Texas Governor Greg Abbott
admonished Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez over her recent decision to
consider honoring immigration detainers on a “case-by-case” basis. The governor
said sanctuary city policies like this will “no longer be tolerated in Texas.”
Governor
Abbott wrote the tersely worded letter to Sheriff Valdez after her decision to
scale back on honoring immigration detainers sent to her jail by the federal
government’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Her announcement was reported by Breitbart Texas on October 12.
“’Sanctuary
City’ policies like those promoted by your recent decision to implement your
own case-by-case immigrant detention plan will no longer be tolerated in
Texas,” Abbott began in his letter attached below. “Your decision to not fully
honor U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) requests to detain
criminal immigrants poses a serious danger to Texans. These detainers provide
ICE with the critical notice and time it needs to take incarcerated immigrants
into federal custody.”
“Your
refusal to fully participate in a federal law enforcement program intended to
keep dangerous criminals off the streets leaves the State no choice but to take
whatever actions are necessary to protect our fellow Texans,” Abbott continued.
“Now more than ever, it is essential that state, federal, and local law
enforcement work collaboratively to protect our fellow Texans and to ensure
that our laws are upheld, not disregarded.”
The
governor laid out actions he and the state of Texas could take in response to
the renegade actions of this sheriff. Those include the following:
- Passing laws that prohibit any policy or action that promotes sanctuary to people in this state illegally.
- Enacting laws that make it illegal for a Sheriff’s Department to not honor a federal immigration detainer request.
- Evaluating the extent to which local taxpayers should foot the bill for local decisions that increase costs for Texas’ health and education systems.
- Amending the Tort Claims Act to ensure counties are fully financially responsible for the actions of any illegal immigrants who are released because the county’s Sheriff failed to honor an ICE detainer request.
Valdez says
her new policy applies only to those who have committed minor offenses. She
issued an order that these inmates not be held the additional 48 hours for ICE
officials as has been done in the past, as reported by Breitbart Texas.
“No matter
what we do, someone is going to get upset,” Valdez told Dallas
Morning News reporters. “We can’t base our decisions on who is
going to get upset with us. We have to base our decisions on what is best for
the whole.” She did not elaborate on how releasing criminal illegal
aliens into the community before ICE is able to determine if there is grounds
for detention or deportation makes her community safer.
Lopez said
that instead of looking at felonies vs. misdemeanors, she would instead base
her decisions on a case-by-case basis.
“Now more
than ever,” Abbott concluded in his letter, “it is essential that state,
federal, and local law enforcement work collaboratively to protect our fellow
Texans and to ensure that our laws are upheld, not disregarded.”
Bob Price serves
as associate editor and senior political news contributor for
Breitbart Texas and is a member of the original Breitbart Texas team.
http://www.breitbart.com/texas/2015/10/26/sanctuary-city-policies-will-no-longer-tolerated-texas-says-governor-abbott/
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