As if ICE didn’t already go on enough power trips across America, Texas has now decided to help them out. Well, to be specific, it’s Greg Abbott. Apparently, Texas lawmakers had the brilliant idea that letting ICE agents snatch people from courthouses wasn’t enough. They needed more freedom. So now comes this new bill that will require sheriff departments across the state to actively cooperate with ICE. Technically, some sheriffs have already been doing this voluntarily. But this bill makes it mandatory. Now, sheriffs are legally required to check the immigration status of every inmate. If someone turns out to be an undocumented immigrant, ICE gets called in. Before this law, only a few counties did this kind of reporting on their own.
Of course, not everyone in Texas agrees. Representative Ramon Romero Jr. called the bill unnecessary. He pointed out that the state already penalizes sheriffs who don’t report undocumented inmates, meaning there’s already coordination happening. He also warned that this new law could encourage people to go out and act like unofficial ICE agents.
Oh, and here’s another fun part. If a sheriff doesn’t comply, the Texas Attorney General now has the power to take legal action against them. So it’s not just a suggestion anymore. It’s law with teeth.
A lot of people are definitely not happy with the direction things are heading when it comes to ICE and Texas. One Redditor pointed out that this bill could turn city jails into de facto deportation holding centers. They added, “So small-town city cops can turn a ticket into a deportation. This is going to get uglier.”
Others shared similar concerns, saying the bill feels unnecessary since immigration status is already checked during jail intake. One user warned that things could spiral out of control quickly. They wrote, “All cops need to do is arrest people on bullshit charges that will never hold up just to get them into county jails and deported, hopefully to their actual home country and not, like, El Salvador or something.”
Some people remarked that Greg Abbott was practically asking to be voted out. That comment prompted another user to respond that, with the way things are going, Americans might not even have the ability to vote much longer. Others expressed hope that sheriffs would choose not to abuse the new bill and instead try to protect Texas citizens from ICE. One user wrote, “ICE is a domestic terrorist organization. Everyone should use their discretion and avoid helping domestic terrorists.”
