Texas Republican legislator threatens to shoot his Democratic colleague in the head, deport protesters
Today at the capitol TX (R) Rep. Matt Rinaldi called ICE on protestors to have them deported! If you wonder why Texans are protesting SB 4, the “Sanctuary City-Show Me Your Paper” law which goes into effect on September 1st, today at the capitol is a perfect example. Rep. Matt Rinaldi, R-Irving, said he called immigration authorities on the protesters because they were disruptive. The law requires local cities and counties to cooperate with federal immigration authorities who request that law enforcement agencies continue to detain people suspected of being in the country illegally. It also bans local entities from adopting policies that ban their police officers from asking about the immigration status of people who they detain. Local police and sheriff’s department officers can be fined, fired or jailed if they do not follow this new law down to the last detail.
The protestors showed up to the House gallery wearing red. While the Representatives were reading resolutions thanking their staff for all their hard work this session protestors began chanting “Hey, hey. Ho, ho. SB4 has got to go.” They also displayed banners saying “See you in court” and “See you at the polls.”
Officers from the Department of Safety came in and removed the banners and the protestors from the gallery.
Rinaldi told a group of Hispanic members of the House that he had called ICE on the protestors, according to state Rep. Cesar Blanco, D-El Paso and state Rep. Armando Walle, D-Houston. “He came up to us and said, ‘I’m glad I just called ICE to have all these people deported,’” Blanco said. Rinaldi “got into people’s faces” (link)
“Matt Rinaldi gave the perfect example of why there’s a problem with SB 4. Matt Rinaldi looked into the gallery and saw Hispanic people and automatically assumed they were undocumented. He racial profiled every single person that was in the gallery today. He created the scenario that so many of us fear.” said state Rep. Ramon Ramero, D-Fort Worth. (link)
At one point Rinaldi threatened to “put a bullet in your head” to Representative Poncho Nevarez during a dispute that began when Rinaldi told Nevarez he called Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Senate Bill 4 protesters at the Capitol. Rinaldi said “I made it clear that if he attempted to, in his words, ‘get me,’ I would shoot him in self defense. I would shoot him in self defense. I am currently under DPS protection.” Nevarez did respond on twitter saying “He’s a liar and hateful man. Got no use for him. God bless him.” Later when things had calmed Nevarez said things just got out of hand and he wanted to put it behind them.
As I stated in a previous article the national ACLU twitter account posted a message with a travel warning stating, “Because of the passage of #SB4, we are issuing a Texas travel advisory. If your rights have been violated, call the ACLU of Texas at 1-888-507-2970. The ACLU, Mayor Adler, and the city of Austin will prevail in fighting this unlawful new law signed by Greg Abbott (link)
Just like Democrat Rep. Blanco said, this already proves that SB 4 will make racial profiling legal as of September 1st, there is no question about that. The bigger question is will the Supreme Court end up ruling this law unconstitutional, striking it down and removing so much of the fear and anxiety placed on both legal and undocumented hispanic immigrants living in the state of Texas that already fear for their families safety.
Kevin Orr is a political activist based in Austin, Texas. He’s known as @KevinDarryl on Twitter.