AUSTIN, Texas — Hundreds of people opposed to controversial immigration bill Senate Bill 4 rallied in front of the Texas Capitol on Saturday morning to send a message to Texas lawmakers.
“We don’t want racist, degrading and aggressive laws,” demonstrator Veronica Carrasco said.
SB 4 would allow state and local law enforcement to arrest and send people they believe entered the country unlawfully back to Mexico. The rally came just days before SB 4 is set to go into effect.
On Saturday, protesters put together a visual demonstration with 15-foot puppets and a Danza Azteca dance performance. Sarah Cruz, a border immigrant strategist with the ACLU, said the purpose was to give Texas lawmakers a message that the border communities are important to the state.
“It has always been, you know, celebrated and cherished that we share a border with Mexico, that we’re vital to the community,” Cruz said. "This is us, you know, showing what our communities really are about, what we look like."
Those in opposition to the bill say giving local law enforcement power to regulate immigration is not constitutional.
“Enforcing immigration law is the power of the federal government,” Cruz said. "This law is unconstitutional."
They also say that the law could lead to racial profiling because it gives power to local and state law enforcement to stop people based on what they look like. Another concern is that SB 4 would send all immigrants entering illegally back to Mexico regardless of their country of origin.
“We would be sending them to one country that they don’t call their home country, where they may be subject to, you know, put in a vulnerable situation where they could be at risk for further dangers,” Cruz said. “Placing people into those situations is just a gross violation of human rights.”
After Gov. Greg Abbott signed the bill into law in December, several civil rights organizations and the U.S. Department of Justice filed lawsuits against Texas, saying the bill is unconstitutional.
After much back-and-forth between the courts, the bill now has a new date to go into effect: this Wednesday, March 13, unless the courts intervene. That’s because the U.S. Supreme Court issued a temporary stay of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court’s decision last week that would have made the bill go into effect on March 9.
The ACLU said it has already been trying to talk to elected officials to figure out what the implementation of SB 4 would look like in many communities if it is to take effect on Wednesday.