Ken Paxton Tells Dallas County Sheriff to ‘Comply’ With State Law, Partner With ICE

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton took aim at the Dallas County Sheriff’s Department on Wednesday. In a statement, Paxton demanded that Marian Brown comply with Senate Bill 5, which requires county sheriff departments that operate a jail to have formal agreements with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). 

“I will not allow the people of Dallas County to suffer because the Sheriff refuses to work with ICE to keep violent illegals off our streets,” Paxton said in a statement announcing the letter. “Texas law requires that sheriffs seek a formal agreement with ICE to help stop illegal immigration. My office will ensure that the Dallas County Sheriff complies with the law and that ICE is assisted to the fullest extent possible under the law.”

A call and an email to the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office on Wednesday were not returned. In Paxton’s letter to Brown, the AG wrote, “The decision of whether to seek such an agreement is not yours to make,” before later adding that “Notably, you stand alone in your failure to comply with this law.”

By way of entering into a 287(g) partnership with ICE, SB 5, which became law on Jan. 1, authorizes officers of affiliated departments to function similar to federal ICE officers for the apprehension and detention of undocumented people. The new law does not require individual city police departments to enter into a 287(g) agreement with ICE. 

Even though the Dallas Police Department made headlines last year for reportedly declining $25 million from ICE to enter into a 287(g) agreement, something that ICE representatives denied at the time, city leaders recently bowed to a threat of withholding millions in public safety funds from Gov. Greg Abbott, and made their policies for working with ICE more amenable.