Veasey Joins Texas Democrats to Urge Justice Department to Block Texas “Show Me Your Papers” Law
FORT WORTH — Congressman Marc Veasey (TX-33) joined Texas Congressional Democrats and members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus in a letter urging the U.S. Department of Justice to pursue legal action to prevent the enforcement of Texas Senate Bill 4 (SB 4), an unconstitutional and dangerous bill that would authorize state law enforcement and judicial authorities to obstruct federal immigration law. Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed SB 4 into law on Monday afternoon and the letter was sent shortly after.
“This bill is set to be the most extreme anti-immigrant state bill in the United States; it is clearly preempted by federal law and when it goes into effect will likely result in racial profiling, significant due process violations, and unlawful arrests of citizens, lawful permanent residents, and others. In practice, this would place people with authorization to be in the United States, even United States citizens, at risk of being forced to leave Texas…The process of removing people from the United States is constitutionally a federal process and excluding federal authorities, including Department of Homeland Security agents trained in immigration law and federal judges trained to enforce it, will obstruct asylum cases, result in erroneous determinations, and put many people in danger. SB 4 is an unlawful attempt to engage in federal immigration enforcement. This law will also interfere with federal efforts to create a safe, humane, and orderly system at the border,”the lawmakers wrote.
Senate Bill 4 passed the Texas House and Senate in mid-November. This week's signing ceremony was announced just a few days after former president Donald Trump, echoing language used by Adolf Hitler, accused immigrants coming to the United States of “poisoning the blood of our country.” Governor Abbott endorsed Donald Trump’s approach to immigration during a visit to the border with the former president in late November.
In addition to Congressman Veasey, the letter is signed by Texas Reps. Joaquin Castro (TX-20), Veronica Escobar (TX-16), Colin Allred (TX-32), Vicente Gonzalez (TX-34), Sylvia Garcia (TX-29), Al Green (TX-09), Lizzie Fletcher (TX-07), Sheila Jackson Lee (TX-18), Lloyd Doggett (TX-37), Greg Casar (TX-35), and Jasmine Crockett (TX-30), as well as Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chairwoman Nanette Diaz Barragán (CA-44), Jesús “Chuy” García (IL-04), Luis Correa (CA-46), Linda Sánchez (CA-38), Juan Vargas (CA-52), Adriano Espaillat (NY-13), Grace Napolitano (CA-31), Norma Torres (CA-35), and Delia Ramirez (IL-03).
To read the full letter, click here.