Federal Judge Blocks Ban on Sanctuary Cities in Texas
These federal judges are really starting to get on my nerves.
A federal judge in San Antonio on Wednesday blocked Texas from enforcing its ban on so-called sanctuary cities, questioning the constitutionality of a law that has pitted Republican state leaders against several Democratic-leaning cities.
The judge’s ruling was only temporary, and prevents the law from taking effect on Friday while a suit against it goes forward. But the decision, which Texas said it would appeal, served as a legal blow to one of the toughest state-issued immigration laws in the country and puts the brakes on a measure backed by the Trump administration that critics had called anti-Latino. The law has become so divisive that it served as the backdrop of a shoving match at the Texas Capitol between Hispanic Democratic lawmakers and their white Republican colleagues.
The judge, Orlando Luis Garcia, is a Latino. The sanctuary city ban relates to illegal immigrants, not all Latinos. However, it is clear that a substantial portion of the Latino community identifies more strongly with their tribe than with the law. Garcia is also a Bill Clinton appointee. So he clearly has ethnic and political biases, and is not acting in the best interests of America.
This isn’t the first time a federal judge has opposed policies in line with Trump’s agenda. Most notable was Derrick Kahala Watson, the Hawaiian judge – appointed by Obama– who blocked Trump’s travel ban. The ban was later reinstated by the U.S. Supreme Court, proving that Watson’s apparent concerns regarding the travel ban’s constitutionality were unnecessary.
The Texas sanctuary city law, Senate Bill 4, “prohibits cities and counties from adopting policies that limit immigration enforcement, allows police officers to question the immigration status of anyone they detain or arrest and threatens officials who violate the law with fines, jail time and removal from office.” All of this is very sensible, assuming you actually care about solving America’s illegal immigration problem.
But the problem, of course, is that elites – particularly of the liberal variety – see illegal immigration as way to turn red states blue. In light of this, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that many Democrat-run cities, including Austin, San Antonio, Houston, and Dallas, are taking part in a lawsuit against Texas to kill Senate Bill 4.
We live in an age of increasing political polarization, and it’s going to get a hell of a lot worse before it gets better.
