Bill would require local police to enforce immigration to get money
The Brownsville Herald
AUSTIN – Police and sheriffs would have to “fully enforce” federal immigration law if they want a piece of the $100 million the House is proposing to spend on increased border security, under a bill that passed committee Thursday.
The author of House Bill 13 by Rep. David Swinford, R-Dumas, said he does not intend to force local law-enforcement officers to enforce federal crime.
“We are not and will not ask our local officials to go out and enforce immigration laws because it is not theirs,” Swinford said.
But the bill itself says cities cannot adopt policies or ordinances that say they won’t “fully enforce the laws of this state or federal law relating to: drugs… or immigrants or immigration.”
If they do, they won’t get the money.Swinford also said cities that adopt policies saying they won’t enforce immigration policy are breaking the law.
“The city can have a warm and fuzzy policy, but let me tell you … the city council cannot go over there and override state and federal law, cannot do it,” he said.
The bill passed the House State Affairs Committee 6-2. It also allows local police departments to send their officers to be trained by the federal government as immigration officers. The state would not pay for the training.
Civil rights advocates, border lawmakers and police said they were not pleased with the bill.
Brownsville Police Chief Carlos Garcia said he would consider putting officers through immigration training with the federal government, but it is unlikely he would have the money or manpower to do so because he already struggles to find enough qualified officers.
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This effort is part of a growing number of state and local initiatives meant to pick up where the federal government lacks the will to enforce the law.