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GOVERNORGREGABBOTT

January

23,

2017

The

Honorable

Sally

Hernandez

TravisCounty

Sheriff

P.O.

Box

1748

Austin,Texas

78767

Dear

Sheriff

Hernandez:

On

January

4,

2017,youtook

an

oath

to

“preserve,protect

and

defendthe

Constitution

andlaws

of

the

United

States

and

of

the

State

of

Texas.”And,

as

sheriff

yourprimaryduty

is

to

ensure

the

safety

of

the

residents

of

Travis

County.

However,yourrecentpolicydirectiveforbiddingTravisCounty

Sheriffs

Office TCSO employees

from

cooperatingwith

U.S.

ImmigrationandCustoms

Enforcement

ICE except

in

the

mostlimited

of

circumstances

betraysyouroathand

the

residents

of

TravisCounty.

I

stronglyurgeyou

to

reversethatpolicybefore

its

effective

date

of

February

2017.The

ICE

detainer

program

plays

an

integral

rolein

ensuringthatdangerouscriminalaliens

do

notend

up

back

on

ourstreets.

By

issuingimmigrationdetainerrequests

to

law

enforcement

agencies,such

as

yours,ICEhas

an

opportunity

to

collectandremove

criminal

aliensalready

in

custody

before

theyhavetheopportunity

to

commitadditionalcrimes

against

the

citizens

weare

sworn

to

protect.

The

federalgovernment

has

determinedthatthesecriminalaliens

are

“threats

to

nationalsecurity,bordersecurityandpublicsafety,”andsome

of

them

are

“aliensengaged

in

or

suspected

of

terrorism

or

espionage.”Youoffer

two

justifications

for

youractions,butboth

are

frivolous.First,youclaimyouhave

no

legal

power

to

complywithICEdetainers.

That

proves

too

much,

of

course,because

by

yourownadmission,TCSOwillhonor

some

ICEdetainers

for

example,

when

thealien

is

chargedwith

or

convicted

of

capitalmurder.Youhavetheexactsamelegalauthority

to

honor

ICE

detainersforcapital

murder

cases

as

you

do

forothercrimes

that

you

personally

deem

unworthy

of

enforcement.Second,youclaimthatTCSOshouldfocuson“publicsafety,”whilethefederalgovernmentfocuses

on

immigrationenforcement.Thatignores,

of

course,thattheindividualssubject

to

ICEdetainerspose

grave

threats

to

public

safety.

Thewhole

point

of

ICE’s

detainer

program

is

to

ensurethattheworst

of

theworst

do

notwalk

free

and

further

jeopardize

public

safety.

POST

OFFICE

Box

12428

AUSTIN,

TEXAS

8

512-463-2000

VOICE

DIAL

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