San Antonio agrees to $300,000 settlement with Texas over 2018 sanctuary-city lawsuit

San Antonio's city council approved a $300,000 settlement for a lawsuit that accused police chief William McManus and other officials of violating a Texas law barring sanctuary cities, the Express-News reports.

Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed the suit in 2018, 11 months after a suspected human-smuggling incident made headlines on the city's East Side. In that incident, police found 12 suspected undocumented immigrants in the back of a tractor-trailer.

While SAPD officers arrested the driver on smuggling charges and contacted Homeland Security, city officials maintain that they couldn't get through to federal officials, according to the Express-News. The individuals found in the truck were subsequently released since detaining migrants is under the feds' jurisdiction

Paxton alleged that city officials disregarded Texas' GOP-championed Senate Bill 4, which requires local authorities to hand over undocumented migrants to federal agencies.

The $300,000 settlement — covered by San Antonio's Self Insured Liability Fund — comes after the city had already spent nearly $6.4 million defending McManus, according to KSAT. Still, the settlement represents a fraction of $150 million in penalties and attorney fees the city might have been on the hook for had it lost the court case, the station reports.

Stay on top of San Antonio news and views. Sign up for our Weekly Headlines Newsletter.