Appeals court to decide if Texas immigration law violates constitution
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Source: Scripps News
Posted: 9:16 p.m. EDT Apr 2, 2024
A Texas law that would authorize police to arrest and detain migrants suspected of illegally crossing the border from Mexico remains on hold as it proceeds through the appellate process. The law known as SB4 applies to all of Texas' 254 counties. In rural conservative Texas there's strong support for it. However, in Houston, the nation's fourth-largest city, with 45% of the population having Hispanic heritage, the fear of the law is palpable among many. There's a belief that if the law is found constitutional, it would be used in racial profiling.
"My district, District 1, is about 75% Latino," said Joaquin Martinez, a Houston City Council member. Martinez says fear amongst Spanish-speaking immigrants in his neighborhood regardless of their immigration status is palpable. "Now you're just targeting a specific community," Martinez said, "In a way where you're asking everybody to start investing in this and creating this fear."
SB4 would make crossing illegally into the U.S. from Mexico a state crime, and would give police all over Texas authority to enforce it. Furthermore, Martinez thinks it will open the door to racial profiling. "One hundred percent. I think right off the bat, some of the first conversations about this amongst older members of the Latino community were about 'Operation Wetback'," Martinez said. The Houston City Council member is referring to the infamous massive deportation program that occurred in 1954 under the Eisenhower administration.
It resulted not only in the removal of undocumented Mexicans, but caught up U.S. citizens of Hispanic heritage. He fears that if federal courts find SB4 constitutional and put it into effect, Hispanic communities will be less likely to cooperate with local police. "Prior to that and even now we have communities that are like hands off," Martinez said. "We don't want to get involved in law enforcement because of fear of status." The law remains on hold as the U.S. Justice Department is suing, arguing Texas is trampling on federal authority to enforce the nation's immigration laws.
Read more: https://scrippsnews.com/stories/appeals-court-to-decide-if-texas-immigration-law-violates-constitution/
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