AUSTIN, Texas – Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit in Travis County district court against the City of San Antonio, its police department, chief of police and city manager on Friday.
- Lawsuit alleges violation of Senate Bill 4
- SB 4 prohibits sanctuary cities
- Lawsuit prompted by December tractor-trailor incident in San Antonio
The lawsuit alleges the city violated Senate Bill 4, which prohibits sanctuary cities in Texas.
Last December, police discovered a dozen suspected undocumented immigrants, who appeared to be part of a human smuggling operation, in the back of a tractor-trailer in San Antonio.
According to Paxton’s office, San Antonio Police Chief William McManus refused to cooperate with federal immigration authorities and ordered the 12 people released from custody.
The attorney general’s lawsuit asks the district court to issue an injunction requiring McManus and San Antonio to comply with Senate Bill 4, prohibiting the police department from interfering with federal immigration enforcement, and assess civil penalties against the city, police department and McManus.
“Senate Bill 4 guarantees cooperation among federal, state and local law enforcement to protect Texans,” Paxton said. “Unfortunately, some municipalities, such as San Antonio, put the safety of police officers and the public at risk by defying state law. The court should grant our request for injunctions and civil penalties against San Antonio to send a message that all Texas cities must obey the law.”
Based on a sworn complaint, Attorney General Paxton’s office conducted an extensive investigation into the case, concluding that McManus and the police department violated Senate Bill 4’s mandates.
Paxton’s lawsuit accuses McManus of skirting normal San Antonio Police Department protocol by arranging for immigration attorneys from an activist group to provide the 12 people with legal advice and to act as a translator.
According to Paxton's office, the police chief called a private entity to take the undocumented immigrants away from Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
As a result, “today there is no criminal case filed against the individual who transported the undocumented immigrants as part of a smuggling operation despite his confession,” the lawsuit states.
San Antonio City Attorney Andy Segovia issued the following statement concerning the lawsuit Friday afternoon:
“While we need time to review the complaint, we are fully confident that neither the City nor Chief McManus violated the applicable provisions of SB 4. The Attorney General’s characterizations of what happened that day are clearly aimed at furthering a political agenda. The City has a long history of cooperating with federal authorities and we will continue to do so. The City’s process for handling human smuggling/trafficking incidents was created in coordination with the federal government, and federal officials have not taken issue with our handling of immigration issues.”