SAN ANTONIO, Texas (CN) - A federal judge in San Antonio ruled that several provisions of a Texas law that prohibits sanctuary cities and punishes local officials with jail time and removal from office for refusing to cooperate with federal immigration officers are likely unconstitutional.
U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia granted a preliminary injunction Wednesday to several Texas cities, counties, local officials and social justice groups that sued the state to block Senate Bill 4, which was slated to go into effect Friday.
The bill, which was one of Gov. Greg Abbott’s “emergency items” during this summer’s special legislative session, allows local law enforcement to question the immigration status of any “lawfully detained” person, including people stopped for minor offenses such as jaywalking or running a stop sign.
The bill would punish local officials and entities that adopt, enforce or endorse any policy that “materially limits” the enforcement of immigration laws. State and local government officials, including campus police, who violate the law would be subject to Class A misdemeanor charges, punishable by up to a year in jail and fines of $25,000 a day, and they could also be removed from office.
In his 94-page ruling issued late Wednesday, Judge Garcia said that the best interests of the public would be served by “preserving the status quo” and enjoining the portions of SB 4 that, on their face, are preempted by federal law and violate the U.S. Constitution.
“The balance of equities, which explores the relative harms to the parties, tips heavily in plaintiffs' favor,” Garcia said. “The State asserts that it has an interest in implementing and enforcing its enacted laws, but the protection of constitutional rights is paramount.”
The judge added, “As the State concedes, local jurisdictions have been cooperating with federal immigration authorities for decades. Local cooperation, under the rubric of federal law, will not change. But the mandates, prohibitions, penalties, and sanctions under SB 4 impose substantial burdens on local entities that are not imposed under federal law.”
Garcia said that the burden on the state if SB 4 is not implemented and enforced in its entirety on Sept.1 “does not even remotely compare” with the burdens that SB4 would impose on local entities.
In a statement Thursday, Gov. Abbott said the judge’s decision makes “Texas’ communities less safe.”
“Because of this ruling, gang members and dangerous criminals, like those who have been released by the Travis County Sheriff, will be set free to prey upon our communities,” Abbott said.
But throughout the 140-day regular legislative session that ended in May, opponents of the measure, including several police chiefs and sheriffs, told lawmakers that SB 4 would make communities less safe by making immigrants distrustful of police and reluctant to report crimes.
Garcia said in the ruling that there is “overwhelming evidence” to support that view, in addition to ample evidence that parts of the state would suffer adverse economic consequences if the law were to take effect.
The judge said that, at the end of the day, the Legislature is “free to ignore the pleas of city and county officials, along with local police departments, who are in the trenches and neighborhoods enforcing the law on a daily and continuing basis.”