A federal district judge on Wednesday ruled against the state of Texas and halted major provisions of a controversial state-based immigration enforcement law just days before it was scheduled to go into effect.
U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia granted a preliminary injunction of Senate Bill 4, one of Gov. Greg Abbott’s key legislative priorities that seeks to outlaw "sanctuary" entities, the common term for governments that don’t enforce federal immigration laws.
As passed, SB 4 allows local law enforcement officers to question the immigration status of people they detain or arrest and seeks to punish 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. Punishment could come in the form of jail time and penalties that exceed $25,000.
Garcia halted the part of the bill that required jail officials to honor all detainers, and another that prohibits "a pattern or practice that 'materially limits' the enforcement of immigration laws."
Read more at The Texas Tribune: https://www.texastribune.org/2017/08/30/judge-temporarily-blocks-sanctuary-cities-law/