Opinion: An immigration bill will cost taxpayers and create a chilling effect in Texas
Swiftly making its way to Gov. Greg Abbot’s desk is HB4. If enacted, HB 4 will amend Texas’ Penal Code to permit peace officers to arrest individuals present anywhere in Texas when there is probable cause that the individual entered the state illegally. In lieu of arrest, HB4 gives licensed Texas peace officers the authority to remove anyone they believe has run afoul of HB4 back to the foreign nation from which they entered without any process whatsoever. Individuals arrested pursuant to HB4 face either a misdemeanor conviction or a second-degree felony with a 20-year sentence. To avoid a felony conviction and a 20-year prison sentence, an individual arrested pursuant to HB4 must hand over their identity documents and agree to be transported and removed to the country where it is believed they have entered illegally.
HB4 goes far beyond what any state has ever attempted in an effort to enforce our nation’s immigration laws. HB4 will subject anyone in Texas who is or appears to be an immigrant to possible detention, arrest, and state deportation. Immigration law is incredibly complicated; HB4 creates a substantial risk that local law enforcement, untutored in immigration law's complexities, will kick out someone who has every right to be here as a citizen or immigrant. Democrats and Republicans are deeply divided on how to handle the influx of immigrants at our southern border. Oddly enough, Democrats and Republicans in our state legislature agree on one thing:
If enacted, HB4 will cost us, Texas taxpayers, lots of money in trying to defend the measure in court battles. Perhaps some individuals believe that the threat posed by illegal immigration justifies Texas paying legal fees. But that logic only makes sense if the law has any chance of being upheld. It does not, at least if the Supreme Court follows precedent.
Federal law preempts state law when the state law is either complementary to or a hindrance to the rules laid out by the federal government in an area where federal legislation reigns supreme. When Arizona passed the Support our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act, a measure much less bold than HB4, the Supreme Court struck it down as unconstitutional. In doing so our Supreme Court noted the “[g]overnment of the United States has broad, undoubted power over the subject of immigration…” United States v. Arizona (2012). Our federal government, not our states, are responsible for maintaining a comprehensive and unified system to manage our nation’s borders.
Beyond wasting our precious tax dollars in federal court battles, HB4 will have other costs, both economic and human. While HB4 is snarled in court litigation, it will create a chilling effect across Texas: the law will cause immigrant survivors of crime to recalculate the benefits of reporting crimes such as rape, domestic violence, and child abuse. From a community safety perspective, it is unwise and dangerous to turn our state law enforcement officers into immigration agents arresting and deporting individuals. We need laws that build trust between all individuals living in Texas and our law enforcement officers.
The number of immigrants seeking entry at our southern border is at an all-time high because of global migration patterns, U.S. policy changes and because our economy needs more workers.
Legal pathways into the U.S. are sorely lacking. To create meaningful lawful pathways for immigrants, we need to call upon our federal, not our state, lawmakers to enact much needed immigration reforms. Our Texas state lawmakers need to hit pause on HB4 and not subject immigrants around the state to harassment, arrest and deportation while taxpayers foot the bill to costly litigation battles that are sure to come and that they are likely to lose.
Chandler is executive director of Texas Immigration Law Council, which advocates immigration reforms protecting the rights of immigrants and refugees living in Texas.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Opinion: An immigration bill will cost taxpayers and create a chilling effect in Texas
