HOUSTON (WBAP/KLIF News) — A new report from the Pew Research Center estimates there are 1.1 million permanent residents of Houston and the DFW metroplex who are in the country illegally. With those numbers the biggest cities in Texas rank in the top five metropolitan areas in the nation with the largest illegal populations.
The research concluded 575,000 people live illegally in the Houston-Woodlands-Sugar Land area and 475,000 in the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington area. Austin made the list as well, with an estimated 100,000 full time illegal immigrants
As the Houston Chronicle reports, there is no legal definition of what constitutes a so-called sanctuary city, and neither DFW or Houston have declared themselves as such. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has recently threatened threatened to cut state funding for any city that doesn’t enforce federal immigration enforcement actions. He made good on that threat with Travis County when newly-elected Sheriff Sally Hernandez vowed that she would not enforce ICE demands for detainers on illegal immigrants who are arrested. She has since backed down slightly, saying that she will more tightly review cases to determine whether to honor requests to hold inmates on behalf of federal immigration officials.
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