Although it is unclear how the ruling could affect details of SB 4, authored by Sen. Charles Perry, R-Lubbock, officials with the Lone Star College System and the Montgomery County sheriff’s office are prepared for the bill’s implications.
SB 4, which allows law enforcement officials to freely question the immigration status of any person under lawful detention or arrest, was signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott on May 7 and was originally set to go into effect Sept. 1.
Systemwide, LSCS has record of approximately 1,500 undocumented students, said Mario Castillo, LSCS vice chancellor and general counsel. However, it is possible for applicants to lie about their immigration statuses, he said.
“You can actually be a resident under Texas law and not be a documented person under federal law,” Castillo said. “You have to self-disclose [citizenship status], and part of the self-disclosure process to qualify for Texas residency as well as certain Texas scholarships and grants is that you have to sign an affidavit saying that you’re undocumented and that as soon as you have the ability to become documented, you will do so.”
Previously, if a law enforcement official questioned a lawfully detained or arrested person’s immigration status, the institution employing the officer could punish the officer for violating ethical or anti-discrimination policies, Castillo said.
However, under SB 4, if an officer is punished in any capacity for asking about a detained person’s status, the institution would be fined between $1,000 and $25,000 each day of the officer’s administrative leave, Castillo said.
“I’ve been the general counsel here for two years, and we’ve never had that become an issue for us,” Castillo said. “I don’t know of a single documented case where [an officer has been put on administrative leave].”
Campus changes
Within LSCS, the police department structure consists of police department Commissioner Rand Key, a deputy chief, chief of staff and one captain for each college, Castillo said. Each captain oversees his or her own staff of sergeants and officers.
LSCS officials have already updated four policies to reflect changes from SB 4. These policies include: the ethical standards policy; prohibited unlawful discrimination and harassment policy; civil rights complaints policy; and sexual harassment, violence and discrimination policy, Castillo said.
“Really all we plan on doing is, from now on, we’re going to leave [inquiring] up to each officer’s discretion as Senate Bill 4 requires us to,” Castillo said. “Essentially, we will take no action against police officers [who] for whatever reason feel the need to ask someone about their immigration status when they’re under lawful detention or arrest.”
MCSO officials do not think SB 4 will have much of an effect on the entities’ existing practices, said MCSO executive division captain Bryan Carlisle.
“In a basic sense, the way we understand it, [it] doesn’t really change what we do policywise except for the fact that if a deputy on their own accord wanted to inquire about someone’s status, then we couldn’t create a policy that says they can’t,” he said.
The sheriff’s office has no plans right now to implement new policies or update existing ones, Carlisle said.
“We’re waiting,” he said. “We want to see what’s going to happen, and then we can start shaping how we’re going to respond. I’m thinking probably at least another four months before it kind of settles a little bit.”
Additional reporting by Christopher Neely
