Texas Gov. Abbott wants to jail sheriffs who push sanctuary city policies

Texas Gov. Abbott (R) told Tucker Carlson Friday that he is seeking legislation that would put a sheriff in jail if they pushed sanctuary city policies to help illegal aliens escape federal immigration authorities.

Abbott excoriated Sheriff Sally Hernandez of Travis County for upholding sanctuary city policies, and explained what he and Texas lawmakers intended to do to make it very costly to do so in the future.

"She has knowingly released from jail in Travis County people who have been either convicted of or accused of serious felonies such as sexual assault," he told Carlson, "sexual assault of a minor, she's put right back out on the streets. This is a dangerous practice that Texas is gonna hammer down. We will not tolerate this, and so we have taken action we're gonna take even stiffer action to ban sanctuary cities in Texas."

Carlson asked him to explain what the aim was of those pushing sanctuary city policies.

"This is a part of what you've seen sweep across the United States of America," he responded. "There is a liberal agenda that wants to so-called 'be welcoming' to those who are here illegally, and one way they do that is by not enforcing the law."

"She campaigned on, and got elected as sheriff of Travis County this last year on the promise she... would not enforce ICE detainers," he said. "And so, she campaigned on the promise of not enforcing the law. That's not the way things are done in the state of Texas, and we are going to require that she as well as all counties, all cities, in the state of Texas must follow the law."

"If you want to be in law enforcement," he concluded, "you have to enforce the law."

Carlson asked him what he intended to do to shut down sanctuary cities in Texas.

"One thing that I have already have done," he answered, "unilaterally as governor of the state of Texas is that I defunded Travis County from government grants that were going to them to the tune of $1.5 million, I took out of their pocket."

"Second is we are working on a piece of legislation," Abbott continued, "that will impose criminal penalties where the sheriff herself can wind up behind bars, and hence be removed from office, fines that could add up to millions of dollars per year, as well as other penalties. We're gonna make it so costly, so expensive, there's now way that any city or county can take on sanctuary city policies."

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President Trump targeted sanctuary cities in his campaign promises during the election, and it was one of the first executive orders he made once in office. Many cities have pushed back, including Los Angeles, while some faith leaders are organizing to help illegal aliens escape federal law enforcement.