Texas has filed a preemptive lawsuit to deter any of its cities from defying the state's new anti-sanctuary city law, state Attorney General Ken Paxton said Tuesday.
During an appearance on Fox News' "Fox & Friends," Paxton said the lawsuit came about after Austin and other municipalities said they would not comply with the law.
"We heard they were not going to comply. We also heard about some other entities that were not going to comply," Paxton said. "Instead of waiting for multiple lawsuits around the state and dealing with this over a long period of time, we decided, 'let's get this on.' We believe our law is constitutional and we're ready to go."
Paxton said the lawsuit asks a federal court to uphold it's new policy that bans the practice of being a sanctuary city. Hundreds of sanctuary cities and counties across the nation have come under scrutiny in recent months because they do not enforce all federal immigration laws.
President Donald Trump's administration has promised to crack down on the practice. Paxton said the legal action he has filed serves to nip any complications in the bud before they happen.
"The city of Austin made statements about this. Travis County, our sheriff there, Sally Hernandez, has made statements that she wouldn't enforce these," Paxton told Fox.
"We've sued another entity that talked negatively about our law. We thought, 'why not consolidate these, get it on, and find out more quickly that our law law is constitutional? We absolutely believe we will win."