County judges: SB 4 will harm our relationship with Mexico

Rio Grande Guardian
BY LUIS MONTOYA 
NOVEMBER 24, 2023

HOUSTON, Texas – County judges representing three of the largest counties in Texas are urging the federal government to maintain and assert its authority over immigration enforcement.

In particular, the judges want President Biden to stop Senate Bill 4 from going into effect.

The judges are Lina Hidalgo of Harris County, Andy Brown of Travis County, and Ricardo Samaniego of El Paso County.

The three judges made their views known on SB 4 in an open letter to President Biden. They say the legislation turns law enforcement into immigration enforcement, and the state’s overcrowded jails into immigration detention facilities. SB 4 also threatens to upend immigration law nationally, the judges state.

The letter starts:

November 20, 2023

President Joseph R. Biden, Jr.

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW

Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear Mr. President,

We are writing to express our profound concern over legislation recently passed by the Texas legislature that makes local communities less safe, interferes with federal immigration enforcement, threatens our relationships with other nations and does not get any closer to sound immigration policy. We urge you to intervene to stop this legislation from going into effect and to prevent Texas Governor Greg Abbott from violating the U.S. Constitution. 

On November 14, 2023, the Texas Legislature passed Senate bill SB four SB four makes unauthorized entry into Texas a state crime. It also empowers state and local law enforcement officials to arrest and judges to deport individuals deemed to be in violation of the law. Governor Abbott said he “looks forward” to signing the bill into law soon. 

In practice, SB 4 will allow – and sometimes require – judges across the entire state of Texas to deport people, even if they are in the process of seeking asylum. Police officers whose effectiveness depends on close ties with their local communities will now be in charge of detaining immigrants for deportation. 

SB 4 is also a direct violation of the federal government’s jurisdiction over immigration law. It is as unprecedented as Texas trying to declare its own wars. legislators from both political parties have openly acknowledged that this legislation is unconstitutional. As the Supreme Court ruled in the 2012 case Arizona vs United States, states cannot pass laws making it a state crime to enter the US without authorization because the federal government has “broad, undoubted power over immigration and alien status.

In addition to violating the U.S. Constitution, SB 4 will also harm our relationship with Mexico. In response to this legislation, the Mexican government reaffirm that Mexico will continue to work with the US federal government on immigration matters. However, Mexico made it clear that it categorically rejects SB 4 over concerns about due process and the ramifications of enforcing a patchwork immigration policy implemented by individual states.

The letter goes on to say that immigration are taken advantage of because of their vulnerability. It says immigrants and their children can live in the U.S. for decades without a path to citizenship. It also states that the nation’s top universities train the world’s best and brightest, only to see them return to competing countries for lack of a functioning immigration system. “We need real solutions to address these challenges with our immigration system, not state overreach,” the letter states.

The letter continues:

We also acknowledge that our respective communities – and our nation – need immigrants. In Texas we have 1.6 million undocumented immigrants who have built lives here in the U.S. have families here and pay $2.6 billion in federal taxes every year. For example, in both Harris County and Dallas County, nearly one in every three undocumented immigrants work in the construction industry, which is one of the most important and fastest growing sectors of the Texas economy. These workers are not only supporting our bottom line, they’re supporting their families and loved ones. SB 4 will create an environment in which those families live in fear of their loved ones being forced to leave the country. 

Immigration as an issue is easy to weaponize for political reasons. Throughout history politicians have exploited fear of the “other” for political gain. But effective solutions will not be borne by dangerous political posturing. Immigrants fleeing dictatorship and violence in countries like Venezuela or Colombia, who are willing to put their lives at risk simply to make it across the border will not be deterred by the threat of possible deportation. Legislation like SB 4 is not the solution. 

The Biden administration has demonstrated its commitment to trying to advance real solutions at the border, and we all want to express our gratitude for your focus on this complicated issue. That is why we want to ensure that the federal government remains in charge of immigration enforcement, not individual states. Our governor and state legislature have shown that they are willing to play with the lives, safety and security of immigrants and their own communities just to score political points. 

We urge the federal government to take any action appropriate to maintain and assert its authority over immigration enforcement and to prevent the inevitable tragedies from this legislation.

Lina Hidalgo,  Harris County Judge

Andy Brown, Travis County Judge

Ricardo A. Samaniego, El Paso County Judge