A group of Houston Texas House members has penned a letter to the Harris County Commissioner’s Court requesting they join the lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of SB4–the “Show Me Your Papers” racial profiling law signed by Greg Abbott.
Texas House members include: Alma Allen, Carol Alvarado, Garnet Coleman, Harold Dutton, Jessica Farrar, Ana Hernandez, Jarvis Johnson, Mary Ann Perez, Ron Reynolds, Shawn Thierry, Senfronia Thompson, Hubert Vo, Armando Walle, and Gene Wu.
Pointing to various constitutional flaws in the law, the group also made a case for the lawsuit citing the law’s threat to public safety:
With the fifth largest foreign born population in the country, Harris County is especially at risk. All people in the community must feel safe and free to report crime and call law enforcement when necessary, without the fear of the same law enforcement asking for their papers. The provisions of SB4 will diminish trust and chill the reporting of crime, making our county less safe.
The letter further states the constitutional liability the county could face for unlawfully detaining individuals without warrant or probably cause.
Already, Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Austin, and the tiny town of El Cenizo, along with Bexar, El Paso, and Maverick counties have joined the lawsuit. Efforts have increased to add more parties to the lawsuit, including Brownsville, Pasadena, and other Texas communities.
For the latest on the lawsuit, head over to MALDEF’s twitter feed for the latest arguments being made by the good guys and the bad guys at the federal court hearing in San Antonio.
At #SB4 hearing, @AnaHdzTx, once undocumented, chokes up, breaks down in tears describing hostility toward “illegals.”
— MALDEF (@MALDEF) June 26, 2017
Thanks to the office of State Representative Armando Walle for keeping us informed and for their work on these efforts. [copy of letter below]
doscentavos.net 