FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Dotty Griffith, (512) 923-1909; [email protected]
AUSTIN – The following may be attributed to:
Executive Director Terri Burke said, “State leadership said we wouldn’t go the way of Arizona SB 1070 on this issue but this definitely takes Texas in that direction. This copycat version of Arizona’s infamous law will have severe economic consequences in Texas just as in Arizona and will subject Texas residents to a whole rash of civil liberties violations.”
Legal Director Lisa Graybill said, “The U.S. Constitution gives the federal government exclusive authority to enforce immigration law, with limited exceptions.” said Lisa Graybill, Legal Director of the ACLU of Texas. “States exceed their authority when trying to take this law into their own hands, and risk creating a patchwork system of different immigration laws which vary from state to state. This is as impractical and unworkable as it is unconstitutional.”
The Board of Directors of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Texas has adopted a policy on immigration and civil rights affirming “the right of all persons to equal treatment and due process under the law.”
