Immigration in Texas

Immigration has been a big issue in the United States, and many States have tried taking matter into their own hands. In the Texas Tribune there is an article about the city of Farmers Branch in Texas that tried to pass an immigration law stating that they should ban immigrants from renting housing in the suburb of Dallas. The ruling of the case did not go through because the city does not have authority to enact immigration legislation, which falls under the federal government. It was unconstitutional because the law targeted illegal immigrants to be removed from the city of Farmers Branch, and that power to regulate immigrants and their residency in this country goes to the federal government.

Nina Perales, the vice president of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, said that even though the ruling in Farmers Branch was a victory for immigrants it does not mean that other immigration legislation won't pass in court. Like the Senate Bill 1070 in Arizona, which is set to go through the Supreme Court in a month, which states that it is a state crime to be in this country illegally and it also allows local law enforcement to check the immigration status of people THEY suspect are in this country illegally. The SB 1070 gives rise to other states, Texas being one of those states, to attempt to pass their own form of immigration laws. A State Representative, Burt Solomons, said that lawmakers will wait and see what becomes of the Arizona law before trying to make an attempts at bring up an immigration legislation again.

“I suspect someone will try to move forward with [legislation],” he said. “There will still be attempts and I think that is going to continue until we see a national [immigration] reform.”

Although immigration is a big issue throughout the United States, some of the immigration laws that states are trying to pass are just unfair and wrong. The immigration law that the city of Farmers Branch was trying to pass was an act of racial profiling. As Nina Perales said

"The early part of the opinion says that the purpose of the ordinance is to push Latinos out of Farmers Branch, so you see a recognition in the decision that there was a strong racial element to what Farmers Branch had done,”

Many of the "illegal aliens" that come to this country, come for a better life for them and their families. They go about their business, getting jobs, trying to get education for their children, live a better life than they had in their own country. It is not their fault that they are not born in this country, but that small percent that come and do wrong make it hard for the rest of the immigrants to try and make something of them. I don't agree that the state of Texas should try and pass immigration laws like the ones in Arizona, its racial profiling and it affects every Hispanic not just the illegal ones. The law trying to be pass in Arizona states that the law enforcement officers can question anybody's legal status they suspect is in this country illegal. For the Hispanics that are born here or have receive their papers it violates their rights and is straight up racial profiling which is unconstitutional. They should try and fix the immigration problem, but not punish the immigrants that obey their laws and are trying to get their family and themselves ahead in life.