SAN ANTONIO — The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Texas argued the first motion today to block the anti-immigrant and anti-law enforcement Texas Senate Bill (SB4) before it takes effect. This is the next step in the organization’s effort to strike down SB4.
In addition to its constitutional failings, SB4 strips localities and local law enforcement in the state of the authority to determine how to best use their limited resources to ensure the safety of their communities. The law also turns Texas into a “show me your papers” state. Law enforcement leaders throughout Texas and the country strongly oppose the law.
“SB4 is flatly unconstitutional,” said Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, who argued the case. “It's also unprecedented in the degree to which it would result in the harassment of immigrants and Latino citizens, and turn every local police officer into an immigration agent at the expense of public safety. Notably, the state didn't even seriously try to defend the law as written, instead arguing the court should simply narrow the scope to try to make it passable. Texas says ‘trust us,’ but that’s cold comfort to its elected officials.”
“SB4 relies on the preposterous justification that Texas’s law enforcement leaders don’t believe in upholding the law,” said Andre Segura, senior staff attorney for the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project and incoming legal director for the ACLU of Texas. “But so many police chiefs and sheriffs and city officials oppose it because they know better than most the devastating effect SB4 will have on the communities they serve.”
“Not only does SB4 violate the 1st, 4th and 14th amendments of the Constitution, it paints a target on the back of every person of color in the state,” said Edgar Saldivar, senior staff attorney for the ACLU of Texas. “If enforced as written, we can expect countless Texans--whether they’re citizens or not--to suffer discrimination.”
“The fight against SB4 is about Texas and what kind of state we are going to be,” said Terri Burke, executive director of the ACLU of Texas. “My Texas is a place of boundless opportunity, a place where everyone—regardless of what clothes they wear, what language they speak, or whether or not they “look like they’re from around here”—deserves a fair shot at the American dream.”
In order to assist those affected by SB4, the ACLU of Texas and its partners at Houston Volunteer Lawyers, Houston Immigration Legal Services Collaborative, Tahirih Justice Center and Vinson & Elkins Law Firm have established an immigrants’ rights hotline at 1-888-507-2970. The hotline is staffed from 2 p.m. – 6 p.m., Monday through Friday.