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Delegation highlights immigration package: 287(g) expansion, driver's license limits and federal reform resolution
Summary
Legislators said the session includes measures expanding local cooperation with federal immigration enforcement (287(g)), proposals to withhold recognition of out-of-state licenses for undocumented immigrants and a resolution urging federal legal immigration reform (HJR 180).
Sen. Jack Johnson and Representatives from Williamson County described measures in the legislative session intended to strengthen cooperation with federal immigration enforcement and press for changes to legal immigration processes.
Johnson framed the bills and resolution as both public-safety and workforce measures. "We really do have a once in a lifetime opportunity here relative to the problem of illegal immigration," he said, adding that the state had created a Central Office of Immigration Enforcement to improve coordination with federal authorities.
Panelists discussed a bill to refuse recognition of out-of-state drivers licenses issued to people in the country unlawfully and a package to expand 287(g) jail-based cooperation so local jails can work more directly with federal authorities on warrants and database searches. Representative Lee Reeves described 287(g) as a tool used in many county jails and said the bill would close gaps where some larger counties have not joined voluntarily.
Johnson also described a resolution (HJR 180) that encourages the federal government to streamline legal immigration and speed processing, a move delegates said would help construction and farming industries that rely on immigrant labor.
Discussion at the forum focused on policy goals and committee progress; no formal votes were taken at the event.
