Abbott To Sheriffs: Comply With ICE Or Lose Funding
Follow CBSDFW.COM: Facebook | Twitter
AUSTIN (CBSDFW.COM) - Gov. Greg Abbott sent a letter to sheriffs across Texas on Wednesday, warning them that those departments which do not fully comply with immigration detention requests will not receive certain state grant funding.
"I am establishing new standards," Abbott said. Funding from the Governor's Criminal Justice Division will now be dependent on full compliance with Immigration & Customs Enforcement requests. Departments which do not comply with ICE detention requests will be ineligible for grant funding from the Governor's office.
The new policy is effective immediately.
"Any applicant that cannot certify that their office will honor all ICE detainers for criminal immigrants," the letter stated, "will be ineligible for CJD funding." Abbott even took this policy a step further, adding, "Any applicant that certifies full compliance with ICE detainer requests -- but subsequently fails to honor an ICE detainer -- will be subject to claw-back provisions." Those departments would then have to refund the full grant amount.
"It is vitally important that sheriffs lead by example and enforce the rule of the law," Abbott said.
ICE recently made the decision to weaken its standards for issuing such detainer requests. Many authorities have been critical of the change, and Abbott said in his letter that he agreed with their concerns.
However, the state's leader explained that he "simply will not allow CJD grant funding administered by this office to support law enforcement agencies that refuse to cooperate with a federal law enforcement program that is intended to keep dangerous criminals off Texas streets."