AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The Republican-controlled Texas House approved early Thursday a strict ban on "sanctuary cities" in the country's second-largest state, seeking to empower law enforcement to enforce federal immigration law against anyone they detain and threatening to jail police chiefs and sheriffs who refuse to do so. Other Republican-led states have pushed for similar polices, but Texas would be the first in which police chiefs and other officials could face criminal charges and be removed from office for not helping enforce immigration law. The term "sanctuary cities" has no legal definition, but Republicans want local police to help federal authorities as part of a larger effort to crack down on criminal suspects in the U.S.