From the “if only they were” file comes this entry featuring Austin-area Republican State Rep. Paul Workman. Under the guise of reporting to constituents what he’s doing, Workman has this curious tidbit under the heading “Sanctuary Cities”:
Several governmental entities in Texas, including Travis County, have adopted or intend to adopt “sanctuary city” policies that purposefully hinder or prohibit local law enforcement cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs and prohibit officers from inquiring about a person’s immigration status. The Texas Legislature is working on legislation that would prevent local policies from undercutting the enforcement of immigration law made at the federal and state level. We are working to address this issue by:
- Prohibiting municipalities, counties, special districts, local entity employees, and district attorneys from adopting rules, orders, ordinances or policies that prohibit or discourage the enforcement of state and federal immigration laws.
- Requiring local entities to cooperate with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) regarding criminal illegal aliens.<
- Ensuring that law enforcement agencies must notify the magistrate or judge if the federal government has identified a person as an undocumented alien or if a federal detainer request has been issued.
- Denying state grant funds or issuing a monetary penalty to local entities that are found to be in violation of the law.
Notice how he references the “Texas Legislature” as being at work… That’s significant because the Texas House, where Workman is a member, isn’t doing anything on that issue or really any other.
The Texas Senate, meanwhile, passed to the Texas House on February 8 a ban on sanctuary cities. As of February 20, the day Workman sent his letter, that legislation is currently sitting on House Speaker Joe Straus’ desk. It hasn’t even been referred to a committee. What that means is that while the Texas Senate has literally done everything it can do on the matter, Workman and the leadership team he so vocally supports is literally doing nothing.
