Texas Democrats Condemn SB 1254 As Yet Another Example of State GOP Overmilitarization of the Border

TX — Texas Democratic Party Chair Gilberto Hinojosa issued a statement regarding state Senate Bill 1254 (SB 1254), which has already cleared the Texas Senate and passed the Texas House State Affairs Committee Tuesday and is headed toward a vote of the full House:

“Immigration enforcement is the responsibility of federal law enforcement officials and not state or local governments. This bill was drafted in the same spirit as SB 4, another unfunded state mandate that forces local police to use their own scarce resources to do the federal government’s job on top of their primary duties.

“As a lifelong resident of the border, I know firsthand how much border communities are militarized not only through DHS presence, but through the governor’s deployments of state troopers and the national guard, which leaves residents with fewer freedoms and increased fear — instead of simply having the chance to live out their daily lives in peace.

“SB 1254 would further exacerbate the wasteful conditions put in place by a governor and a Republican legislature that do not understand issues at the border and only want to waste precious resources and use officers as a backdrop for a photo op in their political playbook.

“Instead of funding education, health care, winter storm recovery, and other key support for Texans during a pandemic, our disgraced lieutenant governor is wasting state resources on policies that will harm Texans. To put it clearly, this bill would do nothing to support people living in border communities and would leave less funding for the vital services Texans actually need. Dan Patrick and Republican lawmakers should get to work on the real issues affecting Texans, stop playing politics, and leave immigration enforcement to the federal government.”