Texas Senate Bill 4 (or Texas SB 4) is a bill that effectively bans

sanctuary cities Sanctuary city (; ) refers to municipal jurisdictions, typically in North America, that limit their cooperation with the national government's effort to enforce immigration law. Leaders of sanctuary cities say they want to reduce fear of deport ...

in the state of

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. It was filed on November 15, 2016, and discussed during the regular session of the

eighty-fifth Texas Legislature The 85th Texas Legislature began on January 10, 2017. All members of the House and Senate were elected in the general election held on November 8, 2016. Party summary Senate House of Representatives Officers Senate * Lieutenant Governor: Dan ...

. Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed the bill into law on May 7, 2017. The law was the subject of several legal challenges, though it remains in effect.

Content

Texas Senate Bill 4 makes it a Class A

misdemeanor A misdemeanor (American English, spelled misdemeanour elsewhere) is any "lesser" criminal act in some common law legal systems. Misdemeanors are generally punished less severely than more serious felonies, but theoretically more so than adm ...

for local officials as well as public colleges and universities to refuse to work with the federal government on immigration enforcement. The bill also fines those in violation beginning at $1,000 and climbing up to $25,500 if the individual or entity continues to violate the law. Texas Senate Bill 4 also allows police officers to check the immigration status of those they detain if they choose.

Bill history

Background

, no city had formally declared "sanctuary" status, but a few did not fully cooperate with federal immigration authorities and drew a negative response from the legislature.Doyin Oyeniyi
Does Texas Have Any Sanctuary Cities?
''Texas Monthly'' (February 11, 2016). Bills seeking to deprive state funding from police departments and municipalities that do not cooperate with federal authorities had been introduced into the Texas Legislature several times. On February 1, 2017, Texas Governor Greg Abbott blocked funding to

Travis County, Texas Travis County is located in south central Texas. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,290,188. It is the fifth-most populous county in Texas. Its county seat is Austin, the capital of Texas. The county was established in 1840 and is na ...

due to its recently implemented ''de facto'' sanctuary city policy. The Travis County incident inspired the passage of Texas Senate Bill 4.

Legislative history

Texas Senate Bill 4 was first introduced into the Texas Legislature on November 15, 2016. It passed the Texas Senate on February 8, 2017, by a vote of 20–10. The bill then went to the

Texas House of Representatives The Texas House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Texas Legislature. It consists of 150 members who are elected from single-member districts for two-year terms. As of the 2010 United States census, each member represents abou ...

, where it passed on April 27, 2017, by a vote of 94–53, with one representative voting "present." Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed the bill into law on May 7, 2017.

Legal challenges

On August 30, 2017, Judge Orlando Luis Garcia of the

United States District Court for the Western District of Texas The United States District Court for the Western District of Texas (in case citations, W.D. Tex.) is a federal district court. The court convenes in San Antonio with divisions in Austin, Del Rio, El Paso, Midland, Pecos, and Waco. It has juri ...

blocked certain sections of Senate Bill 4 from going into effect, including the part requiring local officials to honor federal detainers. The State of Texas appealed the ruling and on September 25, 2017, the

United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (in case citations, 5th Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following federal judicial districts: * Eastern District of Louisiana * M ...

ruled that those provisions could temporarily go into effect as the court heard the arguments over the case. March 13, 2018, the Fifth Circuit again ruled that most of the law, except for a portion punishing officials who "endorse" sanctuary city policies, could go into effect while the case was pending.

References

External links

Legislative history of the bill
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eighty-Fifth Texas Legislature Texas statutes 2017 in Texas United States immigration law Illegal immigration to the United States Immigration legislation 2017 in American law