House State Affairs Hears Sanctuary Cities, Immigration, DREAM Act Bills
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The House Committee on State Affairs got off to a late start on Wednesday, March 1st, starting around 4:00pm after the House adjourned.
The Committee is hearing several bills related to immigration, including HB 12 (Solomons), HB 18 (Riddle), HB 183 (Solomons), HB 623 (Bonnen), HB 875 (C. Howard), and HB 603 (Farrar). You can find out more about these bills here.
The Committee kicked off with an exchange between Representative Burt Solomons (R-Carrollton) and Representative Rene Oliveira (D-Brownsville) about HB 12, which would keep local governments from adopting a policy that prohibits the full enforcement of federal law. Rep. Oliveira said that if HB 12 passes, it would tie up resources and make it more difficult for local law enforcement officials to enforce state laws. Representative Sylvester Turner (D-Houston) also raised questions about whether this bill would result in unintended consequences, such as harassment of detainees by overzealous local officers. Representative Menendez (D-San Antonio) agreed with Rep. Turner saying "This isn't theory" as he shared a personal of his father being detained outside his own house until his mother brought his papers.
You can watch Rep. Solomons lay out HB 12 here.
Reps. Solomons, Menendez and Oliviera discuss HB 12 here.
You can watch Rep. Menendez share his story here.
Rev. Bobbie Kaye Jones, District Superindentent of the Southwest Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church, also testified saying, "There is no wiggle room in the Bible when it comes to hosipitality or welcoming the stranger, so I know you aren't considering this legislation as the answer to 'What would Jesus Do?'" You can see the video here.
Texas Impact President Rev. T. Randall Smith also testified, urging lawmakers to "move from fear to respect" when considering immigration legislation. You can see the video here.
Sister Elizabeth Riebschlaeger of the Sisters of Charity spoke about the God-given dignity of all human citizens. You can see her testimony here.
At 9:08PM, Rep. Solomons laid out the committee substitute for HB 183 that would require a law enforcement official to request a person's immigration status be checked within 48 hours of someone's arrest and before they are released on bond. This is slightly different from the original bill that would require a law enforcement official to verify the status.
At 9:25 Representative Dennis Bonnen laid out his omnibus anti-immigration bill. You can read the text of the bill here. The bill would:
- require law enforcment officials to check the immigration status of someone within 48 hours of his or her arrest
- create an "immigration database" that records unlawfully present immigrants that have been arrested and makes that information public
- require lawful presence for students to qualify for in-state tuition
- require state agencies to report on the direct and indirect costs of providing services to unlawfully present immigrants
- establish English as the official language of Texas and strikes a provision that requires official information to be provided in Spanish
- prohibit local governments from adopting a policy that does not fully enforce federal immigration law
