AUSTIN — The state’s largest law enforcement agencies joined forces with Hispanic leaders Monday in opposing a so-called sanctuary cities bill that supporters say is a needed tool against illegal immigration.

The emotion-charged bill, which Gov. Rick Rick Perry has designated as a top priority, would let law officers ask about immigration status when they arrest or detain someone.

The bill heads for an expected vote today by the Republican-controlled Senate after clearing a committee on a party-line 5-4 vote.

Hispanic groups, rallying outside the Senate, submitted thousands of petition signatures against Senate Bill 9 as the Senate Committee on Transportation and Homeland Security conducted the first public hearing on the bill since the Legislature’s 2-week-old special session began.

Perry included the measure in the special session after it died in the regular session that ended May 30.

Perry and legislative supporters said the bill is needed to develop a consistent statewide policy, but opponents say it would lead to racial profiling and overburden law enforcement.

“It’s going to bring a huge burden to our system,” said Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez, who told senators that the added requirement would cost her department $1.5 million a year.

The committee also received a letter signed by Police Chiefs Jeff Halstead of Fort Worth, Willam P. McManus of San Antonio, Gregory K. Allen of El Paso and Art Acevedo of Austin warning of the potential “negative effects” if the bill becomes law.

“Violent and property crime, quality of life in our communities, and answering calls for service are our primary responsibility — not enforcing Federal immigration laws,” the chiefs wrote.

Houston Police Chief Charles A. McClelland, who heads the nation’s fifth-largest police agency, told the committee that empowering law officers to question people about their immigration status would make residents of Hispanic communities reluctant to help police investigate crimes.

“We have built up a trust, and that trust is like money in a bank account,” McClelland said. “We’re afraid that support and that information will actually dry up” if the bill becomes law.

Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, the committee chairman and chief sponsor of the bill, disputed assertions that the bill is based on a controversial immigration law in Arizona. The Arizona law, he said, requires officers to inquire about immigration status whereas the Texas bill would permit officers to ask about immigration status while making arrests.

Elizabeth Theiss of Houston, a homemaker and the mother of two school-age children, said Texas cities need tougher enforcement against illegal immigration. “We do need to have cops asking questions,” she said. “I think we need to get serious.”

Perry has said he is pushing the legislation to keep cities in Texas from adopting policies that would allow them to become sanctuaries for illegal immigrants. The bill would prohibit local governments from adopting policies to prohibit officers from asking people they detain whether they are in the country legally. Those that adopt such policies would face losing state grants.

Williams said the policy would replace a “patchwork” of differing requirements at the local level. The bill is needed, he said, because of the federal government’s “failure” to secure the Southwest border.

But opponents said the bill would open the door to overzealous law enforcement and give officers with a bias against illegal immigrants the power to pursue personal agendas. Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, a member of the committee who voted against the bill, said its language is overly broad and could let officers target someone who has “dark skin, dark eyes and dark hair.”

After several hours of testimony, Sen. Chris Harris, R-Arlington, angrily criticized a man who said he has been in the country nearly 20 years but felt more comfortable testifying in Spanish.

“It is insulting to us,” Harris said.

The man finished his remarks in Spanish.

Some Republicans said Davis gave Perry a second shot at the bill by forcing the special session with a filibuster against a must-pass bill. But Davis says Perry was planning a midsummer session anyway.

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