Reaction To Special Session Anti-Immigrant Legislation: Bills Impose Hidden Costs On Local Schools, Cities, Counties, And Law Enforcement
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Dotty Griffith, Public Education Director, ACLU Foundation of Texas, (512) 923-1909; [email protected]
AUSTIN —The following may be attributed to ACLU of Texas Executive Director Terri Burke:
“The special session was called to deal with our state’s budget crisis. Now the governor has added anti-immigrant measures that were already debated in the regular session, aren’t necessary, don’t work and will ultimately lead to increased taxes for local property owners and will waste law enforcement resources.”
She added, “The governor says he hates federal intrusion in state and local government and unfunded mandates. That’s exactly what these legislative proposals are. All the while costing taxpayers an additional $30,000 each day the legislature is in special session while they debate measures that were heard and wisely rejected during the regular session.”
Burke reacted to Gov. Perry’s inclusion of “secure communities” and “sanctuary cities” legislation:
“Secure communities is a federal program that is being criticized nationally for focusing on non-violent offenders, in some cases guilty of nothing more than traffic violations. Instead of making local communities safer, it will detract from local law enforcement attention on fighting violent crime and drug-related enterprises,” said Burke.
“The so-called ‘sanctuary cities’ provisions would prevent police chiefs, sheriffs, and other local officials from setting clear policies on immigration screening allowing individual officers to go on wild goose chases while ignoring violent crime,” said Burke. “One version of the proposal would callously allow police in schools to ask school children immigration questions that would drive down school attendance and reduce school funding tied to daily attendance – once again a federal priority mandated by the state government and paid for with local taxes.”
