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County Judge says McKinney is 'de facto sanctuary city'
By Marthe Stinton, mstinton@acnpapers.com
Gov. Rick Perry kicked off the 82nd Legislature by addressing an issue he deemed an emergency: "sanctuary cities."
Katherine Cesinger, press secretary for the Governor, said sanctuary cities are cities that tie the hands of law enforcement by prohibiting them from questioning someone's legal status during the course of a lawful encounter.
"We must abolish sanctuary city rules in this state," Perry told legislators Tuesday. "Although immigration laws and their enforcement are the responsibilities of the federal government, we cannot compound their failure by preventing Texas peace officers from doing their jobs."
The main difference between Perry's proposed legislation and the Arizona law is the Arizona law would require law enforcement to question immigration status, whereas Perry's proposed legislation would leave the decision to check someone's immigration at the discretion of law enforcement personnel.
"If there is reasonable suspicion that someone is violating immigration laws, they should be able to question them and turn them over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or federal agents," Cesinger said. "The governor said he is not turning law enforcement officers into immigration officers, but does believe that law enforcement in Texas should have all tools available to do their jobs. These [sanctuary] cities take away from that ability."
The decision of becoming a sanctuary city is up to law enforcement entities, Cesinger said.
"Local law enforcement entities have the ability to set their own policies as they should," Cesinger said, "but they shouldn't set policy that conflicts with federal immigration laws."
One Collin County elected official reports that there could be a "de facto" sanctuary in Collin County; specifically, McKinney.
"I participated in a leadership class in McKinney that discussed the subject recently," Collin County Judge Keith Self said. "We had a discussion on whether or not McKinney is a de facto sanctuary city. I was not a big participant in that discussion, but a panel of participants decided that McKinney was a de facto sanctuary city."
McKinney Mayor Brian Loughmiller denied the label.
"The city of McKinney follows the law as it relates to immigration and police procedure related to alleged offenders," he said. "If a person is stopped for legal reasons and cannot produce proper identification, my understanding is that the individual is surrendered to the Collin County Sheriff's Office for processing, as they manage the jail facilities. I do not believe this makes us a sanctuary city, de facto or otherwise."
Loughmiller said because the city doesn't have a jail, persons taken into custody are surrendered to the Collin County jail.
"The county ultimately handles the booking procedure and ultimately contacts the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service if necessary," he said. "We do not subscribe to a policy of ignoring or not asking pertinent questions including identification and we are not a sanctuary city."
Collin County Sheriff Terry Box said the county does not have a policy of "don't ask."
"If we arrest anyone, when they come to the county jail they must show proof of citizenship or an employee of ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] will interview them in person or on the phone 24/7," he said.
Box said the county does not have a policy to ask about immigration status on patrol "unless it is obvious at the time of contact," he said.
"We do not ask just because of their accent or appearance," Box said. "I believe it could be considered profiling, which is a violation of the law."
When it comes to implementing a more aggressive enforcement of immigration laws, Box said, "We currently do not have the manpower."
"We have no authority by law to stop anyone, detain them or check their immigration status," Box said. "Unless they violate another state law and we come across them that way or I send my officers to school for several weeks to get them cross licensed with federal credentials, we have no authority to check immigration status."
County Commissioner Joe Jaynes said the governor has placed the item on priority, meaning it will be looked at within the next 30 days.
"It would be good to have some clear, set statutes in place," Jaynes said, "so you don't run into the issue of racial profiling."
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