Mayors and council members from cities across Texas descended on San Antonio today in a massive statewide effort to upend a sweeping new law cracking down on sanctuary cities. Senate Bill 4, the most aggressive such law in the country, imposes steep penalties on jurisdictions that refuse to comply with federal immigration requests and enables any law-enforcement agents—even campus officers for colleges or school districts—to ask anyone they stop for his or her immigration status.
Officials from Austin, Dallas, Houston, El Paso, and the tiny border town El Cenizo appeared before a federal court on Monday to argue for a preliminary injunction against S.B. 4, which is slated to come into effect on September 1. Those officials were joined by representatives from the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of the city of San Antonio and several nonprofit organizations earlier this month.
