{"id":2567,"date":"2017-05-31T13:10:17","date_gmt":"2017-05-31T19:10:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bnhr.org\/?p=2567"},"modified":"2017-05-31T13:10:17","modified_gmt":"2017-05-31T19:10:17","slug":"bnhr-supports-county-who-seeks-to-file-a-lawsuit-against-sb-4-justice-mondays-may-15","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bnhr.org\/bnhr-supports-county-who-seeks-to-file-a-lawsuit-against-sb-4-justice-mondays-may-15\/","title":{"rendered":"BNHR supports County who seeks to file a Lawsuit against SB 4- JUSTICE MONDAYS MAY 15"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEWS ARTICLE FROM\u00a0Mar\u00eda Cort\u00e9s Gonz\u00e1lez may be reached at\u00a0546-6150;<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>mcortes@elpasotimes.com;\u00a0@EPTMaria on Twitter.<\/em><\/p>\n

El Paso County will file a lawsuit against the state challenging\u00a0the enactment of Senate Bill 4, also known as the “anti-sanctuary city” or “show me your papers” bill.<\/p>\n

On\u00a0Monday, the County Commissioners Court voted 4 to 1 to\u00a0hire\u00a0a San Antonio-based law firm, Garza Golando Moran PLLC, to represent the county in the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

“We have stood with local law enforcement leaders. Not just locally, but law enforcement\u00a0leaders across the state\u00a0have been vocally and vehemently opposed to this legislation\u00a0because of the amount of discretion it removes from them,” County Judge Veronica Escobar said before taking a vote.<\/p>\n

“Local law enforcement leaders will not be able to draft their own policy for their own deputies and officers. They\u00a0will not be able to discipline their own people\u00a0as a result,” she said.<\/p>\n

Commissioner Andrew Haggerty voted against hiring the firm.<\/p>\n

“I think there’s a lot of fear mongering going on by different organizations trying to say that this now gives police the authority and ability to arrest anyone and everyone for being of color or to stop and search people at any time,” Haggerty said. “All SB 4 says is that we have to work with officials that we are already working with.”<\/p>\n

He added, “to spend a lot of money to fight something\u00a0for the fear mongering factor that I feel is there, I don’t agree with.”<\/p>\n

Escobar said the county expects\u00a0to allocate about $150,000 for the legal proceedings.<\/p>\n

Senate Bill 4, which was signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott May 7, requires local police to cooperate with federal immigration agents and allows them to ask people they’ve detained for immigration documents. It’s set to go into effect Sept. 1.<\/p>\n

\u200b”We actually have an agreement in federal court that says our officers will not enforce federal immigration law. Not only does the law signed by our governor take away our local law enforcement’s discretion, but it would cause us to immediately be in violation of a federal agreement,” she said.<\/p>\n

She referred to a 2006 federal court settlement in which the county agreed to bar sheriff’s deputies from enforcing immigration law after a lawsuit alleged they\u00a0were conducting\u00a0checkpoints\u00a0in an attempt to trap and arrest\u00a0undocumented immigrants<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, the El Paso City Council will discuss joining a lawsuit to challenge SB 4 in court, but city attorneys last week would not confirm if it was the county\u2019s suit they’re considering joining or others being drafted across the state.<\/p>\n

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