Last week Judge Orlando L. Garcia of the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas granted a preliminary injunction preventing a new Texas ban on local Sanctuary City ordinances from taking effect last Friday, according to The New York Times.
The law supercedes any local ordinances that limit immigration enforcement, enabling police officers to ask about immigration status of anyone they detain or arrest and requiring police chiefs and other civic leaders to cooperate with federal immigration detainer requests.
The cities of Houston, Austin, San Antonio and Dallas are part of the pending lawsuit against the state seeking to overturn the contentious new law passed in May.
In his ruling, Judge Garcia upheld the law’s provision that police officers may inquire about immigration status, but blocked other provisions, such as the ban on local sanctuary city policies and the requirement that local officials comply with all federal immigration detainer requests.