Senate Committee Guts HB12

House Bill 12, the sanctuary cities bill, was gutted in a surprise move by the Senate Transportation and Homeland Security Committee. State Senator Juan Hinojosa of McAllen substituted the language from Senator Tommy Williams' Senate Bill 9, which did not contain any language about sanctuary cities, according to Julian Aguilar at the Texas Tribune.  

SB 9, though, is considered a broad-based homeland security bill described as follows:

The homeland security bill, SB 9, which is also a controversial measure, was passed out of the Senate last month. It doesn’t have a House sponsor, though, and the House committee didn’t vote on it Tuesday. The bill would require all law enforcement agencies to adopt the federal Secure Communities program. It also would institute stronger penalties for a laundry list of felonies and codify proof-of-citizenship requirements for driver's licenses and state-issued IDs. It would establish an automatic license-plate reader pilot program for vehicles used by Department of Public Safety officers. It does not, however, prohibit local governments from preventing police from asking people about their citizenship. That means it wouldn’t put an end to sanctuary cities. The committee approved the new bill unanimously. 

Of course, it is yet to be proved that sanctuary cities actually exist, as we reported when the Texas House voted for HB 12. Unfortunately, while pundits and news reports feel comfortable talking about the "demise" of the sanctuary cities bill, civil rights advocates are not ready to take a victory lap, given how the Texas legislature works.

And given that "sanctuary cities" is a Rick Perry "emergency" item, the fact that today the Texas House failed to pass a budget is putting thoughts of a special session in the minds of legislators and politicos, alike. Given Rick Perry's insistence on the issue, rather than giving any importance to the $27 billion budget shortfall, what is to stop this prospective presidential candidate from once again attempting to score political points with this divisive issue?

Nonetheless, Senate Bill 9 still has some major flaws and should be opposed by all Tejanos. The Secure Communities program run by Immigration and Customs Enforcement is known to be flawed. Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren of California has even called for a federal investigation of the program, which targets "criminal" undocumented immigrants.

Data shows that a large portion of those deported have not been major criminals; in fact, a study by Syracuse University reported on the flaws of the program, including how low-level offenders consisted of 1/3 of those deported.

Of the 136,000 or so labeled “criminal,” only 46,000 or so are classified Level 1, which means 66% of “criminal” removals were Levels 2 and 3.  Given that we don’t know specifics on the crimes committed, and the fact that traffic violations are considered Level 2, I would venture to say that a majority of the 2s and 3s weren’t even deported on “deportable offenses.”  Unfortunately, it is even possible to make a misdemeanor an “aggravated felony,” nowadays, so the bottom line is that ICE is doing this despite all of the flaws in the system.

So, the State of Texas should not become involved in a program that is under investigation in a dangerous budget climate which could be destroyed by litigation. On top of this, Texas legislators must also think of the human factor involved; the separation of families over petty offenses, the cost of deportation, the cost of warehousing these individuals in costly and badly managed private prisons, among other factors.

Whether they call it sanctuary cities or secure communities, the risk of liability is too great, the risk to families is too great, and the risk to Texas' fragile economy is even greater.

Find and contact your State Senator and declare your opposition to Senate Bill 9. 

Also read OffTheKuff for his take.

Update:  Melissa del Bosque of Texas Observer has more on the switcharoo.