Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is threatening to "bring the hammer down" if Dallas County acts on a new resolution welcoming unauthorized immigrants, The Dallas Morning News reports.
The resolution is non-binding and calls on local law enforcement agencies to "end nonessential collaborations with Immigration and Customs Enforcement," the paper says.
The Dallas County Commission approved the measure, one official said, to make immigrants feel safe calling 911, working with police and sending their children to school, according to newspaper.
But it has already drawn the ire of other elected officials in Dallas, the Dallas Morning News says.
"If anybody acts on that resolution to make Dallas a sanctuary city, if any sanctuary city policy is implemented in any way, the hammer will come down on them," says Abbott, a Republican. The governor adds he was "stunned" by the measure.
Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, took to Twitter to voice his displeasure.
But county officials were not worried by the criticism and insist the measure carries no legal weight, the newspaper says. They said the county was compliant with ICE requests.
"Hell, I wish I could hold everybody to the resolution," County Commissioner John Wiley Price says.