TRUST is a diverse coalition of business, religious, and advocacy organizations that champions policies that value immigrants as vital, productive members of Texas communities. As stakeholders, we strive to work with our elected leaders on long-term solutions to create an immigration system that meets the needs of our state and respects the rights and dignity of asylum seekers and other migrants. Yet we, and joined by the organizations signed below, find ourselves once again fighting unconstitutional, anti-immigrant state legislation designed to usurp federal authority and spend billions of our tax dollars to target our families, friends, and neighbors.
After wasting $10 billion over the last two years on deterrence-only policies that simply do not work, including $1 million on a deadly buoy barrier along the Rio Grande, the Texas Legislature in the last two weeks enacted SB 4 (88S3), SB 4/HB 4 (88S4), and SB 3 (88S4). This legislation doubles down on Governor Greg Abbott’s abuse of state authority to implement failed deterrence initiatives that discriminate against immigrants and communities of color. Experience shows that these kinds of policies have widespread and devastating impacts, encourage racial profiling, and violate migrants’ fundamental human rights.
Bill Summaries
SB 4 (88S3), signed by the Governor on November 21, 2023, this bill creates a 10-year mandatory minimum sentence for human smuggling and eliminates judicial discretion for Texans convicted of that crime. The Texas human smuggling statute exposes individuals to criminal prosecution for innocent activities such as offering a car ride to a friend or neighbor if a law enforcement officer decides that activity constitutes concealing, harboring, or shielding an undocumented person from detection. SB 3 (88S4) is a bill awaiting the Governor’s signature in the Legislature that designates $1.5 billion to build a border wall and further fund ineffective and deadly “border security” operations.
SB 4/HB 4 (88S4), signed by the Governor on December 18, 2023, create state crimes for illegal entry and reentry to Texas, and for refusal to return to Mexico if so ordered by a state judge. It authorizes state and local law enforcement to arrest people who enter Texas between ports of entry. This bill challenges well-established Supreme Court precedent holding that states cannot carry out immigration enforcement.
These bills are founded on dangerous “invasion” rhetoric to justify inhumane and unconstitutional immigration enforcement by the State. The same rhetoric that fueled violence like the El Paso shooting is now condoning a reckless response to the humanitarian crisis at our border.
The Impact on Children, Families, and Communities
In Texas, 1 in 4 children live in mixed-status families. Their well-being is integral to fostering safe and thriving communities in our state. Xenophobic, racist, anti-immigrant legislation like SB 4/HB 4 profoundly shapes the development of young Texans by threatening family unity and children’s sense of safety. Specifically, SB 4/HB 4:
- Subjects children to prosecution and removal, without guaranteeing additional protection from endangerment;
- Risks widespread family separation by failing to establish procedures for children whose parents are arrested or providing safeguards for family unity; and
- Exacerbates children’s fears of government officials by authorizing over forty categories of peace officers to arrest individuals they suspect entered the state unlawfully.
In addition, this legislation will further diminish community trust in law enforcement and undermine Texas’ anti-trafficking efforts by failing to shield survivors of trafficking and other crimes, such as domestic violence, who may otherwise provide vital information to law enforcement officers.
Constitutional Concerns
SB 4/HB 4 (88S4) is unconstitutional. Senator Birdwell, chairman of the Senate Committee on Border Security and author of previous versions of the bills, argued passionately on the Senate floor that SB 4 is “setting a terrible precedent for the future by invalidating our obedience and faithfulness to our Constitution” in violation of legislators’ oath of office.
In Arizona v. United States, the U.S. Supreme Court reaffirmed that states are preempted from carrying out immigration enforcement. As explained by thirty former immigration and appellate immigration judges in a signed statement to the Texas Legislature:
The proposed Texas legislation, which would allow a state court magistrate judge to issue a removal order, is not lawful. Immigration is plainly a federal function…Furthermore, persons in the United States who entered unlawfully have rights and protections under federal law, including the right to apply for asylum.
Statement of Former Immigration Judges and Appellate Immigration Judges regarding H.B. 4/S.B. 4
Among the concerning constitutional and technical issues with SB 4/HB 4 are:
- Criminalizing the entry into the United States of certain categories of non-U.S. citizens.
- Authorizing state and local police to make alienage determinations and to make arrests based on those determinations;
- Requiring non-immigration judges and magistrates to make immigration determinations such as whether a person has “lawful presence” in the United States;
- Placing the burden of proving lawful presence or immigration status on individuals while prohibiting state courts from waiting for the outcome of federal immigration proceedings;
- Authorizing state and local judges to order the removal of individuals from the United States;
- Compelling state officials to ignore pending federal immigration detainer requests;
- Exposing legal immigrants to the threat of criminal prosecution for “illegal reentry” if they had previously been deported and subsequently obtained legal status; and
- Creating an ex post facto offense by imposing a criminal penalty for illegal entry against defendants who entered the U.S. before the bill passed.
Despite our repeated efforts to urge legislators to oppose these bills, state leaders persist in imposing policies that will adversely affect us all, showcasing a lack of understanding of the federal immigration system and the realities along the Texas-Mexico border.
We, the TRUST and the additional undersigned organizations, oppose SB 4 (88S3), SB 4/HB 4 (88S4), and SB 3 (88S4), and together, we call on Governor Abbott to abandon his unconstitutional efforts that risk thrusting the state into costly litigation.
ACT 4 SA
Acacia Center for Justice
African Communities Together (ACT)
African Public Affairs Committee
Alianza Americas
Alianza Latina Internacional
America’s Voice
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
American Civil Liberties Union of Texas
American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico
American Immigration Council
Americans for Immigrant Justice
Al Otro Lado
APALA
ARISE Adelante
Arkansas United
Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAJC)
Asian Texans for Justice
ASISTA
Ayala Productions
Black LGBT+ Migrant Project
Border Kindness
Border Vigil
Breakthrough Central Texas
The Border Network for Human Rights
Care in Action
Center for Popular Democracy
Children’s Defense Fund-Texas
CHILDREN AT RISK
Church World Service
City of Dallas
Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA)
Colorado Fiscal Institute
Del Camino Jesuit Border Ministries
Detention Watch Network
Diocesan Migrant and Refugee Services Inc
Drug Policy Alliance
Eagle Pass Border Coalition
Emgage Texas
Empower Art
Every Texan
Equal Justice Center
Faith In Texas
Families for Freedom
Fellowship Southwest
FEA Foundation Ministries
Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project
Frontera Fund
Frontera Texas Organizing Project
FWD.us
Grassroots Leadership
Haitian Bridge Alliance (HBA)
HIAS
Hope Border Institute
Houston in Action
Houston Immigration Legal Services Collaborative
Human Rights Initiative of North Texas
Human Rights First
Iglesia Bautista Victoria en Cristo
Immigrant Defenders Law Center
Immigration Equality Action Fund
Immigrant Families Together
Immigrant Justice Network
Immigrant Legal Resource Center
ImmSchools
Indian American Impact
International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP)
Jolt Action
Latinitas
Latina Institute Texas
LatinoJustice PRLDEF
La Union del Pueblo Entero
Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center
Lawyers for Good Government
Latin America Working Group (LAWG)
Latino Texas Policy Center
Local Progress Texas
Lutheran Social Services
Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF)
Michigan United
National Asian Pacific American Families Against Substance Abuse (NAPAFASA)
National Association of Social Workers – Texas
National Black Justice Coalition
National Domestic Workers Alliance
National Employment Law Project
National Immigrant Justice Center
National Immigration Law Center
National Immigration Project
National Korean American Service & Education Consortium (NAKASEC)
National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights
NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice
Never Again Action
Oasis Legal Services
OCA – Greater Houston, Asian Pacific American Advocates
OCA – National, Asian Pacific American Advocates
Our Revolution North Texas
Pilipino Workers Center of Southern California
Poder Latinx
Project On Government Oversight
Proyecto Inmigrante ICS, Inc.
Puentes de Cristo, Inc.
RAICES
Refugees International
The Rhizome Center for Migrants
Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network
SAAVETX Education Fund
Si Se Pudo!
The Sidewalk School
South Asian Public Health Association
Southern Border Communities Coalition
South Texas Human Rights Center
StopTheDrugWar.org
Tahirih Justice Center
Texas AFL-CIO
Texas Appleseed
Texas Association of Mexican American Chambers of Commerce (TAMACC)
Texas Civil Rights Project
Texas For All
Texas Immigration Law Council
Texas Impact
Texas Rising
Texas Unitarian Universalist Justice Ministry (TXUUJM)
The Advocates for Human Rights
The Festival Center
Todos Juntos Learning Center
UndocuBlack
United We Dream
VECINA
Voces Unidas RGV
Voto Latino
Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA)
Welcome With Dignity
Witness at the Border
Women’s Refugee Commission
Woori Juntos
Workers Defense Project
Workers Defense Action Fund
YMCA International Services of Houston
The Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights
Youth Rise Texas