Federal Judge Blocks Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s Ban on Sanctuary Cities

‘Show Me Your Papers’ Law Temporarily Halted

A federal judge has just dealt a significant blow to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s ban on sanctuary cities, placing a hold on enforcement of the law that was set to go into effect Friday. The Republican governor has made opposing undocumented immigrants a large part of his legislative plans. The controversial law, SB 4, is believed to be unconstitutional by its opponents.

“U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia granted a preliminary injunction of Senate Bill 4, one of Gov. Greg Abbott’s key legislative priorities that seeks to outlaw ‘sanctuary’ entities, the common term for governments that don’t enforce federal immigration laws,” The Texas Tribune reports.

The Tribune adds that the move is a “significant blow to Abbott and other Republican backers of the bill who said it would help keep Texans safe from undocumented immigrants that have been arrested on criminal charges but released from custody by sheriffs or other elected officials who refuse to hold the alleged criminals for possible deportation.”

When America deports undocumented immigrants, they are usually sent back to their “home” countries, which, as this New York Times piece from 2016 notes, can literally be a death sentence.

“There is overwhelming evidence by local officials, including local law enforcement,” U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia wrote in his injunction, “that SB 4 will erode public trust and make many communities and neighborhoods less safe,” HuffPost reports.

“There is also ample evidence that localities will suffer adverse economic consequences which, in turn, harm the State of Texas,” Judge Garcia added.

“The Court cannot and does not second guess the Legislature,” Garcia wrote. “However, the State may not exercise its authority in a manner that violates the United States Constitution.”

Judge Garcia also took the opportunity to lecture Gov. Abbott and state lawmakers, saying the legislature “is free to ignore the pleas of city and county officials, along with local police departments, who are in the trenches and neighborhoods enforcing the law on a daily and continuing basis” and can disregard their “reservoir of knowledge and experience,” HuffPost notes.  

Former Obama administration DOJ Civil Rights Division chief Vanita Gupta weighed in:

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