County Judge Pleads With Governor To Rethink Threat Of Cutting Off Funds

AUSTIN, TX — Travis County Judge Sarah Eckhardt appealed to Gov. Greg Abbott's sense of "compassion" on Wednesday, urging him to reconsider his threat to cut off county grants funding over his feud with the county sheriff over immigration enforcement.

"I know you to be a compassionate man with a long and distinguished history of public service," Eckhardt began in a letter sent to Abbott on Wednesday that her office made available to Patch. "I am heartened by your history of holding public service above politics."

Eckhardt's diplomacy comes on the heels of Abbott's threat to withhold grant money to the county over Travis County Sheriff Sally Hernandez's stance on cooperating with Immigration Customs & Enforcement officials. Unlike her predecessor, Greg Hamilton, the new sheriff has voiced a reluctance of honoring detainers for arrested people believed to be undocumented by putting them on a maximum 72-hour hold—an ICE detainer, in effect—to give border patrol agents enough time to retrieve them.

Hernandez has said she will cooperate with federal immigration officials by holding undocumented detainees, but only if they are accused of major crimes (felonies or sexual offenses, for example) and when the requests are accompanied by a court order or judicial warrant.

Conversely, Abbott is insistent on on deporting all undocumented immigration, regardless of the severity of their offenses. Since Hernandez voiced her preferred law enforcement practices, Abbott has gone on the offensive, first threatening to cut off about $1.8 million worth of county grants and then on Wednesday appearing on Fox & Friends saying he'll explore ways of creating laws enabling him to fire Hernandez—a duly elected public official who beat her Republican challenger with 60 percent of the vote.

Patch previously wrote about the Abbott-Hernandez standoff. Click here to read that story.

Into this showdown between titans steps Judge Eckhardt, not as referee but with hopes of convincing Abbott to rethink his vow to cut off county funding over the sheriff's stance. The reason, she wrote, is that those grant monies fund a wide array of critical county needs independent of the sheriff's office.

"The grants help Travis County serve women, children, families and veterans," Eckhardt wrote. They are unrelated to Immigration, and none are under the management of the sheriff's office."

The judge then provided a sampling of the programs that benefit from the state funding, attaching a full list for the governor's reference. Among the programs that would be in jeopardy with Abbott's threatened cuts are:

• Travis County Veterans Court focusing on defendants suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorders, Traumatic Brain Injury and other mental health disorders that resulted from combat-related experience. The court links veterans with misdemeanors and felonies who are defendants to services, monitoring their progress and diverting them from further criminal sanctions.
• Parenting in Recoverty (PIR) Travis County Family Drug Treatment Court (FDTC), a civil courts program providing a continuum of court and community-based supports for parents and their children involved in the Child Protective Services docket. "PIR/ FDTC helps children stay with their loving families rather than entering the foster care system by helping their parents become sober, responsible caregivers, ensuring the safety and well-being of the children they love," Eckhardt wrote.
• Family Violence Accelerated Prosecution Program and Victims Outreach. "The County Attorney's program enhances victim services and speeds op the prosecution of criminal family violence cases," Eckhardt wrote. "With the additional staff funded in part by your office, victims receive rapid outreach and intervention increasing the likelihood of their meaningful participation in the prosecution." Over the past three years, Eckhardt noted, the time to file a case has dropped 37 percent and the time from filing to disposition has dropped 62 percent.
• The Phoenix Court (prostitute prevention), a grant program created pursuant to Senate Bill 484 that requires counties with populations of more than 200,000 to implement a prostitute prevention program. The county created the Phoenix Court in response as a pilot program during Fiscal Year 2015, with full implementation in FY 2016. "The program provides case management and other services to assist these women who are both defendants and victims in untangling themselves from the commercial sex trade," Eckhardt wrote.
• Trauma Specific Treatment for Juveniles. The Travis County Juvenile Probation Department provides an evidence-based education advanced therapy program, TARGET, for children who have experienced trauma. The program increases the child's opportunities for success, recovery and an adulthood free of criminal involvement.
• Travis County Adult Probation DWI Court, a proven effective program reducing repeat DWI offenses through treatment, supervision and judicial involvement.
• Drug Diversion Court, a proven effective program reducing repeat drug offenders through case management and treatment services.

"The success of these programs and others not listed (see attached), which you have supported, lowers the burden on state jails, the foster care system and so many other state responsibilities," Eckhardt wrote. "None of these programs you seek to cut have anything to do with immigration and none are withing the managerial scope of the sheriff's office."

>>> Photo of Judge Sarah Eckhardt via Travis County website