This morning the Texas Catholic Conference Executive Director provided testimony to the Senate Transportation and Homeland Security Committee opposing SB 9, the so-called “Sanctuary City” bill.  This bill threatens public safety and endangers the civil and constitutional rights of Texas residents. It is an expensive way to make our cities less safe. This bill could encourage discrimination, co-opt local law enforcement, and scapegoat immigrants who are valuable contributors to our society and our state. Solutions to our nation's broken immigration system must be implemented through federal comprehensive immigration reform. Piecemeal policies such as SB 9 only serve to separate and weaken the communities in our state.

Good morning Mr. Chairman and members, my name is Jeffery Patterson and I am the executive director of the Texas Catholic Conference. The TCC is the statewide association of the 15 Roman Catholic dioceses in our state and it is our responsibility to advocate for the public policy positions of the active Bishops of Texas. Thank you for the opportunity to share our opposition to SB 9.

For many of the same reasons you have heard throughout the witness testimony today, the Catholic Bishops of Texas are opposed to Senate Bill 9, and remain concerned about the effects that this “Sanctuaries Cities” legislation will have on the safety, dignity, and the civic trust of ethnic communities in this state.

It is not within the jurisdiction of local law enforcement agencies--nor are local officers appropriately trained--to enforce complex federal immigration law.  Enforcement of immigration law is the responsibility of the federal government; local police focus primarily on enforcing criminal activity and public safety.  Legislation which tasks local police to investigate and arrest immigrants solely for their undocumented status risks overburdening an already stretched system and diverts time and resources away from their primary responsibility of protecting communities and of investigating and pursuing serious criminals.

Secondly, the bill threatens to undermine the civic relationship between the local police and the communities they serve.  Law enforcement agencies have worked tirelessly to build relationships with law-abiding citizens in immigrant communities.  These Community Policing efforts have made great strides in apprehending and preventing crimes in those communities.  Instituting laws, such as the Sanctuaries Cities bill, would undermine those efforts and risk increasing crime and suffering in immigrant neighborhoods. Crime victims or witnesses are unlikely to report or assist in solving a crime if they fear their own circumstances will be scrutinized or jeopardized by cooperating with law enforcement.  Even more, the legislation could lead to claims of racial profiling as law enforcement try to identify undocumented immigrants and inadvertently target legal citizens merely because they belong to a certain ethnic group, thus citizens and legal residents may have their civil and constitutional rights violated.

In addition to the ban on sanctuary cities, SB 9 also requires local law enforcement to verify the immigration status of anyone arrested through the Secure Communities program, which is administered by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, for local law enforcement to compare fingerprints of arrestees to a federal database to determine if they are eligible for deportation and has high error rates. The program was created to identify and deport high-level offenders, not minor offenders like those detained by local law enforcement.  We are concerned that law enforcement may arrest individuals for an otherwise ticketable offense in order to check the individual’s immigration status, which raises concerns regarding racial profiling.

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