PoliSci professor draws comparisons between Texas SB 4 and Arizona 1070
Fernanda Gonzalez
Texas Senate Bill 4 is set to take effect on March 5 and will allow police enforcement to arrest individuals who are suspected of being illegally in this country.
A political science professor says although they may appear to be similar, Texas Senate Bill 4 might have a different fate than Arizona Senate Bill 1070 did in the early 2010s.
UTRGV Assistant Professor of Political Science Alvaro Corral said the main difference between the Texas and Arizona cases is that the U.S. Supreme Court right now is unbalanced with three liberal and six conservative members.
“The state of Texas really only needs to convince five of those conservatives to agree with its approach,” Corral said.
Corral said even though the Texas bill and Arizona SB 1070 are similar, SB 4 seems to implicate the border region.
“State officials seem to be defending its legality by saying that, ‘Well, you know, yes we are granting state law enforcement the ability to arrest and detain someone under the suspicion that they have crossed without authorization,’” he said.
UTRGV Political Science Professor Mark Kaswan said SB 4 intends to allocate additional funding to the Texas Department of Public Safety and Texas National Guard to conduct enforcement in the U.S.-Mexico border.
“[It] creates new laws having to do with the state’s ability to arrest people that it believes are undocumented,” Kaswan said.
He said the lawsuit will be first heard at the federal district judge level. Then, more than likely, the losing side will appeal to the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and whichever side loses will probably appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
A U.S. Justice Department Jan. 3 news release states the Constitution assigns the federal government the authority to regulate immigration, making SB 4 a violation.
In 2010, the federal government challenged Arizona SB 1070 in a federal district court before the law went into effect. Later that year, a federal judge blocked four provisions of the Arizona law.
In 2011, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the federal judge’s decision in the original Arizona lawsuit.
Arizona then appealed the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, which upheld one of the law’s provisions but struck down the other three.
Texas Senate Bill 4 will take effect March 5.
Brownsville Immigration Attorney Mauricio Garcia said those who may find themselves in need of a lawyer should not only consult a criminal law attorney but also an immigration one.
“The problem here is that a lot of the criminal defense attorneys don’t practice immigration law,” Garcia said. “ So, a lot of the criminal defense attorneys might not know the ramifications of pleading true or pleading guilty to certain allegations against you and it could very significantly impact your immigration process.”
Garcia said if individuals encounter a situation where they may need an immigration lawyer’s help, they should remember their rights.
“You have a right to remain silent in the state of Texas,” he said. “You have an obligation to give your name, your day of birth and your address, but other than that you pretty much have the right to remain silent.”
This is Fernanda Gonzalez for Vaquero Radio.
