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Today, Congresswoman Veronica Escobar (TX-16) released the following statement:

“Any implementation of SB4 - regardless of duration - is guaranteed to fuel further and more egregious civil rights violations and racial profiling in Latino communities like mine. This will create significant confusion for local law enforcement agencies, peace officers and judges, and will cause extensive damage to Latino communities in the interim until the 5th Circuit Court’s ruling.

“The federal government has sole authority over immigration matters, and it’s long past time that Congress reforms outdated immigration laws that can both better secure the border and open up legal pathways for immigrants. But over and over, it’s been Republicans who – since 2006 – have walked away from bipartisan solutions on this issue. Most recently, Republicans single-handedly derailed what they themselves called the ‘toughest border bill’ in any Congress.

“Republicans like my colleagues in Congress and in Texas, Governor Abbott, and Attorney General Paxton, want to create chaos and exploit it for political purposes. Their posturing is inhumane, harmful, and dangerous. And the Supreme Court has given Texas the green light to cause further damage until the lower court rules.

“I continue to call on my colleagues to support the Dignity Act, the only bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform bill in Congress, which addresses the challenges and opportunities that we face today at the border and beyond. But at home, I want to ensure El Pasoans know they can immediately report any civil rights violations that may arise due to the implementation of SB4 to SB4@MALDEF.org.”

More context on the implication of this ruling can be found here.

Founded in 1968, MALDEF is the nation’s leading Latino legal civil rights organization and is often described as the “law firm of the Latino community.”