AUSTIN, TX – A thousand people came in support of the Muslim community outside the Texas capitol building in Austin on January 31. This show of force in support of immigrants is part of a larger and growing resistance against Trump’s immigration policy.
The following week, the Texas legislature opened hearings on Senate Bill 4, a piece of legislation that would ban sanctuary cities in the state. More than 500 people from all over the state testified against the bill. Governor Greg Abbott has promised to push the bill as an emergency item.
Abbott ordered the state withhold $1.5 million from Travis County, in south central Texas, after newly elected Sheriff Sally Hernandez said her office would not hold inmates for possible deportation, except in cases of certain violent crimes. That money was to be used for family violence education and a special court for veterans.
“On February 7, a series of amendments were added. One of them was a criminal provision that would make refusal to execute a federal immigration detainee a misdemeanor punishable by a year in jail.”
Another provision would fine local agencies between $1,000 and $2,500 for recurring violations and even law enforcement officers at college campuses would be under its jurisdiction. The provision also would strip grant funding from local jurisdictions that don’t hand over immigrants in police custody and awaiting deportation.
This is a plan by the governor and the state of Texas to finish off all of us by attacking first the Muslim community. All other immigrants and even elected officials would face immediate removal from office if convicted of misconduct.
Though it looks like an attack on some Democrats who are pro-sanctuary, it is not. It’s the beginning of something bigger and more dangerous: an attack on our democracy and our class.
It’s time that we unite as a working class.
