City of El Cenizo, Texas v. State of Texas

890 F.3d 164
Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit·Decided May 8, 2018·No. 17-50762·Published·Cited by 87 cases

Opinion

EDITH H. JONES, Circuit Judge:

We withdraw our prior opinion of March 13, 2018, City of El Cenizo v. Texas , 885 F.3d 332 (5th Cir. 2018), and substitute the following, the purpose of which is to eliminate reference to United States v. Gonzalez-Longoria , 831 F.3d 670 (5th Cir. 2016) (en banc), given that decision's abrogation by the Supreme Court in Sessions v. Dimaya , --- U.S. ----, 138 S.Ct. 1204 , 200 L.Ed.2d 549 (2018). 1

Texas cities, counties, and local officials challenge Senate Bill 4 ("SB4"), a Texas law that forbids "sanctuary city" policies throughout the state. SB4 prohibits local authorities from limiting their cooperation with federal immigration enforcement, and it requires local officers to comply with Immigration and Customs Enforcement ("ICE") detainer requests. In their pre-enforcement lawsuit, the plaintiffs alleged a battery of constitutional violations: (I) SB4 is preempted by federal immigration law, (II) SB4's "endorse" prohibition violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments, (III) SB4's ICE-detainer mandate violates the Fourth Amendment, and (IV) SB4's phrase "materially limits" is unconstitutionally vague under the Fourteenth Amendment. The district court issued a preliminary injunction, enjoining several of the law's provisions. Texas appeals the injunction, and the plaintiffs cross-appeal the district court's refusal to issue a broader injunction. With one exception, SB4's provisions do not, on their face, violate the Constitution. For the following reasons, we uphold the statute in its entirety except for the application of the "endorsement" prohibition, Tex. Gov't Code § 752.053(a)(1), to elected officials.

BACKGROUND

I. Senate Bill 4

In May 2017, the Texas Legislature enacted Senate Bill 4 to prohibit sanctuary city policies. The law imposes duties on certain state officials and provides civil and criminal liability for violations of those duties. Three parts of the law are critical to this case: (A) the immigration-enforcement provisions, (B) the ICE-detainer mandate, and (C) the penalty provisions.

A. Immigration-Enforcement Provisions

As codified at Texas Government Code § 752.053(a) - (b), SB4 forbids local entities from limiting the enforcement of federal immigration law. Subsections (a)(1) and (a)(2) of Section 752.053 provide broad prohibitions. Under subsection (a)(1), a local entity may not "adopt, enforce, or endorse a policy under which [it] prohibits or materially limits" immigration enforcement. Id. § 752.053(a)(1). After subsection (a)(1) deals with anti-cooperation "policies," subsection (a)(2) further prohibits any "pattern or practice" that similarly frustrates enforcement. Id. § 752.053(a)(2).

Following the general prohibitions in (a)(1) and (a)(2), subsection (b) enumerates concrete examples of immigration-enforcement activities that a local entity may not "prohibit or materially limit." Id. § 752.053(b). These include (b)(1) "inquiring into the immigration status" of lawfully detained individuals, (b)(2) sharing immigration-status information with federal agencies, and (b)(3) "assisting or cooperating with a federal immigration officer as reasonable or necessary, including providing enforcement assistance." Id. § 752.053(b)(1)-(3). 2

The prohibitions in Section 752.053 apply broadly to any "local entity or campus police department." Id. § 752.053(a)-(c). SB4 defines "local entity" to include the governing bodies of counties and municipalities as well as officers or employees of those authorities, including "a sheriff, municipal police department, municipal attorney,[ ] county attorney[,] ... district attorney or criminal district attorney." See id. § 752.051(5)(A)-(C). But SB4 excludes hospitals, school districts, and certain community centers-as well as officers employed by these institutions-from the law's requirements. See id. § 752.052(a)-(f).

B. ICE-detainer Mandate

As codified at Texas Code of Criminal Procedure article 2.251, SB4's ICE-detainer mandate requires law-enforcement agencies to comply with detainer requests submitted by ICE. An ICE detainer is a written request to state or local officials, asking them (1) to notify the Department of Homeland Security ("DHS") as soon as practicable before an alien is released and (2) to maintain custody of the alien for up to 48 hours beyond the preexisting release date so that DHS may assume custody. 3 As of April 2017, ICE must make this request using Form I-247A, which must be accompanied by a signed administrative warrant. Form I-247A states that DHS has determined that there is probable cause that the subject of the request is a removable alien, and ICE officers check one of four boxes on the form to indicate the basis for probable cause. 4

SB4's ICE-detainer mandate applies whenever "[a] law enforcement agency [ ] has custody of a person subject to" an ICE detainer. Tex. Code Crim. Proc. art. 2.251(a). Under subsection (a), the mandate requires law enforcement agencies to "comply with, honor, and fulfill" ICE's requests. Id . It also requires that the individual in custody be informed he "is being held pursuant to" an ICE detainer. Id. art. 2.251(a)(2).

Subsection (b) provides a lone exception to the detainer mandate: law enforcement agencies need not comply with detainers if shown "proof that the person is a citizen of the United States or ... has lawful immigration status." Id.

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City of El Cenizo, Texas v. State of Texas, 890 F.3d 164 (5th Cir. 2018).

890 F.3d 164 (City of El Cenizo, Texas v. State of Texas) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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