SENATE CONSIDERS CITIZENSHIP CHECKS FOR VOTERS, SUSPECTED CRIMINALS

(AUSTIN) — The Senate on Tuesday took up two bills, one that would require proof of citizenship for people registering to vote and another that would require local law enforcement in Texas’ largest counties to cooperate with federal immigration officials. The latter bill concerns the 287(g) program, named for its section in the federal code, which allows US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to train local law enforcement on how to check immigration status when booking a suspected criminal. Bill author and Georgetown Senator Charles Schwertner says that forty-four counties participate in the program, but his bill would require the 40 Texas counties with 100,000 or more residents to participate. Today, he said, only 16 do. “This bill, Senate Bill 8, helps address the ongoing issue of criminal aliens being arrested and potentially let go due to the arresting entities lack of knowledge of that arrested individual,” said Schwertner.

Hughes’ bill would require proof of citizenship for those registering to vote in non-federal elections.

The bill also includes the creation of a grant program to help smaller counties with populations less than 1 million defray the cost of the program, should they choose to participate. There is currently a $20 million rider in the Senate budget proposal to pay for these grants, and Senate Finance Committee chair Senator Joan Huffman of Houston said she intends to see it stick.

The program has three models. The most commonly used is the jail enforcement model, which trains county jailors to check immigration status and criminal history of suspects booked into their jail. If they find that a suspect is in the country illegally, they create an immigration “detainer”, which permits the jail to hold the individual up to 48 hours past their release date in order to give federal officials time to assume custody. The other two models are less common; the first, the warrant officer program, simply trains jailors how to serve illegal immigrants in their jails with administrative warrants, essentially transferring custody to ICE while still housing the inmate in the county facility. The third model is more comprehensive and allows for local police and sheriffs to work with ICE officers in the field and ask questions about and make arrests based on immigration status. So far, only two counties and the state Attorney General’s office participate in this model. Schwertner says only one county, Goliad, participates in all three. The bill would leave it up to the county sheriff as to which models their office participates in.

The second bill would require that a person offer proof of citizenship when registering to vote. The US Supreme Court has ruled that states cannot require documentation that goes beyond federal voting rules but allows them to do that for state elections. Most citizens, 85 percent according to committee testimony on the bill, register to vote when they apply for a Texas driver’s license. “Most citizens have already proved their citizenship when they got a driver’s license,” said Mineola Senator Bryan Hughes. “The feds have not allowed us to do this for voter registration.”

His bill, SB 6, would permit a voter who cannot prove citizenship at the time of registration to vote only in federal elections. Accepted forms of proof include birth certificates, US passports, or immigration naturalization papers or IDs issued by federal immigration authorities. Voter registrars would also be able to verify citizenship by checking information submitted on the standard voter registration form, like Texas driver’s license number or the last four digits of a Social Security number. Affected registrants could rectify their status by presenting proof of citizenship any time before the election, on election day when they go to cast a ballot, and up to six days after the election. The bill also makes it a state jail felony to knowingly register a non-citizen to vote, as well as for a non-citizen to knowingly attempt to register to vote.

Both bills were approved and now head to the House for consideration.

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