Texas Gov. Abbott Makes Good On Threat Against Sheriffs Of “Sanctuary Cities”

Shae Weatherall Since he took office last January, Texas Governor Greg Abbott has proven himself as a force to be reckoned with in the Lone Star State. He’s an iron-willed man, who doesn’t back down to pressure from Democrats and follows through with the consequences he’s promised for those who refuse to act in the best interest of Texans. Recently Gov. Abbott warned sheriffs in the state that there would be major penalties for departments which defy federal law and continue to operate under “Sanctuary City” guidelines. Now, he’s making good on those threats, and things are about to get really ugly for sheriff’s departments who are soft on criminal illegal aliens.
As previously reported by Mad World News, late last month Gov. Abbott issued a letter warning Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez that she must abide by federal Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) laws by detaining criminal illegals until federal law enforcement can take them into custody. Records indicated that under Valdez, many of those criminals were being released back into the community with the potential to commit more serious crimes against citizens.

Apparently, Gov. Abbott did not get the required response of compliance from Sheriff Valdez, which would have prevented the next step in the governor’s enforcement policy. On Wednesday, the Office of the Governor released another letter indicating that any sheriff’s department across the state, which refuses to abide by ICE’s detention requests, will forfeit funding from the Texas Criminal Justice Division.

According to the official release from the Office of the Governor Greg Abbott, his letter reads in part (emphasis added):

“I am establishing new standards for Sheriff’s Departments that seek grants from the Governor’s Criminal Justice Division (CJD),” writes Governor Abbott. “Beginning now, all CJD grant awards will require that Sheriff’s Departments fully honor ICE’s detention requests for criminal immigrants. Any applicant that cannot certify that their office will honor all ICE detainers for criminal immigrants will be ineligible for CJD funding. Further, any applicant that certifies full compliance with ICE detainer requests—but subsequently fails to honor an ICE detainer—will be subject to claw-back provisions and must refund the full amount of their CJD grant award.”

“As Governor, I simply will not allow CJD grant funding administered by this office to support law enforcement agencies that refuse to cooperate with a federal law enforcement program that is intended to keep dangerous criminals off Texas streets.”

Governor Abbott’s tenacity is admirable and refreshing. He’s not playing around with these employees of the Texas citizens. If sheriffs continue to refuse to abide by the law and attempt to deal with criminal illegals based on their personal feelings, they will face massive penalties, losing large amounts of funding provided by the tax payers whom they work for.

At a speaking event in September, Governor Abbott was quoted by The Dallas Morning News as saying, “America is not broken, it’s Washington, D.C., that’s broken.” He added, “To fix America, we need states like Texas.”

Obviously, Governor Abbott knows on which side his bread is buttered. He realizes that he works for the people of his state, not for the politicians in Washington D.C. Even in his relatively short history of being Texas’ governor, he has proven time and time again that he will stand up for the citizens of his state and he won’t waste any time in doing so.

American states need more Governors like the one Texas has. Leaders who aren’t afraid to stand up for what’s right and fight back against the liberal machine that is chipping away at the foundation of our country. We need more representatives for the people — who actually say what they mean, mean what they say, and have the cojones to back it up.

h/t [Breitbart News]