A Look At Some Of The Laws That Did – And Didn’t – Go Into Effect Today

This week in Texas politics with the Texas Tribune.

By Jill AmentSeptember 1, 2017 12:05 pm,

Time for the week that was in Texas politics with Julian Aguilar, reporter for the Texas Tribune.

The state’s anti-sanctuary cities law, Senate Bill 4, was set to go into effect today – but several provisions of that law have been blocked by U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia.

“With respect to the provision that required local law enforcement to honor all detainers, he said that could possibly be in violation of the Forth Amendment that protects against prolonged detention, illegal search and seizure,” Aguilar says. “He said the fact that local police chiefs local governments couldn’t craft their own policy was First Amendment issue.”

However, one of the most controversial parts of the law remains: the so-called “show me your papers” provision, allowing law enforcement to ask people under arrest about their immigration status.

“That actually stood, and he said that he couldn’t enjoin that because the Supreme Court ruled in 2012 that a similar statute in an Arizona law was allowed to stand,” Aguilar says.

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump is expected to make a decision soon about whether to keep or scrap the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program – known as DACA – as an ultimatum nears. Around 120,000 Texans have benefited from the program since it went into effect five years ago under President Barack Obama.

“Yesterday there was a lot of buzz that he could announce something as early as today,” Aguilar says. “What he’s facing is a Sept. 5 deadline imposed by attorney General Ken Paxton and 9 other states, asking him to rescind it by that date or face a lawsuit in federal court.”

Also: another judge paused the implementation of a ban on a common second-trimester abortion procedure, and more than 650 new laws go into effect today – including a statewide ban on texting while driving.