar their officers from questioning the immigration status of people they detain or arrest. It also punishes local government department heads and elected officials who don’t cooperate with federal immigration "detainers" — requests by agents to turn over immigrants subject to possible deportation
San Antonio’s police department policy states that officers will not refer individuals to Immigration and Customs and Enforcement unless they have a federal deportation warrant. That policy, the Texas lawsuit claims, “prohibits and materially limits the enforcement of immigration laws.â€
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https://www.texastribune.org/2018/11/30/texas-ag-ken-paxton-sues-san-antonio-over-sanctuary-city-law/
