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Senate Bill 4 |
Senate Author: Perry et al. |
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Effective: 9-1-17 |
House Sponsor: Geren et al. |
Senate Bill 4 amends the Code of Criminal Procedure, Government Code, Local Government Code, and Penal Code to require a law enforcement agency that has custody of a person subject to a federal immigration detainer request to comply with, honor, and fulfill any request made in the detainer request provided by the federal government and inform the person that the person is being held pursuant to an immigration detainer request. The bill makes it a Class A misdemeanor offense for a person who is a sheriff, chief of police, or constable or a person who otherwise has primary authority for administering a jail and who has custody of a person subject to a federal immigration detainer request to knowingly fail to comply with the detainer request.
Senate Bill 4 prohibits campus police departments and certain local entities from adopting, enforcing, or endorsing a policy under which the department or entity prohibits or materially limits the enforcement of state or federal immigration laws; as demonstrated by a pattern or practice, prohibiting or materially limiting the enforcement of such immigration laws; or, for a law enforcement agency or department, intentionally violating the bill's requirements pertaining to immigration detainer requests, as demonstrated by a pattern or practice. The bill provides a process by which a citizen residing in the jurisdiction of a local entity or enrolled at or employed by an institution of higher education may file a complaint with the attorney general, contingent on the person asserting facts regarding the applicable entity or department violating that prohibition, and obtain equitable relief from a district court to compel the entity or department to comply with that prohibition. The bill sets out certain civil penalties for a local entity or campus police department that is found by a court of law as having intentionally violated such prohibition and provides for the removal from office of a person holding an elective or appointive office of a political subdivision of Texas for violating that prohibition.