By Alfredo Corchado and María Ramos Pacheco
EL PASO – Mexico’s government on Thursday began providing “immediate” legal help for undocumented immigrants in Texas, who will face wide-ranging consequences generated by a sweeping border security bill that grants state authorities the right to arrest and deport migrants.
The proposed Texas legislation, expected to be signed by Gov. Greg Abbott soon, will create a new state crime of illegal entry from a foreign nation, making it a Class B misdemeanor.
Mexican authorities decried the bill as “unconstitutional” and warned the measure will lead to fraud by so-called “legal experts” preying on vulnerable migrants as well as family separation, racial profiling and increased animosity against immigrants, particularly Mexicans, said Vanessa Calva Ruiz, Director General for Consular Protection and Strategic Planning for the nation’s foreign ministry in Mexico City.
“We have seen these measures play out in other states,” Calva Ruiz said. “We’re ready to support strategic litigations against these types of legislations that are deemed unconstitutional.”
The Mexican government has 53 consulate offices throughout the United States, 11 of them in Texas, including in Dallas. North Texas is home to one of the largest populations of Mexican and Mexican-owned companies in the state. About 35% of all Mexican investments in the United States are in North Texas, according to Mexico’s Consulate General in Dallas.
The educational workshops, which began Thursday in Dallas, will include discussions with legal rights experts, law enforcement authorities and the general community. The main focus is to remind everyone “of the presence that we have and the permanent service that we provide to our nationals, 24/7 to transmit the following message: Regardless of their immigration status, they have rights and our consulates are there to assist them with legal advice through our attorney programs,” Calva Ruiz added.
Texas’ proposal will authorize state and local police to arrest migrants who are in the state without proper documents. The bill makes it a felony if a migrant refuses the Texas judge’s order to return to the country from which the migrant entered.
In the past, the Supreme Court has ruled that the federal government controls immigration policy.
Abbott has defended the constitutionality of the bill and has said he won’t be surprised if it ends up the subject of lawsuits.
“The Biden Administration will do whatever they can to deny Texas the ability to step up and safeguard our state and our country and to begin to try to impose some level of control over the border,” Abbott said last week.
The legislative action comes as Mexican shelters along the border prepare for a new wave of migrants bound for the United States.
Nongovernmental organizations, immigrant rights defenders and Mexican-American families have expressed concerns about how the legislation will be implemented and who will be impacted. The majority of Texas’ population is Hispanic.
Dallas local leaders prepare to help
Some community groups are focusing on “know your rights” training.
Somos Tejas, a nonprofit that focuses on civic and voter engagement in the Latino community, plans to offer such workshops to educate those in Dallas soon.
The workshops will include lawyers, Texas law enforcement and consulate officials, and other groups that will provide information to migrants on how to protect themselves and their families, said Ramiro Luna, co-founder and executive director of Somos Tejas. The training will be held in person and online.
“There is a lot of anger, frustration and fear,” Luna said. “We’re concerned about not only the future of our community, but the impact it’s going to have on Texas as a whole.”
Comadres Unidas Y Más, which connects Hispanic communities in Dallas with resources, will be doing similar training, founder Myrna Méndez said.
Méndez expects group members to be out in force with flyers, information sessions and outreach events to help Latinos in Dallas understand the impact of this bill, what their rights are and how to respond if they feel threatened.
Méndez noted that her group has worked tirelessly to build trust between Latinos and several North Texas police departments.
“We don’t want that trust and relationship to disappear because of this new law,” she said. “It will jeopardize the work we have been doing for years. But most of all, it will create fear in the community.”
Comadres Unidas Y Más already gives away red business cards that read “usted tiene derechos constitucionales” — “you have constitutional rights” — which provides bullet points written in Spanish on what to do in case of an encounter with an immigration official. Méndez is working on creating new ones with further details of the new Texas legislation, known as Senate Bill 4.
Worried Neighbors
Fernando Garcia, executive director of Border Network for Human Rights in El Paso, said his group is working with organizations throughout Texas — including some in Dallas — and New Mexico to teach migrants how to document abuses against them, such as by using their cell phones.
Similar efforts to educate the immigrant community are underway by the Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center. Executive Director Marisa Limón Garza said the bill is “an attack on brown and Black people. This is thinly veiled white supremacy at work.”
On the stateline between El Paso and New Mexico, there’s concern among people like Hortensia Garcia Lopez, 42.
She is a native of Mexico and resident of Sunland Park, N.M. Near her are a number of Texas troopers looking for human smugglers.
“Just based on our color of skin, we become suspect,” she said. “Makes you think twice about crossing the borderline to Texas.”
Many in New Mexico rely on neighboring Texas cities for access to specialized medical care, shopping, air travel, and more, noted Leonardo Castañeda, an immigration and policy advocate of the ACLU of New Mexico Border and Immigrants’ Rights Activist.
Castañeda fears that once the legislation becomes law, it will deter many from accessing necessary services. He said the ACLU rejects such measures by what he called “extremist politicians.” He said the group stands in “solidarity with our colleagues in Texas in opposition to this bill.”
Corchado reported from El Paso, Sunland Park, New Mexico. Ramos Pacheco reported from Dallas.
This story, originally published in The Dallas Morning News, is reprinted as part of a collaborative partnership between The Dallas Morning News and Texas Metro News. The partnership seeks to boost coverage of Dallas’ communities of color, particularly in southern Dallas.
