Hundreds Testify Against State Bill Targeting Sanctuary Cities
February 3, 2017
By Leif Reigstad
Texas Monthly
“If you are a victim of a crime, we don’t care about your immigration status—you have the same rights as anyone else who lives in Fort Worth. We are going to defend you. We are going to protect you.”
—Fort Worth police officer Daniel Segura on Facebook, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Segura posted the video in an effort reassure Fort Worth’s undocumented immigrants on Wednesday and it quickly went viral, garnering more than 800,000 views by Thursday afternoon.
BIG NEWS
Photograph by Sarah Jasmine Montgomery
Hearing Concerns
About 600 Texans came to the Capitol on Thursday to testify against Senate Bill 4, a piece of legislation targeting sanctuary cities and other local governments that have policies friendly to undocumented immigrants. The Senate State Affairs Committee hearing lasted sixteen hours, as Texan after Texan took their turn to testify against the bill. They represented a wide cross-section of folks, including, according the Austin American-Statesman: “A young woman who attempted suicide after her father was deported. An unauthorized immigrant who has lived in Dallas for 17 years and owns a small business. Police chiefs who say they depend on strong relationships with immigrant communities to solve crimes. A nurse whose patients are largely immigrants. The Catholic bishop for Austin.” As the Texas Observer notes, the line of speakers was so long that it was wrapped two times around the second-floor rotunda before the hearing began at 8:30 in the morning, and the hearing was disrupted several times by protesters who unfurled banners opposing the bill and sang the refrain, “Which side are you on, my people, which side are you on?” But their words and actions of protest were of no avail. At 12:45 a.m., the State Affairs Committee approved the bill, voting 7-2 along party lines to send SB4 to the full Senate next week. If the bill passes, it would allow Texas to withhold state grant funds from local governments that fail to honor detainer requests from federal immigration authorities, according to the Texas Tribune. The hearing came as tensions between Governor Greg Abbott and Texas’s sanctuary localities have reached at an all-time high. Just the day before, Abbott announced he’d be withholding more than $1 million in state grants from Travis County, penalizing the sheriff for what he perceives is a sanctuary policy.
February 3, 2017
By Leif Reigstad
Texas Monthly
“If you are a victim of a crime, we don’t care about your immigration status—you have the same rights as anyone else who lives in Fort Worth. We are going to defend you. We are going to protect you.”
—Fort Worth police officer Daniel Segura on Facebook, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Segura posted the video in an effort reassure Fort Worth’s undocumented immigrants on Wednesday and it quickly went viral, garnering more than 800,000 views by Thursday afternoon.
BIG NEWS
Photograph by Sarah Jasmine Montgomery
Hearing Concerns
About 600 Texans came to the Capitol on Thursday to testify against Senate Bill 4, a piece of legislation targeting sanctuary cities and other local governments that have policies friendly to undocumented immigrants. The Senate State Affairs Committee hearing lasted sixteen hours, as Texan after Texan took their turn to testify against the bill. They represented a wide cross-section of folks, including, according the Austin American-Statesman: “A young woman who attempted suicide after her father was deported. An unauthorized immigrant who has lived in Dallas for 17 years and owns a small business. Police chiefs who say they depend on strong relationships with immigrant communities to solve crimes. A nurse whose patients are largely immigrants. The Catholic bishop for Austin.” As the Texas Observer notes, the line of speakers was so long that it was wrapped two times around the second-floor rotunda before the hearing began at 8:30 in the morning, and the hearing was disrupted several times by protesters who unfurled banners opposing the bill and sang the refrain, “Which side are you on, my people, which side are you on?” But their words and actions of protest were of no avail. At 12:45 a.m., the State Affairs Committee approved the bill, voting 7-2 along party lines to send SB4 to the full Senate next week. If the bill passes, it would allow Texas to withhold state grant funds from local governments that fail to honor detainer requests from federal immigration authorities, according to the Texas Tribune. The hearing came as tensions between Governor Greg Abbott and Texas’s sanctuary localities have reached at an all-time high. Just the day before, Abbott announced he’d be withholding more than $1 million in state grants from Travis County, penalizing the sheriff for what he perceives is a sanctuary policy.