Legal News

Texas Considers Taking Federal Immigration Laws to the Local Tailor

By Nathan Koppel

Lawmakers in Texas on Wednesday heard heated testimony over a proposed law that would authorize state and local police officers to ask about the immigration status of suspects who are detained.

Unlike Arizona’s high-profile immigration law, Texas officers would not be required to ask people whether they were legal residents, but the officers also could not be barred from asking that question.

Here’s a Dallas Morning News article and one from AP about the proposed legislation, which is aimed at prohibiting “sanctuary cities” where local law enforcement are barred from enforcing federal immigration laws.

Texas legislator Burt Solomons, who sponsored the bill, said the bill doesn’t require “a police officer to ask one question that they don't think they need to ask in connection with the investigation of a criminal offense," the Morning News reports.

Opponents of the bill said that said that illegal immigrants who are victims of crime or who witness illegal behavior will be reluctant to reach out to law enforcement if they believe officers will require them to produce citizenship papers.

"Our priority should be the safety of all our community members, regardless of our [immigration] status," said Arlington resident Maria Robles of the Coalition for Immigration Reform in North Texas, according to the Morning News.

An estimated 1.6 million illegal immigrants reside in Texas, AP reports, citing data compiled by the Pew Hispanic Center. Last year, a record number of state laws and resolutions were passed designed to curb illegal immigration, according to AP.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on March 03, 2011 (boomark / email).