Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is ramping up deportations of criminal illegal aliens under the Trump administration, and Texas is doing its part to help. The Texas Senate has passed Senate Bill 8, which requires local jurisdictions to cooperate with ICE. "It's vitally important that local law enforcement agencies have the ability to partner with ICE," says Sen. Charles Schwertner (R-Georgetown), the bill's author, in an interview with KXAN-TV. "This bill would mandate sheriff's departments in counties of 100,000 or more participate in the 287(g) program."
The 287(g) program allows local law enforcement to turn over illegal aliens already in custody to ICE for possible deportation. In recent years, many Democrat-led jurisdictions have bragged about not cooperating with the program. SB 8 ensures they cannot do that in Texas. In all, the law would apply to 43 counties statewide, including Harris, where a report last fall found 10 percent of jail inmates had ICE detainers.
"It's an obligation of local law enforcement to enforce immigration laws and detain criminal aliens," says Schwertner. "That is what our citizens want, that is what is necessary to making our communities safe, and it is absolutely vital that we identify, detain, prosecute, and deport criminal aliens."
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