Organizations Call Out SB 8 as a Sweeping Attack on Texas Immigrants
AUSTIN, Texas – On Saturday, Texas immigrant workers, alongside Workers Defense Action Fund, Texas AFL-CIO, Grassroots Leadership, and Texas Civil Rights Projects gathered at the Texas Capitol to sound the alarm on Senate Bill 8 (SB 8).
“This bill would effectively make racial profiling legal by forcing sheriffs in counties with more than 100,000 residents to cooperate with ICE,” said Workers Defense Action Fund State Policy Coordinator Daniela Hernandez. “It’s a waste of millions of taxpayer dollars to fund this racist and targeted attack on our immigrant communities. At a time when Texans’ priorities are the economy, education, and health care, this is where our so-called state leadership is focusing its time and resources. They don’t have Texans’ backs.”
“This bill is fueled by hatred. I’ve already been forced to have conversations with my family about what happens if they get pulled over by the police, and this bill would only make those encounters more dangerous,” said Texas AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Leonard Aguilar. “Texans know that immigrant workers are a critical part of our communities, economy, and labor movement. That’s why Texas labor stands with our immigrant brothers and sisters in the fight against SB 8.”
“As a Black woman in Texas, I know firsthand what it feels like to not feel safe from the people that are ‘supposed’ to protect me,” said Grassroots Leadership’s participatory defense organizer Chantel Pridgon. “And these harmful bills will divert even more resources from what actually keeps us safe. I stand in solidarity with my immigrant brothers and sisters because we are fighting against the same system that harms us, and I know if these bills pass, the criminalizing infrastructure it creates will remain for more communities to be terrorized and incarcerated.”
“SB 8 is the exact opposite of what Texas residents need,” said Roberto Lopez, senior advocacy manager for Beyond Borders at the Texas Civil Rights Project. “$17 billion and counting is already going to the failed Operation Lone Star, and isn’t going toward climate preparedness, safety in our schools, and supporting everyday Texan’s needs. We’re here today to mobilize against hate and prepare ourselves for the organizing needed to put our state on the right path to dignity.”
SB 8 is on the Texas House’s General State Calendar for today. If passed, SB 8 would force certain counties to collaborate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) by entering into 287(g) agreements, essentially making local police officers act as ICE agents.
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Workers Defense Action Fund is a member-led organization that mobilizes Latine voters in Texas to build governing power and fight for worker and immigrant justice.
The Texas AFL-CIO is the state labor federation consisting of 240,000 affiliated union members and advocates for working people in Texas. Learn more at texasaflcio.org
Grassroots Leadership is a Texas-based organization that works for a more just society where prison profiteering, mass incarceration, deportation, and criminalization are things of the past. Follow us @GrassrootsNews.
The Texas Civil Rights Project is boldly serving the movement for equality and justice in and out of the courts. We use our tools of litigation and legal advocacy to protect and advance the civil rights of everyone in Texas, and we partner with communities across the state to serve the rising movement for social justice. We undertake our work with a vision of a Texas in which all communities can thrive with dignity, justice and without fear.