Gov. Abbott to sign bill into law requiring county jails to work with ICE
Sheriff departments across the state will soon be required to work alongside ICE agents due to a bill that Governor Greg Abbott is expected to sign into law.
The law would require jails to check the immigration status of all inmates, and those who are in the U.S. illegally will have a hold placed on them by federal officials.
Until now, it has been voluntary, and federal records show Ellis, Parker, Rockwall, and Tarrant Counties are already participating in the 287-G agreements.
Counties will be required to take part in one of three programs:
- Serving administrative warrants in the jails.
- Allowing local and state authorities to execute civil immigration warrants on behalf of the federal government.
- And allowing local and state law enforcement to conduct limited immigration enforcement activities.
Eye on Politics Reporter Jack Fink spoke with Republican State Representative David Spiller of Jacksboro, who sponsored the bill in the House.
"It's going to allow all Texas sheriffs and counties within the state that operate a jail or the contract for an operation of a jail to cooperate with our federal partners. To cooperate with ICE, and our focus has primarily been our in-jail model that are already arrested on other charges, we're just asking them to be able to identify the folks that are there, that are arrested to see if they have ICE warrants, to see if they have any detainers, to see if they have warrants for removal and to participate in that federal database to identify those folks so they are not inadvertently bonded out and released on the streets to commit other offenses and crimes," said Spiller.
Democratic State Representative Ramon Romero Jr., of Fort Worth, voted against the bill and called it unnecessary.
"For over two sessions now, we have penalized sheriffs and sheriff officers if they don't turn someone over to ICE. So we already know there is coordination in county jails with ICE to ensure that those folks are being checked. We know that sheriffs across our state are not letting people go. I voted against it because #1, I don't think it's necessary and #2, it gives rise to the idea that people can create a model like Sheriff Arpaio did in Maricopa County in Arizona which allows those officers to go out in the field and act as ICE officers," Romero said.
There is also language in the bill that allows the Texas Attorney General to bring action against any sheriff who fails to comply with the proposed law.
