During 2017, the Texas Legislature passed Senate Bill 4 or SB4, Texas’ Anti-Sanctuary Cities Law.
It required state and local law enforcement officials to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement or ICE detainer requests.
It also authorized them during traffic stops to question the detailed persons about their immigration status.
Also, immediately a federal district judge declared this law unconstitutional. Later, the Texas Attorney General’s Office filed an appeal with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit Court.
Recently, this court allowed all but one part of the law to stand. It blocked the provision of the law that authorized the state to punish local government officials for not complying with this law.
The U.S. Supreme Court will probably decide the constitutionality of this law. Until that time, it is legal for all Texas and local law enforcement officers during a routine traffic stop to ask persons temporarily detained if they have legal status to be in this state.
As any controversial issue, there are always going to be supporters and opponents.
Silvestre Moreno Jr. Mercedes
