Since the Legislature has been in session, the topic of “sanctuary cities” has dominated conversation under the pink dome, mainly due to the actions of Travis County Sheriff Sally Hernandez.


Hernandez campaigned saying she would evaluate U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainer requests on a case-by-case basis and not necessarily honor every one to boost trust in minority communities. With that promise, Hernandez is not violating any law. A detainer request is just that—a request—that law-enforcement officials can choose to comply with.


Sen. Charles Perry, R-Lubbock, is looking to change the discretionary nature of these requests by making them legally binding. In Senate Bill 4, jurisdictions that do not honor detainers will face repercussions in the form of civil penalties, withdrawal of state funding and criminal charges for those in leadership roles.


In the first day of enacting her policy, Hernandez released 37 immigrants from jail. At the same time, 191 immigrants in the county were held under ICE detainer requests. Many sheriffs are claiming Travis County is the only one of Texas’ more than 200 counties to be enforcing these so-called sanctuary city policies.


In suburban areas around the state, many police departments are saying they do not question their ability to deny a detainer request.


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According to law-enforcement agencies, once a person is arrested, he or she will undergo an interview. If during that interview a correctional officer has a reason to believe the arrested person is an undocumented immigrant, the officer contacts ICE.


Reasons for suspicion can include the arrestee’s origin country, if the person identifies himself or herself as being foreign-born, or fingerprinting. ICE can then choose to issue a detainer request, which gives ICE 48 hours to transfer the person into ICE custody.


Collin County Sheriff Jim Skinner said the sheriff’s office has a full-time ICE agent that works in the county’s detention facility.


“I don’t know any other jails in North Texas that do that,” he said. “Any undocumented immigrants that come into our facility are interviewed by those officers. Those are the officers who place the detainer on them.”


Skinner said the Collin County Sheriff’s Office believes it is the federal government’s job to enforce immigration law, so they makes office space as a result.


In Collin County in 2015, 299 detainers were placed; in 2016, that number was 414, and in January 2017, that number was 34. Over that same time, from 2015 to January 2017, 721 immigrants who had detainer requests placed were released or transferred to ICE or other immigration agencies. A total of 26 undocumented immigrants in the span of just over two years were not released to ICE or other agencies after a detainer was requested.