"SB 4 is nothing short of a legal, political and fiscal disaster for Texas. Forcing police chiefs and sheriffs to cooperate with federal immigration officials will only foster distrust and suspicion between law enforcement and Latinos. MALDEF will not stand idle while the state tacitly encourages racial profiling and discrimination. We pledge our support for the immigrant community and will fight this unconscionable attack on their rights in court."
"Many things in Texas are big, such as the colossal blunder of SB 4. With a stroke of his pen, Governor Abbott has undermined democracy and voters' right to choose their elected officials, alienated nearly half the state population now subject to widespread racial profiling, severely undermined public safety by triggering widespread non-cooperation with police investigations of real crime, subjected Texas businesses tied to trade or tourism to incalculable losses, and exposed the state's taxpayers to substantial costs related to multiple statewide and local challenges to this inhumane law. Given the size of the state, this may well be the most costly gubernatorial signature in all of United States history.
Many things in Texas are also small, such as the hearts and minds of the elected leaders who cravenly championed this wholly execrable legislation.
MALDEF will do its level best, in court and out, to restore Texas, the state where MALDEF was founded, to its greater glory, and to help Texas to overcome 'Abbott’s Folly'."
Current population data indicate that 44 percent of the total Texas population is Latino, Asian American, or Arab American; even more striking is that nearly 54 percent of Texans under the age of 18 fall within one of these three groups. These are the population groups who would be subject to widespread police profiling and harassment as a result of SB 4. Add in African Americans, an additional 11.5 percent of the Texas population, who already face widespread racial profiling that could be exacerbated by the permission to profile extended in SB 4, and we are talking about a majority of all Texans and nearly two-thirds of Texas minors.
MALDEF urges Governor Greg Abbott to reject this invitation to discriminate against over half his state’s population and to sow broad mistrust of law enforcement among two-thirds of the state’s future workforce.
Founded in 1968, MALDEF is the nation's leading Latino legal civil rights organization. Often described as the "Latino Legal Voice for Civil Rights in America" MALDEF promotes social change through advocacy, communications, community education, and litigation in the areas of education, employment, immigrant rights, and political access. For more information on MALDEF, please visit: www.maldef.org.
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