United States appeals court allows part of Texas law to punish sanctuary cities

In a unanimous decision, a three-judge panel of the US 5th Circuit Court of Appeals will allow Texas to enforce part of its sanctuary cities law while it appeals a lower court ruling that blocked it from going into effect.

Efrén C. Olivares, a lawyer with the Texas Civil Rights Project which represents some of the plaintiffs in the case said: "We are disappointed and disagree with the panel's decision to allow additional provisions of SB4 to go into effect and stand against Texas immigrants and families".

The City of Austin was one of a handful of major Texas cities that sued to stop SB 4, which would require law enforcement officials to comply with immigration detainer requests and penalize jurisdictions and elected officials who did not. The law threatens police chiefs and sheriffs with jail time if they don't comply. It said the State was likely to win those arguments during a subsequent hearing and argued that issue has already been settled in an earlier U.S. Supreme Court decision, Arizona v.

The appeals court has yet to render a full decision on the law.

The court offered a mixed ruling on another controversial item in the bill, a section of the law that prevents local governments from "adopting, enforcing or endorsing" policies that specifically prohibit or limit enforcement of immigration laws. "I am confident Senate Bill 4 will be found constitutional and ultimately upheld".

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit allowed the part of the Texas law that called on localities to abide by detainer requests from federal authorities to hold people in local jails to allow for checks of suspected U.S. immigration law violations.

Democrats said the State was using delay tactics that would disenfranchise Texas' minorities.