Texas feels the change in the economy, community mistrust, and racial profiling on a massive scale
By: Quinn Reynolds
“Not only does [SB 4] target individuals based on their immigration status, it also perpetuates racial profiling, disproportionately affecting our Black and Brown communities,” says José Velásquez, an Austin council member. The SB 4 immigration law has been in effect since March of 2024 in Texas and makes the act of crossing the Mexico-Texas border a state crime. This legislation enables law enforcement to arrest migrants upon illegal entry to the United States. The punishments for offenses range from six months to twenty years in prison. However, authorities will not press charges against the migrant if they are willing and able to return to Mexico. Overall, the costs far outweigh the benefits regarding the Texas SB 4 law.
Advocates for SB 4 have attempted to emphasize that the purpose of the law is not to target previous undocumented immigrants, but rather recent illegal migrants who have crossed the border. In addition, in the state of Texas, no person can be charged for misdemeanors up to two years after an offense due to the Texas statute of limitations. However, the bill still puts undocumented immigrants already living in the United States at risk, as SB 4 gives Texas law enforcement the right to question any suspect of illegally crossing the border.
Additionally, the SB 4 law is affecting the economic stature of Texas, as seen in Arizona after the enactment of SB 1070, nicknamed the “show-me-your-papers-law”. The economic effects include a decrease of tourism in Texas, the depression of immigrant buying power, and the overall suffering of individual industries and workforces. Immigration Forum rebuked the SB 4 law for jeopardizing the local Texas economy because of immigrants’ substantial contributions of $30.8 billion in gross state product to the economy. As immigration authorities deport undocumented immigrants, the strength of the economy will suffer on a devastating scale.
In addition to harming the economy, SB 4 has decreased trust in law enforcement in Texas’s communities. Many immigrant families and individuals are reluctant to contact law enforcement due to the risk of deportation in accordance with scrutinies that come with the new law. “It’s making people who are already here scared, confused, nervous, and apprehensive about what it’s like to live in Texas,” says Priscilla Lugo, an immigration advocate at the Texas Law Immigration Council. This mistrust leads to serious crimes going unreported, in turn jeopardizing the safety of neighborhoods and public spaces.
Finally, SB 4 exacerbates the problems of racial profiling and systemic bias. As Attorney David Donnaty works for the American Civil Liberties Union and explains “The complexity is that, law enforcement is going to enforce this is by trying to make those determinations [on whether someone has illegally entered the U.S.]; so the reality for people of color is, ‘what does that mean for me?’” He later added that “this now has some people of color in Texas asking themselves, ‘do I look like an American?’” As SB 4 is written using vague language, the law could be interpreted differently throughout counties of Texas. Additionally, the law becomes ambiguous regarding the prosecution of “suspects”, leaving room for people of color and legal immigrants to be questioned by law enforcement. Law enforcement then makes arbitrary decisions to ascertain who has illegal crossings at the US-Mexico border, opening themselves to the problems of systemic bias.
While SB 4’s goal is to “protect” the citizens of Texas, the result has been the opposite. The law has deepened a significant distrust between immigrant communities and the Texas government. As widely known, Texas has a deep history of racism surrounding immigration, from discrimination and suppression of free speech in schools and places of work to larger massacres and violence. These instances beg the question; is SB4’s purpose to protect Texans, or is it more closely related to historical stigmas surrounding immigration?
At the Rio Grande in El Paso, Texas, refugees seeking asylum are stopped at the border by the Texas National Guard.
