Patrick's head start on wasting Legislature's time

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has declared ending sanctuary cities a legislative priority, which only proves the point of our Nov. 1 editorial that he doesn't have his priorities straight. As we said then, the Legislature's priority should be reforming school finance — in that order. We also warned, based on Patrick's long-established pattern of behavior, that he would latch onto flammable diversions such as who can use which bathroom, one of his recent favorites.

Sanctuary cities — those whose policies shelter illegal immigrants from apprehension — have been a favorite target for Patrick since he became a state senator in 2007. That's long before North Carolina's transgender bathroom law alerted him to its attention-grabbing possibilities.

Let's be clear: Cities shouldn't knowingly impede enforcement of immigration laws.

But let's also be clear: No such cities exist in Texas.

There just isn't a city in this state that deserves the label "sanctuary city" and all the negativity that it has come to imply in this nation's mean-spirited political discourse about immigration policies. Texas' utter lack of sanctuary cities is just a key fact that gets in the way of the scare story that Patrick aches to tell.

Read more: http://www.caller.com/story/opinion/2016/11/21/patricks-head-start-wasting-legislatures-time/94215334/

[font color=330099]Another solution looking for a problem courtesy of the lt. guv...[/font]