Protests grow as Texas moves against 'sanctuary' cities

overnor cuts funding to law enforcement to penalise Austin, a 'sanctuary' city offering safety to the undocumented.

exas, US - Hundreds of protesters took to the Texas capital on Thursday to rally against the halting of more than a million dollars towards law enforcement.

Earlier, Governor Greg Abbott kept to his promise to withhold $1.5 million from Travis County's law enforcement in a bid to penalise Austin's "sanctuary city" status.

Sanctuary cities in general offer safety to undocumented migrants and often do not use municipal funds or resources to advance the enforcement of federal immigration laws. Sanctuary city is not an official designation.

Now, Texas lawmakers are discussing Senate Bill 4, which aims to cut funding and impose other consequences on cities that provide safe harbour to the undocumented.

"When I came in, there was a long line to sign up to testify in support of Austin's sanctuary city status … it's a lot of people," Cristina Parker, immigration programmes director at the civil rights group Grassroots Leadership, told Al Jazeera.

Parker explained that Abbott's decision was viewed negatively by the community. 

"We all rally around law enforcement. We don't see any reason behind cutting their funding," she said. "It doesn't make any sense."

Questionable legality

But community concerns do not end there.

Texas legislators added other amendments to the anti-sanctuary city bill on Wednesday.

These include a provision that requires authorities to cooperate with Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE), the federal agency responsible for deportations.

ICE often issues a written request to local law enforcement agencies to detain an individual they suspect of being in the United States without legal status for 48 hours.

However, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other groups have called attention to the fact that these requests, known as "detainers", have been found to be in violation of the US Constitution's Fourth Amendment which requires due process of the law.