Texas State Troopers And Vigilante Politicians Are Wrongly Taking Federal Laws Into Their Own Hands To Deport Refugees
LULAC Calls For A Ban On The Use Of The Term "Invasion" And Urges The U.S. Department Of Justice And The FBI To Investigate Reported Civil Rights Violations
Washington, DC - The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) issued the following statement after news reports that several Texas counties vow to openly defy the separation of powers and deport immigrant refugees in their jurisdictions. The counties include Kinney, Terrell, Uvalde, Goliad, Burnet, and Medina. Some of these areas are outside the 100-mile radius of the US-Mexico border. This distance is the range often used to justify immigration enforcement actions.
Domingo Garcia - LULAC National President
"The Texas county officials who declared there was an 'invasion' and seek to enact some whiskey-driven rant hijacks the Constitution, is dangerous and politically misguided. They are trying to become fake customs and border patrol agents. This assault on innocent people is the latest threat in the almost daily litany of blatant attacks on desperate men, women, and children. These refugees are fleeing unimaginable violence, fear, poverty, and suffering in their countries.
Rogue Texas elected local officials are being encouraged by Governor Abbott's open defiance of federal immigration laws. He wants them to join the January 6th insurrection oath that uses baseless legal theories to justify illegal actions. They are conspiring to violate the laws and Constitution they are supposed to respect. Border and immigration issues are solely under the purview of the federal government. These county judges and sheriffs are overstepping their authority and taking it upon themselves to deport men and women without due process.
These actions are the very sort of wild-west-anything-goes threats that are driving refugees straight into the hands of dangerous coyotes and human smugglers. The blood of the San Antonio 53, the migrants who died trapped inside the inferno of a sealed tractor-trailer, is on the hands of Abbott and his vigilantes for pushing for closer legal borders and offering zero, accurate solutions. LULAC demands that the FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice investigate the politicians and sheriffs who are impersonating border patrol agents and for possibly violating the civil rights of U.S. citizens and refugees in the U.S. Texas residents should also demand answers about why more than two billion dollars spent by Gov. Abbott have been wasted, misspent, and resulted in such a clear and colossal failure."
Rodolfo Rosales, Jr. – Texas LULAC State Director
"Texas LULAC is appalled to witness what is de facto sedition against our federal government. This conspiracy of self-appointed border watchdogs conveniently choose to ignore all the legal tenets of our Constitution because it suits them. Their actions of weaponizing words like 'invasion' leads to tragedies like what we witnessed in El Paso when a gunman with a semi-automatic firearm killed and wounded dozens of innocent people he called 'Mexican invaders.' If we do not stand up to these vigilante acts, we share in the blame of those who are committing them. Texas LULAC will not be silent."
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About LULAC
The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) is the nation’s largest and oldest civil rights volunteer-based organization that empowers Hispanic Americans and builds strong Latino communities. Headquartered in Washington, DC, with 1,000 councils around the United States and Puerto Rico, LULAC’s programs, services and advocacy address the most important issues for Latinos, meeting critical needs of today and the future. For more information, visit https://lulac.org/