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Immigration
May 28, 2007
Then, a return
After briefly gathering in an upstairs Capitol hallway, learning that the House had adjourned for the night, the rebels slowly began returning to the House Chamber to collect their purses and briefcases and paperwork.
That sparked several heated exchanges, as the walk-outs were confronted by Craddick loyalists.
Sergeants at arms stepped in several times to separate angry finger-pointing between members, and to break up loud shouting matches. Other members interrupted TV interviews with opponents, by shouting catcalls and hissing.
“I’ve always wanted to be in the circus and I guess I’m now there,” Rep. Delwin Jones, R-Lubbock, an announced candidate for speaker, lamented as he shook his head.
By almost as quickly as the tensions exploded, they were quiet. By 1:15 a.m., the House Chamber was mostly cleared of people — and almost quiet again, as a few reporters and House employees milled about.
May 11, 2007
Alice legislator chokes up, colleagues help her fix bill
Rep. Yvonne Gonzalez Toureilles, D-Alice, choked up a little today as she yanked down her proposal making it an offense to unlawfully transport illegal aliens, regardless of the reason for transporting them.
Her frustration? She said she’d tried several times to get the measure written without the term “illegal alien,” but staff members who draft bills didn’t heed her.
After her moment of disappointment, House colleagues (Democrats and Republicans) enabled her to revisit the issue and change its “illegal alien” references to “undocumented person” mentions. The measure cleared the House.
The episode on the House floor took place in the same week Rep. Paul Moreno, D-El Paso, exhorted House members to avoid the term “illegal aliens.”
Gonzalez Toureilles said: “I didn’t want to carry a bill with an offensive term in it.”
She expressed hope that the reference she devised—undocumented person—will become part of other proposals, working its way into laws that now state illegal alien. “I want to change the dialogue in this state and country,” she said.
April 30, 2007
Immigration bill delayed
Sweeping legislation putting control of homeland and border security strategy and operations in the governor’s office got sidetracked on its way to debate on the House floor.
House Bill 13 had been scheduled for debate today.
Late Friday, however, it was sent back to the State Affairs Committee, which met early this morning and with little discussion approved a substitute version of Rep. David Swinford’s proposal. Swinford, R-Dumas, is chairman of the panel.
The substitute makes several changes, which Swinford said don’t change the measure’s substance.
At first glance, however, the newest version of House Bill 13 amends a key section that had come under attack by civil liberties groups, immigrant advocates, police chiefs and some legislators. They contended the proposal would compel local and state police to enforce federal civil immigration law, and would deter immigrants from coming forward as witnesses or victims in crime investigations.
The substitute version removes municipalities from the provision. It would prohibit state governmental entities or political subdivisions from adopting policies under which they refuse to “take an action” authorized under a federal immigration law, USC Section 1252c, and permitted under state law.
Section 1252c says that local and state police are authorized to arrest and detain an individual who is an illegal alien and has previously been convicted of a felony in the United States and deported, or left the United States after the conviction.
Another key change puts control of Gov. Rick Perry’s criminal database under the Texas Department of Public Safety, not the Texas Rangers.
The database contains information on more than a million Texans.
Because of the committee changes, Speaker Tom Craddick, R-Midland, said House Bill 13 won’t come up for floor debate today.
March 28, 2007
More than 3 dozen will testify on immigration
Leaders of two House committees hearing testimony this afternoon on immigration said they expect to hear “all the viewpoints” from more than three dozen witnesses representing private citizens, elected border officials, law enforcement and other interests.
The State Affairs and Border and International Affairs committees begin hearing testimony at 1 p.m.
“We were looking for resource witnesses that members of the committees would be able to learn from about homeland security and border security issues,” said Rep. Tracy King, D-Batesville.
Among the scheduled witnesses is Rep. Juan Escobar, D-Kingsville, a retired U.S. Border Patrol agent.
“He’s an expert witness because he’s been done there, done that,” said Rep. David Swinford, R-Dumas, House State Affairs chairman.
Briefing reporters on this afternoon’s hearing, Swinford said the committees won’t take any action. Hearings on specific immigration-related bills will be scheduled later.
Swinford elaborated on the process that led him to say this week that the vast majority of immigration-related measures referred to his committee would not advance to the House floor because they are either unconstitutional, pre-empted by federal law, or would draw the state into losing legal battles.
He said he made that determination after getting a verbal report from Attorney General Greg Abbott’s staff.
“We didn’t get any detailed discussion of each bill,” Swinford said. “We didn’t ask them that.
“We just asked, ‘Does this violate something. If we pass this bill, will we find ourselves in court? If we find ourselves in court, would we lose?’ ”
Swinford said the attorney general’s staff identified a group of bills that would likely present legal problems.
Pressed by a reporter, Swinford identified House Bill 28, which would deny state services to U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants, as one of the measures in that list.
Swinford had not previously identified measures unlikely to make it out of his committee, only saying that he expected the House to consider perhaps a handful of measures, including a concurrent resolution telling the federal government to shape up on immigration enforcement and his House Bill 13, which in part would allow the governor to help law enforcement agencies pay for personnel, equipment and support for homeland security.
“They’re upset about it, and that’s fine,” Swinford said when asked about the general reaction of House members whose measures are unlikely to advance to floor debate.
“We are trying to find really where the state’s authority is and where it is not,” Swinford said. “Let me tell you, the immigration business, the state has very little authority.”
