Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said Tuesday that the state’s lawsuit against political figures in the City of Austin is a preemptive move to prevent lengthy lawsuits trying to derail the state’s new anti-sanctuary city law.
Mr. Paxton filed a lawsuit Sunday asking federal courts to uphold the legality of the law, which Gov. Greg Abbott signed Sunday, and which is meant to pressure Austin and other sanctuaries to revoke their policies.
“We have heard that they were not going to comply, and we also heard about other entities that were not going to comply, so instead of waiting for multiple lawsuits around the state over a long period of time, we decided let’s get this on,” he said on Fox News. “We believe our law is constitutional, so we’re ready to go.”
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, accuses Travis County Sheriff Sally Hernandez of being “publicly hostile” to working with federal agents. The suit also targets the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, hoping to head off a lawsuit by the prominent Hispanic-rights group.
Texas’s new law would punish police leaders who refuse to allow their officers and deputies to cooperate with federal immigration agents. It also permits police to inquire about the legal status of those they encounter during their regular duties.
Mr. Paxton said the law is meant to protect all citizens and does not discriminate against different ethnicities.
“This is designed to protect every citizen no matter what their ethnicity,” he said.
Sanctuary cities have argued that by being ordered to hold immigrants longer than they normally would — up to 48 hours, by request from Homeland Security — they are violating those immigrants’ constitutional rights.
In the lawsuit, Texas argues that the new law is meant to support, not to interfere with, federal immigration laws. Mr. Paxton said the law doesn’t violate the U.S. Constitution because it’s not meant to be applied in a discriminatory fashion, and said the requests for holds are supported by federal agents’ declarations of probable cause, so they are legal.
• Sally Persons can be reached at spersons@washingtontimes.com.
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