{"id":13915,"date":"2017-03-31T09:17:58","date_gmt":"2017-03-31T13:17:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/live-immigrationreform.pantheonsite.io\/?p=13915"},"modified":"2018-12-28T12:54:51","modified_gmt":"2018-12-28T17:54:51","slug":"sanctuary-sheriff-forfeits-funds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/2017\/03\/31\/sanctuary-sheriff-forfeits-funds\/","title":{"rendered":"Sanctuary Sheriff Forfeits Funds"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week, the Department of Homeland Security issued its first \u2018detainer\u2019 report<\/a>, identifying sanctuary cities where local police have released illegal immigrants despite requests by federal authorities to detain them. Travis County, Texas, law enforcement refused to honor<\/a> 142 out of 206 detainers for aliens with criminal charges, or nearly 70 percent of declined detainers nationwide. Unlike the 13 other Texas sheriffs who are fully supportive of U.S. immigration laws, \u201cSanctuary Sheriff\u201d Sally Hernandez said that she wouldn\u2019t always cooperate with President Trump\u2019s administration unless Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had a warrant from a judge or if the person was charged with murder, aggravated sexual assault, or human trafficking.<\/p>\n

Sheriff Sally\u2019s declaration<\/a> that her \u201cjail can\u2019t be seen as a holding tank for federal immigration offenders and that the policy change will save taxpayer money\u201d set up a showdown with Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who has pledged to eliminate sanctuary cities across the state. Immediately after Sheriff Sally\u2019s announcement, Governor Abbott cut state funding to the sanctuary county to the tune of $1.5 million in state law enforcement grants. In an effort to recoup the state funds lost because of Sheriff Sally\u2019s sanctuary policies, Texas State Representative Eddie Rodriguez (D-TX51) started a crowdfunding page. Instead, the crowdfunding page seems to be a real \u201ccrowd loser\u201d raising about $136,000<\/a> \u2013 less than one tenth of the lost funding.<\/p>\n

Losing $1.5 million in state law enforcement grants could be just the beginning for Travis County. Governor Abbott has vowed to take additional action against sanctuary jurisdictions. He has stated<\/a> Texas is \u201cworking on a piece of legislation that will impose criminal penalties, where the sheriff herself can wind up behind bars and, hence, be removed from office, fines that can add up to millions of dollars per year, as well as other penalties.\u201d Further, as a result of U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions\u2019 announcement<\/a> earlier this week that he will withhold federal law enforcement grants to sanctuary jurisdictions, Travis County may lose millions of federal dollars too.<\/p>\n

Sheriff Sally\u2019s policies aren\u2019t just unpopular with Governor Abbott and Attorney General Sessions, they are also unpopular with the American people. According to polling done by Rasmussen<\/a> last week, 35 percent of American voters support their communities declaring themselves a sanctuary for illegal aliens and 52 percent want to eliminate federal funding for sanctuary jurisdictions.<\/p>\n

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