Texas GOP Advances Anti-Migrants Bill

The Texas State Capitol is seen on September 5, 2023, in Austin, Texas. | Supply: Brandon Bell / Getty

In at present’s shockingly un-shocking information, lawmakers in one of many main Republican states within the warfare in opposition to essential race principle just lately pushed by a invoice that may have a 100% likelihood of affecting one single non-white racial group disproportionately and overwhelmingly.

In accordance with NBC Information, final Thursday, Home Republicans in Texas superior HB4, dubbed by its critics the “Present Me Your Papers” regulation, which might enable native and state regulation enforcement officers to detain folks suspected of getting entered the nation illegally. Critics of the invoice, together with Texas Democrats, are blasting it as not solely empowering cops to racially profile Latino residents—as a result of how may it not?—but in addition being related in nature to the unconstitutional former “cease and frisk” regulation that disproportionately focused Black and brown residents.

From NBC Information:

Jennefer Canales-Pelaez, Texas coverage legal professional and strategist for the Immigrant Authorized Useful resource Heart, mentioned the state deportation invoice the Home accepted is worse than Arizona’s SB 1070 regulation, signed in 2010, that allowed officers, whereas implementing different legal guidelines, to research the citizenship or immigration standing of suspects and folks they’ve stopped.

Passage of that regulation led to courtroom challenges, boycotts, protests and demonstrations and invigorated voter mobilization amongst Latinos who favored Democrats.

The Texas invoice goes additional than SB 1070 as a result of it will enable any peace officer to not solely query, however arrest and take away them, Canales-Pelaez mentioned. The authority shouldn’t be solely prolonged to regulation enforcement, however the broad definition means a peace officer might be “somebody who sits on the dental examiners board,” she mentioned.

“The best way that the regulation is written is simply so obscure, so primarily it’s simply open season on folks of shade all through the state of Texas,” Canales-Pelaez mentioned.

Primarily, what Texas Republicans seem like attempting to do is an anti-immigration model of “stop-and-frisk,” a police follow legalized in NYC below former Mayor Michael Bloomberg that overwhelmingly focused Black folks, the overwhelming majority of whom had dedicated no crime. However, once more, that’s only a bunch of CRT hogwash that simply occurs to be backed by ironclad statistics, amirite?

The core difficulty is white legislators who haven’t skilled racial profiling are passing legal guidelines that enable folks to be detained on suspicion with out being clear on what constitutes suspicion—which primarily clears the best way for “suspicion” to develop into racism as a result of Black and brown folks will naturally be who white folks (or officers of a justice system created for white folks) understand as the same old suspects.

Simply final month, we reported a number of incidents involving white folks harassing Latino employees after deciding on sight that they have to be within the nation illegally. They decided this primarily based on completely nothing however the employees’ race. What Texas Republicans are doing would primarily be that, solely it’s the police who get to do it with the regulation’s blessing.

So as to add insult to damage, to be able to power the invoice by, Home Republicans “truncated debate on the laws, using a not often used process to chop off amendments Democrats may suggest past those who have been on the Home speaker’s desk,” NBC reported. That transfer outraged Home Democrats like Rep. Armando Walle (D-Houston), who dragged Texas GOP legislators in the course of the Home session, telling them, “Y’all don’t reside in our f—ing pores and skin.”

Walle was particularly upset at Rep. Cody Harris (R-Palestine) who sponsored the movement to chop off debate.

“You’re my buddy, man, I really like you, however this f—ing hurts,” Walle mentioned to Harris. “The s—t that occurs on this goddamned ground hurts. I can’t go hang around with my—I can’t hang around with my brother, my cousin, OK. I can’t take them anyplace, bro? I can’t go to a boda (wedding ceremony), I can’t go to a baptism, as a result of my group is being attacked?”

Walle informed NBC that he doesn’t remorse his profanity-laced rant in any respect, and he primarily mentioned Republican legislators make use of racist laws to be able to placate their equally racist voter base.

“I’ve been within the Legislature 16 years and over time there was this salacious urge for food to feed Republican major voters by demonizing border points,” Walle mentioned.

So, the Home invoice now goes to the state Senate, and it’ll seemingly go if Texas’ legislative historical past is any indication.

In 2017, Texas handed its first “Present Me Your Papers” regulation permitting regulation enforcement officers to ask folks about their citizenship and immigration standing. The regulation even allowed for the removing of cops who failed to take action.

However yeah, CRT—an instructional research that examines racial bias in American establishments such because the regulation—is unquestionably a sham.