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Dallas Co. concerned about state immigration bill
Dallas County Commissioners are concerned about a new bill in the state legislature that would increase the penalties for people caught entering the country illegally. They say Texas counties would be the ones stuck covering all costs for anyone arrested under the new law.
DALLAS - The Texas Senate gave initial approval to a bill that would create a state-level crime for entering the country illegally.
Gov. Greg Abbott made border control a priority in what is now the third special session.
Dallas County commissioners pushed back on the proposal, calling it an unfunded mandate that could cost the county millions of dollars to enforce.
The measure would make it a Class A misdemeanor punishable by a year in the county jail.
That would mean Texas counties — ostensibly Dallas County as well — would have to cover all costs for anyone arrested under the new law. All the legal costs and medical care costs with no state dollars to support it.
One of those unfunded mandates, Senate Bill 11 filed in the special session, would make it a Class A misdemeanor to enter the state illegally or to falsify information about entry.
Dallas County Legislative Liason Charles Reed told commissioners according to DPS figures that charges could apply to as many as 72,000 people statewide.
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"The way the bill is structured right now is that you do not have to witness the offense, meaning you could charge somebody with this offense in any county in Texas, not just a border county," he said.
And unless the language in the bill is changed, that could mean people here now undocumented could be arrested by local police.
Commissioner Andrew Sommerman wanted to know if that included people here illegally just trying to make a living.
"Could it be that we wind up with folks who are here trying to get a job and we wind up filling our jails. And as a result, we cannot put murderers and rapists in the jail. Is that possible?" he asked.
"Yes, that’s a possibility," Reed said.
Reed told commissioners they've stressed to lawmakers the concern with the bill.
"We continue to point out that there's still not room at the inn even if you witness it at the border, and there's still 72,000 people being charged with this offense," Reed said. "Once the border county jails fill up, they got to go somewhere, and they can only move north and east from El Paso and north from Brownsville to our jails. It’s just inevitable."
The county hopes the bill will be amended in the House to include language that the illegal entry again has to be witnessed in order to make an arrest and not because law enforcement encounters an undocumented person say on a traffic stop.
But even then, they say if it becomes law, if jails or overwhelmed along the border, the overflow could impact Dallas and other counties.
The special session reconvenes Thursday.