Texas tried to punish localities, leaders, and organizations who were fighting the state’s racist “show me your papers” law, scheduled to go into effect next month, by suing them in an effort to have the law preemptively declared constitutional. This week, a federal judge dismissed beleaguered Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s lawsuit:
The ruling Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks of Austin is a victory for Texas' largest cities, which are suing to block the immigration crackdown signed by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott.
The law lets police officers ask people during routine stops whether they're legally in the United States.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, made the unusual move of asking Sparks to preemptively rule in the law's favor. But the judge dismissed the request.
"We're disappointed with the court's ruling and look forward to pressing our winning arguments in the San Antonio cases and beyond (if necessary) on this undoubtedly constitutional law," Paxton said in a statement.
“It is what we expected and a step in the right direction, unlike the statewide leaders at the Capitol and Governor’s Mansion, judges have to do their best to make rational decisions,” said Austin City Council Member and immigrant rights advocate Greg Casar. “It has been obvious from the beginning that Ken Paxton’s lawsuit against my colleagues was frivolous and without standing to intimidate local officials advocating against Senate Bill 4.”
Texans and advocates have pushed hard in their opposition to SB 4, which has been described as an “anti-sanctuary city” bill, but in reality stands to devastate Latino and immigrant communities regardless of their legal status. Under this draconian legislation, police will act as federal immigration agents and be allowed to question the immigration status of anyone they stop, even if they’ve been pulled over for something as simple as a broken taillight. Witnesses could instead become targets.
It’s no exaggeration to say this could prove devastating in a state where nearly 40 percent of the population is Latino:
Laws like SB 4 destroy the relationship between local law enforcement and immigrant communities. When there is trust in the police, immigrants are more likely to report crimes, serve as witnesses, and otherwise cooperate with law enforcement without fear of deportation. When police become involved in deportations, immigrant trust in them, and willingness to work with them, disappears.
That’s why police chiefs from cities across Texas have uniformly spoken out against SB 4. Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo has reported that Hispanics in his city have reported 13% fewer violent crimes, 43% fewer rapes and sexual assaults, 12% fewer aggravated assaults, and 12% fewer robberies in the first three months of 2017 compared to the same time period from 2016. This is during a period when reports of violent crime and sexual assault from non-Hispanics have increased. In July, Fort Worth reported a string of at least a dozen robberies targeting Hispanics specifically because they “don’t call the police”. One of these robberies led to the tragic death of taco vendor Jose Ontiveros.
Gov. Greg Abbott has tried to claim that SB 4 is only targeted towards criminals and that those who haven’t done anything wrong have “nothing to be concerned about”. But that’s simply false. Police can ask anyone who’s detained for any reason for their immigration status. That includes drivers stopped for speeding infractions, people who have called the police to report crimes perpetrated against them, and people who have been witnesses to crimes. In February, an undocumented woman was arrested after she went to El Paso County Courthouse to seek a protective order against her boyfriend. In May, an undocumented man who was riding a bike when an SUV hit him was put into deportation proceedings after police took down his immigration status.
According to immigrant rights group America’s Voice, law enforcement officer and sheriffs who do the right thing by not enforcing this discriminatory law could be fined or face misdemeanor charges, and state officials who also refuse to cooperate with the law can be removed from office, even if they were duly elected by the people.