Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall
MONTGOMERY – Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall joined a coalition of eight state attorneys general in supporting state laws banning sanctuary cities. On Tuesday, Alabama signed onto a multi-state amicus brief siding with Texas as it appeals a federal court ruling blocking the state’s sanctuary cities ban.
“When local officials deliberately choose to ignore the law and thereby place their citizens at risk, the result is a breakdown in the rule of law,” said Attorney General Marshall. “This is precisely what we are witnessing with sanctuary cities and localities which prohibit or impede cooperation between federal and local officials on immigration enforcement. Alabama supports Texas’ sanctuary cities ban because we believe individual states should have the right to prohibit sanctuary cities within their borders.”
The eight-state amicus brief opposes a federal court injunction of Texas’s ban on sanctuary cities. Texas law requires local entities and officials to not interfere with federal immigration enforcement. It also places duties and liabilities on certain persons in the criminal justice system, provides civil penalties and creates a criminal offense for violating those provisions.
In June, Alabama was also one of ten states defending President Trump’s executive order that directs the federal government to take lawful actions to ensure compliance with laws prohibiting sanctuary cities.
Alabama joined Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina and West Virginia in filing the amicus brief with the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals Tuesday evening.
A copy of the amicus brief is available via this link.
