BILL WOULD REQUIRE COOPERATION BETWEEN LOCAL, FEDERAL IMMIGRATION AUTHORITIES

(AUSTIN) — Sheriffs in large counties would be required to enter into agreements with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to enforce certain immigration laws under SB 8, a bill considered by the Senate State Affairs Committee on Monday. While the bill only applies to counties with populations greater than 100,000, it also creates a grant program to help offset the cost of training for smaller counties that wish to participate. The state has required local law enforcement to co-operate with federal immigration officials since passage of SB 4 in 2017. Georgetown Senator Charles Schwertner, who authored Monday’s bill, said he wants to see state and local officials take a more proactive role in immigration enforcement. “We need to, as a state, be much more forceful in helping in areas of illegal immigration and immigration law enforcement,” he said. “This bill is just one step forward – which I hope we have many more – regarding how we can assist our federal partners in pushing back against illegal aliens and criminal acts committed by these illegal aliens.”

Georgetown Senator Charles Schwertner’s SB 8 would require sheriffs in large counties to enter formal cooperation agreements with federal immigration authorities.

These agreements between local and federal authorities are done under section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, and are colloquially referred to as 287g agreements or programs. Under these agreements, ICE-trained sheriff’s deputies working in county jails check the immigration status of any arrestee and place what is called a “detainer” on those in the country illegally. This status allows jails to hold an individual for 48 hours after their normal release date to give federal immigration authorities more time to assume custody. There are 35 county sheriffs already participating in the program, eight of which are in counties that would be covered under SB 8. One of those is Tarrant County, which is the largest county in the nation participating in a 287g program, and county Sheriff Bill Waybourn appeared before the committee in support of the measure. He said his jail currently holds more than 300 people in the country illegally, representing 22 different nationalities from across the globe. Some of them are charged with serious crimes, including sexual offenses against children and capital murder, he told the committee. “The jail model does make our communities safer,” said Waybourn. “It does get another set of eyes on things to make sure people don’t slip through the cracks and that it is targeting criminals. It has worked out very well for us.”

In addition to the jail model, which trains jailors to how to check immigration status and work within ICE’s system, the 287g program offers two other tracks. The first is the Warrant Service Officer program, which trains officers to issue administrative warrants to inmates here illegally, effectively holding them in ICE custody but housing them in the local jail. The second is the Task Force model, which trains local law enforcement officers, deputizes them, and gives them limited authority to enforce immigration laws in the course of their normal police duties. All of the testimony at the hearing today focused on the jail model; so far only two counties and the state Office of Attorney General have entered into agreements under the task force model.

While broadly in support, the Sheriff’s Association of Texas was on hand to lay out concerns about the funding model and other burdens that might fall on participating counties. Chambers County Sheriff Brian Hawthorne, representing the association, told members that sending an employee to train for two weeks with federal officials might work for some large counties, but for those with limited budgets and personnel, it can be a burden. He said his members would like to see the bill covered by a legislative appropriation. “We think that that financial relief shouldn’t be in a grant program, it should be part of the program and it should cover all 254 counties,” said Hawthorne.

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