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SENATE JOURNALEIGHTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE— FIRST CALLED SESSION

AUSTIN, TEXAS

PROCEEDINGS

ADDENDUM

SIXTH DAY(Tuesday, June 14, 2011)

The following remarks regarding CSSBi9 on third reading and final passagewere ordered reduced to writing and printed in the Senate Journal.

President:iiThe Chair lays out on third reading and final passage Senate Bill 9. TheSecretary will read the caption.

Secretary of the Senate:iiCommittee Substitute Senate Bill 9, relating to theenforcement of state and federal laws governing immigration by certain governmentalentities and the administration of certain documentation of citizenship status.

President:iiMembers, before I recognize Senator Williams, I ’m going to call onMembers who wish to speak against the bill. Senator Zaffirini, I ’m sorry, the Deanwanted to speak first. The Chair recognizes the Dean of the Senate.

Senator Whitmire:iiThank you, Mr. President and Members. Senator Williams, Iguess I could say I ’m glad I wasn ’t in your shoes tonight, but you ’ve done a fine jobof representing your perspective. And I can ’t think of a piece of legislation that we ’veconsidered this session, or really in recent history, that I believe will be judged to beso unfair and so inequitable as this piece of legislation. And it was so glaring to mewhen I was watching Senator Hinojosa and you have exchanges, because it became soapparent that you will never, ever be confronted with the provisions of this legislation.Neither will I, neither will our Anglo Members of this body and the Anglos werepresent. It just would be unheard of for someone in Houston, on a traffic violation,to ask me to prove that I ’m a U.S. citizen. We have to slow down and think aboutwhat we ’re about to do if this legislation is approved. Senator Hinojosa, going toCorpus, in a traffic violation, a veteran of the Vietnam War, an honorable Member ofthis body, for the first time in our history, under state law, will have to prove that he ’sa U.S. citizen. I should be able to sit down right now, and that ’s enough said to stopthis bad legislation. We must stop and consider what we ’re doing. I ’ll repeat it,Tommy, you and I, our family, our children will never, ever have this law used againstus, regardless of the probable cause for pulling us over. Senator Hinojosa will. AndI ’ll discuss more what it will do to our Hispanic colleagues before I conclude. Wehave spent practically no time this afternoon, Senator Williams, talking about bordersecurity, practically none. We have border cities under attack, can ’t even cross theborder as we used to for tourism. This legislation will do nothing to make our border

safer. Juarez, Reynosa, Brownsville, Matamoros, they ’re all going to still be in fear, aslong as you have crime south of the border, drug trafficking. Yesterday, the Mexicanauthorities arrested, or apprehended 193 people in an 18-wheeler at theGuatemala-Mexican border. We haven ’t discussed those conditions at all. If I and allof us thought that your legislation would improve border security, we would unite.But we ’ve spent practically none of the last half a dozen hours talking about bordersecurity, the cartel, the arms trafficking. What we have talked about are the streets andcities of Texas. It is amazing to me, Senator Williams, that you trust, in your dialoguewith Senators, that you trust the police officers to ask the right questions. You putgreat confidence that they will implement and carry out the legislative intent of askingthe right questions. Members, you didn ’t put the same trust in those officers and theirchiefs in the department, administration, that said, please, don ’t pass this legislation.You can ’t have it both ways. You can ’t trust them to implement a bad law whenthey ’re against the law in the first place. They said it will damage public safety. Wemust slow down, Members. I had Members today say, why do y ’all want to talk whenyou know the outcome? Because it ’s our moral duty. Very seldom, Members, do wesee a piece of legislation that will impact our citizens, documented andundocumented, like this piece of legislation will. It ’s our moral duty to stand upagainst discrimination. I can ’t think in my career of something that is close tothis–maybe hate crimes–and perhaps you can remind me of one. We ’re fixing toimpact every Hispanic citizen of the State of Texas, documented and undocumented.We ’ve spent most of our time on the undocumented, but what about theMexican-Americans, what about the Cuban-Americans? Any Hispanic in the State ofTexas, a citizen of the United States, is going to have to prove for the first time in ourhistory, under state law, that they ’re a citizen of the United States. I must commentbriefly on some of the discussion in the Committee. Some of the witnesses werechallenged because they spoke Spanish, a proud language. U.S. citizens have beenspeaking it since the battle of San Jacinto, and they were fighting on the Texas side. Igo to Chappell Hill, a small community near Brenham where they still have Catholicservices in Polish to honor the seniors there. Been U.S. citizens for 60, 70, 80 years,Senator Williams, and they worship in Polish. You go to Fredericksburg, it ’s German.If you go to West Texas, just north of Hillsboro, it ’s Czechoslovakia, they speakCzech in their services. It must be clarified that if you speak Spanish, just meansyou ’re proud of your heritage. Let me quickly tell you why I ’m emotional. I representThe Heights. My office is in The Heights. Young lady named Rosa was taking care ofa family ’s children behind the office. The baby she ’s caring for, American family, andher four-year-old would walk by the office, Tommy, try to cross Yale Street, and Icouldn ’t stand to watch them cross a busy boulevard on their tricycle. So, I ran outfinally, and said, Ma ’am, I ’m Senator Whitmire, this is my office, you got to pick upthe tricycle and walk these kids across. I struck up a conversation. I found out thatRosa came to the United States 10 years ago from Mexico illegally, married a U.S.citizen from Peru, Peruvian-American. He had left her, and she knew I was agovernment official. I gained her confidence, and she asked for help. She ’sundocumented. The sorry husband has left, and she ’s got a four-year-old. She can ’twork. She ’s parking cars at night and doing the babysitting. I think, how can I helpher, Tommy? I ’ll get her child support. I know the Attorney General ’s office. Guess

A-2 82nd Legislature — First Called Session 6th Day

what? She ’s afraid to access the courts to get child support that she ’s entitled tobecause she ’s undocumented. She ’s got a U.S. citizen, four-year-old Richard, and asorry husband. And I have to advise her on the tough decision, can we chance goingto court and seek child support because she ’s undocumented. What if he shows up,says, oh, that ’s my U.S. citizen son, I ’ll take care of him. She ’s illegal, return her.Think about this law, Tommy and Members. She ’d be afraid to go to court now. We ’reactually trying to get her child support as I talk to you. Rosa came here when wewelcomed immigrants. She ’s taking care of a U.S. family ’s baby, just as if it was hers.Sorry U.S. American husband left her, and she can ’t seek child support and doespart-time jobs. Fast forward to Maria. People brought Maria to my office. Maria came12 years ago with her husband, got three sons, all attending public schools inHouston. Maria cleans houses. Maria pays taxes, never files for a return on her IRSpayment. I alluded to Maria this afternoon, but I didn ’t go in detail. A year ago lastMay, Members, she owns a home. She ’s a leader in her church, Senator Patrick. Sheand her husband work, pay taxes, property taxes, sales taxes. Guess what? A year agolast May she ’s turning left at a construction site, is pulled over, doesn ’t have a validlicense, goes to jail, Harris County jail, fingerprinted, determined to beundocumented. Last Mother ’s Day a year ago, she was in the detention center nearBush airport and went six weeks without seeing her children. And you wondered,Senator Shapiro, why they compare it with the atrocities in history that would neverreach the level that you and I know have been perpetrated. That ’s their atrocity. Shewas kept for six weeks, and she doesn ’t understand except she couldn ’t prove thatshe ’s a U.S. citizen. I spoke to her the other day. She ’s got a hearing in October to seewhether she and her family will be deported. I could go on and on. That ’s the face andthe dilemma that we face tonight. I could cite Ana Hernandez ’s most moving speechin the House where she says, as an undocumented child, her family would never leavethe house together. The mother and father always made one stay behind in case one isapprehended. We just enhanced that 100 percent of the time. Families are going to beafraid to leave the house. They will always, in the morning, make provisions forwho ’s going to pick up the kids. But if you ’re a single mom like Rosa, she ’s picked upduring the day, who ’s going to pick up Richard at night? It is a mess, SenatorWilliams. And I understand the politics of it, but sometime you just got to do themoral thing and, as Sam Houston would say, do the right thing and suffer theconsequences. This is one of these times. If I can ’t persuade you–and I understand youdon ’t swing a lot of votes with the talk in the Senate, but that don ’t mean you don ’ttry–if I can ’t persuade you on the sound policy, the fairness, the equity of the issue, letme appeal to you on our religious convictions. I know we have believers on thisSenate floor. And, you know, I don ’t like to put mine in public, but First John, fourthchapter, 20 and 21st verse says, if you say you love God who you cannot see and youhate your brother who you can see, then you ’re a liar, for how can you love someonewho you can ’t see and hate someone you can see. Senator Estes, I would appeal to ourfaith at this moment to remember documented and undocumented are our brothers andsisters. They ’re children of God. We ’re fixing to make a dramatic decision in each andevery one of their lives. Let me close in opposition by putting a real, real face on thislegislation. We spent most of the afternoon talking about the undocumented citizens,and I will quickly mention, before I forget it, the tragedy of the two Houston police

Tuesday, June 14, 2011 SENATE JOURNAL A-3

officers, Senator Williams, that you properly paid respect to. Both Officer Johnsonand Kevin Will were shot, one shot, one run over by a DWI driver, bothundocumented. Both had already been deported, one twice. Getting back to mydiscussion about border security, as long as there ’s criminals and disrespect for thelaw, you can pass all the laws you want to, these two criminals would pay no attentionto your statute. In closing, we spent most of our time about the undocumented, let ’sput a face on the U.S. citizens, the Mexican-Americans. For the first time in Texashistory, the people we represent, when they ’re pulled over, they ’re going to have toprove that they ’re U.S. citizens. It will not affect me, will not affect the AngloMembers of this body but, Senator VanideiPutte, will you stand up? SenatorRodriguez, Uresti, Hinojosa, would you please stand? Lucio, Zaffirini? Take a look atour colleagues, Members. Mario Gallegos, retired firefighter, put his life on the linefor all of us. Look at these Members of the Senate. The first time one of them is pulledover, the traffic, or any probable cause, they ’re going to for the first time in their life, aVietnam War veteran, county official, I can go on and on, honorable, U.S. citizens,Uresti, a Marine. This legislation will force them to prove that they are U.S. citizens,and they ’re honorable Members of this body, proud U.S. citizens, Texans. Members,we can do better. This is a sad day. Please, realize what you ’re doing, and vote no onthis legislation.

President:iiThe Chair recognizes Senator Zaffirini to speak against the bill.

Senator Zaffirini:iiThank you, Mr. President. Mr. President and Members, I, too, risein opposition to Senate Bill 9, the so-called sanctuary cities bill. Abraham Lincolnurged us to be guided by the better angels of our nature, and this is one of those timeswhen we should listen to those better angels. We also should listen to the HispanicSenators. If we truly want to improve public safety, the first thing we need to do is tolisten to the men and women charged with protecting the public. Law enforcementleaders do not want this bill and have spoken against it repeatedly, thoughrespectfully. Do we really want to tell them how to do their jobs, tell them that weknow best? Law enforcement leaders from across the state, including the DallasCounty sheriff, police chiefs of Houston, El Paso, San Antonio, Fort Worth, andAustin, all have stated their belief that this bill will harm, will harm public safety. Ibelieve them, Members, and I wish all of you would. Members, you know that 911response times are critical and can mean the difference between life and death. If yourfamily is facing an emergency and you call the police, you want them to get there fast.Yet, clearly, if law enforcement officials spend time determining a person ’s legalstatus after a traffic violation or other small problem, they may not be able to respondto critical emergencies timely. I know because when one of my staff members and Iwere in a rural county in our district and we had an accident, we called for help. Noone could respond. No one from the neighboring county could respond. And weasked, what is the problem? They said, they ’re chasing fugitives. And I said, was therea bank robbery? And they said, the answer was, no. They ’re chasing illegals, which,of course, to me is an offensive word. But here they were, the law enforcementofficials who should come to our aid were chasing undocumented workers,undocumented persons across two counties, and could not do their job. This bill willexacerbate that problem. Experience and research have shown that the best policiesfor controlling crime are those that reduce fear and establish trust between law


enforcement and the communities they serve. Policies that are based on fear, likeSenate Bill 9, are the wrong approach. They not only create more fear but also areineffective at reducing crime. Do you think that a victim or a witness to a crime willcall the police if he or she is worried about being deported? Senate Bill 9 will makepeople afraid to do the right thing. Mr. President and Members, this bill only createsunnecessary fears, fear of law enforcement and the fear experienced by undocumentedpersons. It breaks bonds of trust between the communities and creates more fear byfurthering the false perception that undocumented persons are responsible for themajority of crimes in this state. During floor debate, Senator Williams said repeatedlythat Senate Bill 9 does not create a new offense. Perhaps that is true, however, it doescreate a new weapon and forces law enforcement to use it. This new weapon,obviously, is the inquiry of citizenship status. The possibility that there will bemistakes in the judicious and careful use of this weapon is a legitimate and seriousconcern. To assume that it will not result in discrimination against American citizens,especially against those of us who are of Hispanic descent or who look Hispanic, iswrong. I don ’t doubt your sincere belief, those of you who intend to vote for this bill,that Senate Bill 9 would prohibit sanctuary cities, require the use of the SecureCommunities Program, and authenticate lawful presence when issuing state IDs anddriver licenses. However, please understand my belief, the belief of every HispanicSenator, that Senate Bill 9 inevitably will result in American citizens being harassedand targeted. This is unacceptable and, because of it, I stand in opposition to SenateBill 9. When it comes to public safety in Texas, we should listen to our lawenforcement leaders who oppose Senate Bill 9. They oppose it, and so do I. Weshould listen to the seven Hispanic Senators and to those who represent Hispanicdistricts. We oppose Senate Bill 9, and so should you. We also should listen, asPresident Lincoln advised, to our better angels. Failure to do so will result indiscrimination against Hispanic Americans. Members, I ask you to listen to yourbetter angels, to vote against Senate Bill 9. Truly, failure to do so will result in yourdiscriminating against us. Thank you, Mr. President and Members.

President:iiChair recognizes Senator Rodriguez to speak against the bill.

Senator Rodriguez:iiThank you, Mr. President and Members. There is no questionSenate Bill 9 is bad legislation, as Senator Whitmire said. At a time when Hispanicsare making their mark as the fastest-growing population, as the youngest population,as the future labor force of Texas and the nation, as Steve Murdock and others havetold us, this body is passing a law that threatens their progress and harms not onlytheir prosperity, but the State of Texas as well. Make no mistake about it, I heardGovernor Perry say that Texas was not Arizona when House Bill 1070 was passed inArizona. I heard Senator Williams say in El Paso that as long as he was Chair of theTransportation and Homeland Security Committee, he would not allow Arizona-stylelegislation to pass through his Committee. I repeat, make no mistake about it, SenateBill 9 is Arizona-style legislation which will cause local law enforcement to beperceived, if nothing else, to be perceived as immigration agents, and it will createfear, as we heard the testimony yesterday, in the community and potential economicchaos in this state, as we heard from the business witnesses yesterday. Yesterday, weheard overwhelming opposition to this legislation from law enforcement, from thereligious community, from cities, from counties, from elected officials, from


advocates, and from ordinary citizens. This legislation, Members, will haveunintended consequences. Communities will become less safe and more insecureaccording to our experts, the law enforcement officers. Crime will increase as trust isbroken between immigrants and law enforcement. We will have less public safety andmore insecurity rather than security. Racial profiling of Hispanics and civil rightsviolations will occur, precipitating civil rights lawsuits, expensive civil rights lawsuits.Local taxpayers will foot the bill for police training, for jail costs, as the sheriff fromDallas, and the sheriff from, or the chief of police from Houston pointed out as well,yesterday in testimony. There will be the expense of lawsuits and other unfundedmandates on local government. And I have to add this, as happened in Californiawhen the anti-immigrant Proposition 187 passed, there will be political backlash infuture elections. These are the unintended consequences, and there are others. Do wereally need to have 50 sets of state immigration laws to address our broken nationalimmigration system? This is a piecemeal piece of legislation. It will contributenothing, as has already been stated, to solve our immigration problem. In fact, it willonly worsen it by driving our immigrant community further and deeper into theshadows. Unfortunately, this legislation will brand Texas as worse than Arizona.Texas will be viewed as an unwelcoming place for all immigrants, legal and illegal,documented and undocumented, and an unwelcoming place for Hispanics at a timewhen the Hispanics are recognized, as I said earlier, as the future labor force formaintaining the state and nation ’s competitiveness in the world economy. Members,let ’s make no mistake like Arizona. Let ’s build Texas ’legacy as a state for opportunityfor everyone. Let ’s vote against Senate Bill 9. Thank you.President:iiThank you, Senator. Chair recognizes Senator Uresti to speak against thebill.

Senator Uresti:iiThank you, Mr. President, Members. Good evening. I don ’t getemotional very often, and I did earlier because when it comes to our children, theysimply are my weakness, but we need to slow down, Members, just for a moment andreally think about this bill. Why is it being brought, and what is it designed toaccomplish, and the effects that it would have and will have, not only on local lawenforcement but on the fastest-growing demographic in our state. The first twoquestions are the toughest for advocates to answer. There are no sanctuary cities inTexas. You heard my dialogue with Senator Williams earlier. He could not name onecity, and I asked him no less than three times. No one has yet to cite a municipality inthis state where undocumented immigrants are sheltered or nurtured or otherwiseprotected by any ordinance or code. And we ’ve heard a lot of rhetoric andgrandstanding about drug cartels and so-called criminal aliens. We ’ve all heard theanecdotes that this undocumented person killed someone who was drunk driving andthat undocumented immigrant did this or that. Members, I enlisted in the UnitedStates Marine Corps when I was 18 years old to defend our country. I representtwo-thirds of the Texas-Mexico border, more border than most of y ’all put together.There ’s nobody that I know on this Senate floor that doesn ’t want to protect ourTexas-Mexico border. But while these isolated incidents might make a good story, thesimple fact is that the numbers and the statistics tell another story. So, why do we needthis bill, and why is this an emergency? Beyond the divisive, political ideology that ’sat work and beyond the fact that some people think that they need this to garner votes


in a primary election, there is no good reason. And I ’ve heard some Members tell methat, well, because we fought for more funding for our children in public ed, now wehave to deal with this bill. That ’s mean, and that ’s vindictive, and it ’s wrong. And Iwill tell you right now, I will never compromise my values when it comes to fightingfor the children of Texas. So, the fact that we ’re here today, and if you ’re using thisbill to get back at us for fighting for children, that ’s not on us, it ’s on those that believethis bill should be used for payback. Indeed, just this weekend we got a bitter taste ofthe ideology at work of the minds of some of the folks that support this bill. There wasa rally in support of this bill, and the cofounder of the Immigration Reform Coalitionof Texas bemoaned the presence of too many Hispanics in the Legislature. She said,that ’s part of our problem and we need to change those numbers. We need to dosomething about that. And though her words were condemned, we were also told thatthis bill is not about race or politics, it ’s not about the color of anyone ’s skin.Members, that ’s exactly what this bill is about. As your colleague and as your friend, Ido not want to believe that that is your intention. I don ’t want to believe that most of,in fact, I don ’t believe that most of you would ’ve brought this bill forward on yourown. But intentional or not, regardless of the motivation, this bill and your votestrikes at the hearts and the souls of the Latino people in Texas. It threatens theirfreedom and their independence. Any encounter with law enforcement, any ferventglance or misstatement could result in suspicion. And suddenly, it doesn ’t matterwhere you were born, it doesn ’t matter where you live, how you make your living, itdoesn ’t matter if you serve our country, all that matters all of a sudden is the color ofyour skin and if you have an accent, perhaps. And all of a sudden, a new burden ofproof is imposed. Members, don ’t fool yourselves about how this bill would have tobe enforced. It opens the door to discrimination against legal immigrants, Americancitizens, tourists, travelers, anyone who looks like me, Senator Lucio, SenatorHinojosa, Senator Gallegos, anyone who is a member of the fastest-growingpopulation in Texas. And I know a little bit about being discriminated against becauseof the color of my skin. When I was just in Pre-K, five years old, we were not allowedto speak Spanish in school. My name is Carlos, obviously, so my teacher said, we ’renot allowed to say Carlos, because that ’s a Spanish name, so we ’re going to nicknameyou Charlie. To this day, my family calls me Charlie because we were not allowed tospeak Spanish in school, meaning I couldn ’t even say my own name, Carlos, inschool. When I was a young teenager, I had friends, female friends that wouldn ’t dateme because they told me, their fathers told them they couldn ’t date a Mexican. When Iwas a second lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps back in 1986 at basicschool, other second lieutenants would come in from, we would come in from thefield, we were sweaty, taking off our packs, and they ’d say, look, there goes a realwetback, talking about me. There were 150 second lieutenants in our class, only threeHispanics, and they would point to me and say, there goes a real wetback. Theythought it was funny. I didn ’t think it was funny. It was pure ignorance. And quitefrankly, I shouldn ’t have to prove I ’m an American citizen. When I was born onSeptember the 12th of 1963, Santa Rosa Hospital in San Antonio, Texas, I provedthen I was an American citizen. When I enlisted in the United States Marine Corps atthe age of 18, I proved then that I was an American citizen. And when I took the oathto defend our Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, I proved then


that I was an American citizen. Yes, I love the color of my skin, don ’t get me wrong,but I shouldn ’t have to prove my citizenship simply because my skin is a little darkerthan yours. So, what are we doing here, Members? Why is this body so aggressivelypursuing a policy that runs counter to the best interest of our state and all its people?This bill is hurtful, it ’s ignorant, and it ’s offensive. I ’m going to close, Members. I ’vetried to reach y ’all this evening talking about legal issues, emotional issues, and asSenator, as Dean Whitmire did, I want to try to reach you spiritually. A few sessionsago, Senator Patrick, with all of us in agreement, put those four words up there aboveLieutenant Governor Dewhurst that read, in God we trust. Every morning we have aprayer and we ask for God to watch over us as we deliberate and as we vote. Just afew minutes ago, Senator Birdwell said we should have the courage to do what ’sright. And so, I ’m going to ask you, Members, to pray before you vote. And I ’ll askyou to ask yourself one question before you vote, what would Jesus do? Thank you.

President:iiThe Chair recognizes Senator Lucio to speak in opposition.

Senator Lucio:iiThank you, Mr. President. Members, I, too, rise on this very sadoccasion, somewhat angry but forgiving because at my age, I guess, and practicingmy faith, I ’ve come to a conclusion of being as forgiving as I can to my fellowman.I ’ve lived on the border all my life, actually, fourth generation in that area of the state,my son, fifth generation. We ’re very proud. We didn ’t have an opportunity, I waspulled off the bus, Senator Uresti, when I was drafted to the Vietnam War becausethere was a tremendous shortage of teachers then. So, I had to stay back to teach ourchildren. And I took pride, and I passed on to them what I had learned growing up.As a matter of fact, at the end of each class I would take five minutes to lecture themon being a good citizen, being a good American because that ’s what I was taught athome. My dad would preach patriotism and Americanism, Senator, and my momwould pitch in with citizenship. I ’ve made a lot of friends over the years on both sidesof the border. I can remember one time when I was in Mexico, right across fromBrownsville, Matamoros, and all my friends there were congratulating me for myservice as a public official and that I was a great Mexican, a great Mexican, a greatMexican, that ’s all I heard from them. Except one guy at the end of the table, he waseyeing me and he said, after a little bit of conversation, he says, Lucio ’s not aMexican. He said, he ’s an American. So they all turned to me to see how I wouldrespond, Senator, and I said, he ’s right. I ’m very proud to be an American. I love mycountry just like you love your country. But I can assure you that as I serve in publicoffice, no matter whether I ’m a county treasurer, county commissioner, staterepresentative, or a state senator, you can always count on my positions that hopefullywill va a afectar ambos lados de la frontera, which means, hopefully will impact bothsides of the border, in terms of our relationship with you all because we are, hopefully,good neighbors. We want to understand and appreciate one another. We ’re part of aculture that ’s extremely, you know, strong in this area of both countries. And wecelebrate a lot of important holidays together. I ’ve had a lot of experiences over myyears. I ’m a senior now. And I talk to my grandchildren and I try to teach them to begood neighbors and to be understanding and to never discriminate no matter whatbecause we ’re the majority down there. There ’s 95, 96 kids in our public schools thatare Hispanic down there, 95 to 96 percent of the kids are Hispanic. And in this state,the majority of those going into public schools are Hispanic. We know that. And we


need to educate them so they can become good Texans, good Americans, productivecitizens, and we need to send the right messages on whatever public policy we pass onthis floor. You know, I have to prove that I ’m an American citizen twice a week,Senator Shapiro. I have to go through a checkpoint. And I don ’t like it because theirline of questioning is just horrible, and I get after them, and I ’m hoping the camera ’son. They say, where you going? I say, I ’m going, I ’m going to go work. Where? Well,I ’m going to Austin. What do you do? I mean, I should just have to prove, SenatorWilliams, that I am an American, period, and they should let me go about mybusiness. They don ’t even look at my license plates, they look at me, they look at theperson inside the car. Anybody else in there? Well, no, no, the door ’s unlocked, take alook. Line of questioning is horrid. Now, that comes from our federal officials, andI ’ll restate that anytime, anywhere, including Washington, and my intentions are to doso whenever I get that opportunity. Somewhere along the line, they ’re not teaching,they ’re not going to charm school, I ’d say. What is going to happen now to the otherlevels of law enforcement with this piece of legislation? Where are we going fromhere? I cannot hang my faith outside the door, Senator Ogden. I can ’t. It ’s impossiblefor me to separate my faith and my duties on this floor. And that means that I have tobe very considerate before I vote on a piece of legislation that I think or I know willimpact somebody negatively, whether he ’s a stranger in this land or whether he ’s acitizen. You know, a lot of the strangers here, all those documented, undocumentedworkers, they struggle, quite frankly, to get here. I don ’t condone doing anythingillegal, but you got to understand what ’s happening on that border. Thousands ofpeople are getting killed every day. Every day I pick up the newspaper, and I ’m afraidto read my computer because another 172 graves were dug up and two of them wereAmericans this morning. There are real problems out there without creating moredivisiveness, more dissention with legislation such as this. And I will say this, that allof this is going to be reversed someday. They are going to look back and they aregoing to see what happened here, and the people on this floor will probably, youknow, grow in terms of Hispanic Members, and they ’re going to, including theleadership, and all of this is going to be reversed. But I don ’t want it to be in a hatefulmood. And that ’s what, hopefully, I will be speaking against, hate, divisiveness. Youknow, we ’re one Texas family, regardless of our cultural background. I ’ve alwaystalked about that in our public schools, even down south where I ’m from. And I ’msitting here throughout this whole debate, and I ’m thinking back of the experiencesthat we ’ve had, similar to some of those that were discussed and shared with us heretonight. I remember my son as a college student at Texas Tech being pushed againstthe wall. Pushed against the wall! I came so close in hurting somebody because theypushed my son against the wall because they wanted to know if he was an Americancitizen. Can you imagine that? Having your son pushed against the wall, or yourdaughter, or having your father being questioned to death because he ’s on his wayback from a fishing trip at Boca Chica Beach, right close to where we ’ve lived all ourlives, by somebody who just got into town from up north? What about him, afterquestioning those in the car, well, that guy, he ’s to us an American hero, stableAmerican, veteran, veteran of foreign wars, questioning his citizenship. This is goingto make it ugly, very ugly in many communities. Senator Whitmire kicked it offperfectly tonight. I ’ve never been so proud in listening to some of you stand up for


what you believe is right. You ’re right, Senator, that ’s enough, I ’ll stop, I ’ll stop here.But when we listen, and I listen to our prayer, I ’m very attentive. You might laugh atthis, but I prayed three rosaries last night, three, for a reason, because I love my Texasand everyone that lives here. And I love the people I work with, but we ’re just, attimes, we don ’t feel for the person next to us, and I just want you to know that this isreally the lowest point of my 24 years of service on this floor.

President:iiChair recognizes Senator Gallegos to speak against the bill.

Senator Gallegos:iiThank you, Mr. President. Members, you know, I rise to speakagainst the bill. Senator Whitmire, I appreciate you putting what ’s before us here inyour words, and I ’ve never had anybody, really, I mean, I ’ve had a lot of people talkfor me and all that, but in the way you put it, you, I mean, you put a face with it. Youmade us stand up, and I hope that everybody was sitting at their desk and watched thatbecause I ’d never seen that done, ever, you know, that the Latino Members of thisbody just get up and then, this is who it ’s going to affect. And Whitmire said it, notme. John Whitmire said it. It ’s going to affect the Latino Members on this floor. Youknow, Members, illegal immigrants have been coming to this country for over acentury and probably even more than that. You know, they been coming from allwalks of life and all walks of this nation, of this Earth. And, you know, Senator Ellis,a lot of them, you know, they come from the south, they come from the east and west,but a lot of them came through Ellis Island in those days when they were fleeingcommunism, terrorism, tyranny, dictatorship, and, yes, genocide. That ’s why theywere coming to America. And, Senator Ellis, you know, when they came in, in theline, they came there at Ellis Island, and did we turn them away, did we ask for theirpapers, did we ask for their citizenship? Were they told, hey, you got to get on theboat and go right back where you came from? No, we welcomed them with openarms. We knew why they were fleeing. You know, they were fleeing the terror andmurder and heaven knows what else over there on the other side. That ’s why theycame here, and a lot of them are our grandparents, your grandparents,great-grandparents, the very roots of, probably, who sits here on this Senate floor. Wenever asked, that I know of, none of them were ever asked, hey, you got to get on theboat and go right back, we ’re sorry, or show us your papers, show us your citizenship.Never was that asked. You know, Members, I know Senator Lucio said that he had to,every time he goes home, he has to show that he ’s a citizen, that he ’s an Americancitizen. And, you know, during session, there was an incident, and I ’ve talked to itwith a couple of my colleagues, not everybody knows, but I ’ll tell you it tonightbecause I think it ’s appropriate. You know, there was one night we were debating ’tilabout, I want to say it was nine o ’clock at night. And the President let us go the nextday. I had a meeting at one o ’clock in Houston, so I decided to go home and I took anap for a couple of hours, and then I just decided, you know what, I ’m going to gohome, be there for that meeting, at least rest in the morning and be there for that oneo ’clock meeting. So, I packed up, drove, I ’m not going to tell you where I drove toand the city that I stopped, but you know, I didn ’t have gas, so I had to stop. And Igassed up, then went inside at this city that will go unnamed, and I walked in andwent to the bathroom. And there was two police cars out front, and I went to thebathroom, and one of the police officers kind of nonchalantly followed me to the door,and the other one, I couldn ’t tell what the other one was doing, but I went to the


bathroom. And, you know, those of us that come from the barrio that I was born andraised, you know, I was dressed in blue jeans, and I like to wear a guayabera. Youknow, I like to wear guayaberas, and this is the very shirt I was wearing. You know,and a lot of us, and even, I ’ve seen Whitmire wear guayaberas and a lot of youbecause with 100 degree heat outside, these are real cool, really, real cool, and I knowa lot of y ’all wear them. This is what I was wearing. So, when I walked out, there wasa police officer right outside the door. I mean, he didn ’t approach me, but I walkedout, went and got a Sprite, but I could see the other officer was outside by my truckwith a pad, and he looked close. And unlike you, Senator Lucio, and he looked at me,but they also looked at my truck and, yes, they did look at the drivers, at the licensetag, thank God. You know, because when he, once he saw it, he didn ’t see me comeout of the bathroom. When he saw it, he turned around to the other officer and startedwaving like this, no, you know. So, I can only, my perception is what they weregoing to do to me, I mean, were they going to ask me for my ID or ask if I was aAmerican citizen? I don ’t know. I don ’t know, but that was, Members, number one, Ilearned one lesson, I will have a full tank of gas before I leave Austin, Texas, I canguarantee you that. But, number two, you know, I mean, it was racial profiling to themax. I mean racial profiling, even before Senate Bill 9 goes into effect, if we pass thatbill. And, you know, I started wondering, well, if I wear these kind of shirts, because Iwear other shirts, too. You know, I like to wear this shirt. I ’m from the barrio. I like towear this shirt, and it shows Our Lady of Guadalupe on the back. And I ’m sure,Senator Davis, in Fort Worth you ’ve seen this, here in Austin, in Dallas, especially inthe Valley. And if you look at pickup trucks, this symbol is all on a bunch of trucks,Senator Uresti. I don ’t mind telling you, I do like to wear this shirt, you know, and I ’mproud to wear this shirt. And then, I also wear other shirts, too, when I try to relax.And this is one of my favorites, this is Emiliano Zapata, and, Senator Davis, you ’veseen these, too. You know, and these are what you wear, you know, really, in myneighborhood. And I ’m proud to wear this shirt. I couldn ’t find, I tried to find VivaVilla, but they ’re all sold out. And I also tried to find, you know, the Mexican soccershirts. I see a gentleman upstairs wearing it, you know, but they were sold out. Youcan ’t find one in Austin, because I looked today. Sold out, this T-shirt sold out. Youknow, Members, and then my little encounter in that small town, been listening inSenator Williams ’Committee, you know, on this officer that testified. And SenatorWilliams said, well, he misunderstood, and he really didn ’t know the language in thebill. Well, if that police officer misunderstood, I wonder how many other policeofficers are not going to understand Senate Bill 9 and the way it works. You know,and then it reminded me of our good friend in Maricopa, Arizona, our good sheriff,Senator Ellis. And let me tell you about his current status. He ’s currently the subjectof an FBI, United States Department of Justice, and federal grand jury investigationsfor civil rights violation and abuse of power, and is a defendant in the federal classaction suit for racial profiling. And this is a letter from the Phoenix mayor about thegood sheriff: Over the past few weeks, Sheriff Arpaio ’s actions have infringed on thecivil rights of our residents. They have put our residents ’ well-being and thewell-being of our law enforcement officers at risk. And then, Arpaio, the sheriff hasalways said that he, always maintained that his deputies never profile people duringhis crime sweeps. But then he said this, he said, there are certain criteria that we go by,


no ID, looking like they just came from Mexico and they admit it, that ’s enough.That ’s our good sheriff in Arizona. And it reminded me of that testimony that I heardin Senator Williams ’Committee. You know, and I was looking at all the witnesses,Senator Williams, and, I mean, there ’s a lot. I ’m not going to go through all of them,there ’s too many, especially against. It ’s like five to one against. And I saw a lot of theclergy. There ’s a lot of clergy in here, a lot of police chiefs, and the folks that weheard personal stories from. You know, I just, you know, hearing this bill tonight, it ’sjust, I ’m struck by the question, you know, why? I mean, what ’s the point? Why arewe spending more time on this bill? What issues are we hoping to solve? You know,and I heard, Senator Williams, that it ’s not his intent, and I believe him. It ’s not hisintent on this issue. It ’s not my intent on this other issue. And a lot of the goodamendments that went down, you already said it ’s covered in the bill, but it ’s not myintent to do this. But the word I always heard coming up was, unintendedconsequences. Unintended consequences. Now, you know, I ’ve got Senate Bill 1070in Arizona, you know, and I look at the language. Then I also have the language ofProp. 187, and I look at the language. And then I look at Senate Bill 9, and I look atthe language, and this bill shouldn ’t be called the sanctuary cities bill. It should becalled the unintended consequences bill because, I promise you, it might not be thesame language, but once the unintended consequences are formulated in, you wouldget the same results as Prop. 187. You will get the same results as Senate Bill 1070 inArizona. You will get those results, I promise you that ’s what ’s going to happen underthis bill. You know, I think everybody on this floor would agree with me that ourcountry needs immigration reform. In fact, Senator Williams, I supported yourresolution during the Regular Session calling on Congress. I agreed with you then,and you asked a while ago about, you know, making Congress come up with somekind of immigration reform. I agree with you, and I voted with you, but our state,more than some others, as Senator Lucio pointed out, feels the effects of a brokenimmigration system in our country. And this legislation tonight is really, I believe,going backwards. We ’re going back to the ’50s. You know, back in those days,Senator West, you know, I hate to even say it, you know, the Jim Crow days. Youknow, the fire hoses, the German Shepherds, why don ’t we just bring those out?Might as well add an amendment and bring this in. That ’s what all this is about whenSenator Whitmire told us to stand up. I mean, I ’d rather take that, at least I know it ’scoming. Why try to hide it in unintended consequences in Senate Bill 9? You know,the police and the sheriff ’s department, especially the sheriff in Dallas County, SenatorWest, said, and she, excuse me, she testified that she was against the bill and said itwas going to bring unfunded mandates and it was going to cost the City of Dallas,excuse me, the County of Dallas. And I mean, police chiefs and sheriffs comingbefore the Committee said this was an unfunded mandate. And even more so, whatwas pointed out during the earlier debate with Senator Uresti, and him going to thefiscal note and showing that it ’s going to affect not only our big cities but small citiesalso. They don ’t have the force to pay for this. And I believe that they came to testifyfor a reason. They don ’t have the troops. Just like I told Senator Williams earlier, thatour police chief, Senator Patrick, was given a certain amount of money and the mayortold him, here, you ’ve got to work with this, you can ’t work with it, we ’re going to layoff police officers. That ’s exactly what he was given. So, he knows, when he testified,


going to cost $4imillion to the City of Houston Police Department to implement ifSenate 9 goes into effect. He knows that that ’s what it ’s going to cost. And I believethat this is an unfunded mandate on police departments, sheriff ’s departments thatcame to testify that day. You know, Members, I could go a long time, but I thinkwe ’ve gotten our point across, at least I have. And I wanted to point that out. It ’s notonly the fact of the matter that people are going to be asked to show their citizenship.But I mean, look at the Census, of the people that came here, the majority was allLatino. You know, I believe you ’re going to have consequences like SenatorRodriguez said, you know, you ’re going to have those that don ’t want to come overhere. You ’ll probably, you know, and I would venture to say, you ’re going to havesome boycotts, just like they did in Arizona. They boycotted and the City of Phoenixlost a lot of money. But if you look at the buying power, I mean, just look at theH-E-Bs, the Payless stores, especially in your Latino communities, they ’re the highestin sales. They ’re the highest in sales. And at one time, the Capital Bank in my district,in my community, in a Latino district, was the highest single depositor bank, singledeposit bank in this state, all Latino, 100 percent Latino. You know, that ’s really whatyou ’re dealing with here. We ’re talking about economic opportunities that Hispanicscome here for, their buying power. I mean, their money is just as good as anybodyelse ’s. I mean, it shows up, and the sales tax is just as good as anybody else ’s, becausethey ’re at the stores. You can see them. They ’re at the stores buying and buying andbuying and paying that sales tax. And I think this bill ’s going to have that effect onthem. They ’re not going to want to come outside like was mentioned, or like wasmentioned about Ana Hernandez. They had to shuttle so if one of them gotapprehended they, at least, somebody would be having to take care of the kids. That ’swhat they are going to do here, after your bill goes into effect. You know, let me closeby saying, I think this bill will be an open season, and I see my friends up there fromHouston, this will be a open season on Latinos. I mean, just, hey, we ’re going to stopthem, I mean, just go in my district or any other districts here, but you know, I ’mgoing to tell you that if you look at the demographics of my colleagues from the otheraisle, your districts are at least 20 to 30 percent Latino, too. And I think that this billwill only breed racial profiling, hate mongering, and fear. Yes, fear. And it will notserve, it ’s not going to serve to solve any problems. This bill, Senator Lucio said, thisis the saddest day of his 24 years. This is a sad day for all of us that look like me.This bill is the most racist, Latino-bashing, anti-immigrant bill that I ’ve ever seen, andthat includes California in Prop. 187 and that includes Senate Bill 1070 in Arizona.That ’s why I will vote against this racist bill.President:iiThe Chair recognizes Senator Van de Putte to speak against the bill.

Senator VanideiPutte:iiThank you, Mr. President. Mr. President and Members, I riseto speak against passage of the Committee Substitute to Senate Bill 9. Members,we ’ve heard a lot about why we really need this bill. It ’s about border security. It ’sabout public safety. But I really believe it ’s about fear. It ’s about fear and politics.Nowhere in the discussions have we really focused on the core problems. All of usagree we wouldn ’t even be having this debate if it were not for the abject failure of ourfederal government to do long-term immigration reform and secure our borders. It ’sthe abject failure of Democratic administrations. It ’s the abject failure of pastRepublican administrations. Members, we treasure that we have a free market and a


free market society that makes our economy strong, but there ’s one part about the freemarket that ’s very difficult, and that is to interrupt and to interfere into the relationshipbetween a willing buyer and a willing seller. And nowhere tonight have wementioned the fact that although the United States only makes up a little over 7percent of the world ’s population, we consume, as Americans, 70 percent of the illicitdrugs in the world. Think about the willing buyer. The violence and what we see inthe cartels is because we are the purchasers of that product that destroys our families.Today, news reports suggested and verified that we sell, that Americans sell to Mexico70 percent of their arms, 70 percent of their weapons comes from the United States.It ’s an awful trade. Americans buy the drugs and we sell them the guns. I don ’t knowthat this bill does anything about that trade injustice. We should be focusing on thatand we ’re not. In fact, we ’ve heard repeated pleas from our police officers and those incharge of law enforcement that this will, in fact, set them back. It will harm theirability to keep communities safe. Texas has a very proud tradition and maybe some ofyou do not know our history as well. We have the portrait of Stephen F. Austin. If youwalk over to the archives, you will never see a signature of Stephen F. Austin, becausehe never signed it that way. In all the documents he signed were Estefan Austin.We ’ve prided ourselves on being different from Arizona. We have a collective history.In fact, we were Mexico, we were Texas and Coahuila. And sometimes when peoplestill speak Spanish, they do so because of the comfort level of being in the nativetongue, much like my husband ’s grandmother, who preferred to speak French with herchildren and grandchildren because she was so fearful of her broken English. And inher home and around her family, she spoke French. Senator Uresti, my name is LeticiaRosa Magdelana Aguillar San Miguel. But in school, I was called Rosie. Leticiawasn ’t allowed. And so, when the phone calls come in to our office and they ask forRosie, my staff jokes that this is somebody who knew me in school. And my familycalled me Rosie to not call attention to the fact. I was sent home three times duringelementary for speaking Spanish accidentally on the playground, but if you were aboy, you got whipped. If you were a girl, you got sent home. Luckily, those days arebehind us. Members, let ’s focus on the injustice of the economic consequences. Iknow that we are doing this today. It didn ’t happen during the Regular Session, and itdidn ’t because of the willingness of this body to realize that we could do a lot better,and we supported Senator Williams ’original SBi9. The times have changed, ruleshave changed. So, the economic side of this, and I ’m not talking about the trade ofguns and drugs, I ’m talking about agriculture. Today in Georgia, the Commissioner ofAgriculture has joined the Governor and the Chief of the Department of Correctionsto try to sign a memorandum of understanding. The Commissioner of Agriculture hasstated that there are $300 million in crops that will be ruined. The farmers have saidthat there are 40,000 jobs right now, and there are nobody to go get those crops. Andso, today they ’ve come across a solution. They ’re going to have criminals pick thosecrops, much to the dismay of those farmers. They ’re going to have to pay them or paythe Department, but instead of having people willing to do very hard work, who otherthan being here without documentation, do not break any laws, now they will havehardened criminals on their farms. Is this the economic consequence we want for ourstate? The economic injustice is one thing, and that is but one example. When Arizonatried to get stronger this year, the business community pleaded with them not to


because of the hundreds of millions of dollars already lost. And when an attempt likeSBi9 was made in Florida, it was the Florida Republican business leadership who ledthe fight against, and the Disney Corporation, to defeat similar legislation based onthe argument that it would be an economic injustice. And they recognized the problemwas at the federal level. I ’d like to speak about the personal injustices. We have afriend named Rudy who lives, or at the time, lived around the corner from us. AndRudy loved to do his own yard work, even though he could afford someone to do itfor him. One day he borrowed a piece of garden equipment from us. We didn ’t thinkanything of it. Imagine my surprise several hours later when there was a knock at thedoor and there was a San Antonio police officer there with Rudy. And as I opened thedoor, the officer said, Ma ’am, do you know this gentleman? And I looked, and Rudyhad this combination look of indignation and yet fear. You see, he was doing his yardand wasn ’t really dressed for anything like he would in his everyday job. And he wasreturning that piece of garden equipment. And since he was doing his yard, he didn ’thave any ID on him. And when the officer stopped him, he related the story that hewas coming to return the piece of garden equipment. Rudy was a fine man, had thegorgeous dark brown skin color of Senator Rodriguez or Senator Lucio. And whenthe officer asked, do you know this man, for a moment I thought about saying, hellno, but that ’s my Weed Eater. But I said, officer, what ’s the problem, and Rudy startedto speak, and the officer reprimanded him and said, you ’re not allowed, I ’m askingthis lady. And I said, officer, this is Chief Justice Rudy Esquivel, the Chief Justice ofthe Fourth Court of Appeals of the State of Texas. I said, I can vouch for him, and I ’msure if you will travel with him to his house a block and a half away, he can show youproper identification. So, Members, if you don ’t think it ’ll happen, it will, and it does.Let ’s talk about what our faith leaders have said. Why is it that we take their words ofadvice on certain pieces of legislation, but when the Texas Baptist Life Commission,the Federation of Jewish Women, when the Methodist ministers, the Catholic bishops,and la Alianza de Pastores Cristiana, which is the alliance of evangelicalSpanish-speaking churches, all are opposed. It brings great sadness. The faith injusticeis when Senate Bill in Arizona was about to go into effect, when 1070 was about to gointo effect, the Catholic bishops told their flock, remove your crucifixes and yoursaints from your cars, take the Virgen de Guadalupe off of your windows. Do notsubject yourself. When your faith leaders tell you to remove the objects of your faith,then what type of injustice is there? When the evangelical Christian Spanish-speakingpastors said, remove any articles in your car because you may have noticed, Members,that sometimes Latinos put their family names on their cars. Well, for evangelicalLatinos, they put El Templo de la Vida Buena on their car. They will put the name oftheir evangelical church and big fishes, the Christian symbol. When those pastors saidremove anything like that that identifies you as a Spanish-speaking Christian fromyour car, then what does it say about the religious injustice? So, we did not listen toour faith-based leaders on this. And finally, I want to speak at a very personal level.My grandmother was the most wonderful person in our family. And although she onlyhad a third-grade education, she had a wisdom beyond most people I ’ve ever met. Shewas born in Muzquiz, Coahuila, and, yes, came here illegally, and, yes, never becamea citizen. She married an American citizen. She was a woman of her church, and herfaith and her whole life revolved around her children and her grandchildren, the pride


of her garden, in growing lavender roses that were sought after by every floral shop inthe San Antonio area. She was beloved. She never drove. She was so skilled as aseamstress, she made all of the curtains and the drapes. She made my mother ’swedding dress. She made all of my prom dresses. She never became a citizen, and forwhatever reason, we ’ll never know. But when she was a little girl, she always knewthat she would come back and forth at the beginning from that border, and she was sowise. She would tell us as giving us advice, and we call this in Spanish the consejos,the little bits of wisdom. When we were getting off track in our life, she would cometo us and she ’d say, checkpoint. You see, because when you go through a checkpoint,they ask you four questions. The first question at the checkpoint that they ask you is,who are you, ¿quien eres? That ’s what they ask. And for my grandmother, that meant,who are you, who are you as a person? The second question they ask is, what do youhave? The checkpoint officers of immigration, that means what do you, what are youcarrying with you? But for my grandmother, what do you have means ¿que traes?What sort of qualities do you possess? Are you a person of character? Are youhonest? Are you an asset to this family? Are you an asset to your employer? Are youan asset to this community? What have you got, ¿que traes? The third question of thecheckpoint is, where are you going? And my grandma always said, you ’ve got toknow where you ’re going, you ’ve got to have a life plan, you ’ve got to have set yourgoals. Fourth question at the checkpoint is, what are you going to do when you getthere, ¿que vas a hacer cuando llegues ahı? And what my grandmother meant was,what are you going to do with the gifts that God gave you? What are you going to dowith the education that you have? What are you going to do with the love and supportof this family? What are you going to do at the end of your life? What are you goingto be proud of? Where are you going and what are you going to do when you getthere, when you get all the skill sets of everything that this beautiful country has tooffer you? What are you going to do, what are you going to do when you get there?Members, if the State of Texas right now was going through the checkpoint, whatwould we say on this particular piece of legislation? Texas, who are you? We ’re astate rich in history and legacy and a proud people who have overcome obstacles, whoare blessed by our creator with the best natural resources, and we ’ve exploited themall to get a great economy. Who are we? We ’re Texans and we ’re proud of it. Secondquestion at the checkpoint, what do you have? Texas has a burgeoning population, somuch so that we are the envy of the country, that we get four new congressional seats,that our economy is the strongest, that we have weathered it. Have we weathered itbecause we have had the people? We ’ve weathered it because we ’ve been strong.What do we got? The third question is, where we ’re going. You see, my fears areovercome by the sense of hope that we are headed as a state with this richdemographic, and I don ’t see it as a problem, I see it as an opportunity, we ’re headedto success. We are blessed with a vibrancy of people and family of faith and peoplewho love their communities, and they love this state. But with this bill, we gobackwards. We don ’t move forward, Members. And the fourth question for our state,what are you going to do when you get there? If public policy like this is passed,where the future majority of the citizens of this state are treated differently because oftheir skin color, because of their language accent, then we will have economic failure.We won ’t have the promise of Texas. How can we treat her upcoming majority in


such a different fashion? Members, I want you to look around this room. It ’s not justabout the Senators who stood up when Dean Whitmire called us out. I want you tolook at your staffs around this room, and I want you to think about what their families,and who will be questioned, who will be suspect? I want you to look at our Senatestaff right here and our Sergeant-at-Arms. Who is going to be stopped here? I wantyou to look at this media table. Who do you think is going to be stopped? Who do youthink will be treated differently? Is this the checkpoint that we want for our state, isthis the type of injustice? Members, the only thing that I can tell you is that I amheartbroken that today we are going to pass legislation that would treat my childrendifferently. Because I have children with blue eyes and sandy hair and they look liketheir Belgian ancestors, and I have sons with the proud brown skin and eyes and hairand they look Mexican, they look Mexican-American. And if we ’re passinglegislation that treats brothers so very differently, how can that be right? We don ’t passthis checkpoint, we go backwards. And if those of you who would say that I ’mpulling the race card, it ’s not about my race, it ’s about my ethnicity. And I wish I hadthe grace of Senator Lucio. I wish I could be as forgiving. And insult me all you can,tear and jab at me because I can survive. But when you tear and jab at my children, Iam not so forgiving. And when you rip apart families in my community and myconstituents, I am not forgiving. I will speak out every day. And if you think that theMembers on this Senate floor will be quiet so that we don ’t make you feel bad aboutwhat you think you have to do, then think again. I haven ’t yet been blessed with thegrace of forgiveness of Senator Lucio. I ’m just a very mad abuelita. I will vote no onthis bill.

President:iiAre there any other Members that wish to speak against the bill? SenatorOgden, for what purpose do you rise?

Senator Ogden:iiTo speak in support of the bill.

President:iiYou ’re recognized.Senator Ogden:iiI ’ve always been ambivalent about this subject. One of the things Ithought about when Senator Lucio was speaking and Senator VanideiPutte wasspeaking was a comment I made, I think it was two sessions ago, about HispanicTexans and the one place that they were not underrepresented in this state was in ourmilitary cemeteries, not a more patriotic group of citizens in the whole country thanHispanic Texans, I know that. So, I never want to be for a bill that, basically,impugned their patriotism. My own daughter-in-law, who ’s Cuban-American, will notdrive through Arizona. My grandchildren are light-skinned. She is darkercomplexioned, and she says when she goes to Arizona, the police hassle her becausethey think she ’s a nanny. So, she won ’t even drive through the state. So, I have somepersonal experience with the fears and the outrage that many of the speakersaddressed today. But there still is a problem, and that is that most of the criticism ofthis bill doesn ’t make sense to me. This bill doesn ’t do what its opponents accuse it ofdoing. All it says is that you cannot prevent law enforcement officers from asking aquestion when they have lawfully detained a citizen or noncitizen. You cannot preventthem from asking a question, that ’s all it says. It also says that if you ’ve been bookedin the local jail, they have to check immigration status before they let you out. And italso says that our drivers ’licenses need to be reliable forms of identification. That ’s


all this bill says. It doesn ’t say to racially profile, it doesn ’t say to the Laredo PoliceDepartment or the McAllen Police Department or the Brownsville Police Department,go out there and start hassling all the citizens, turn yourself into a gestapo force, startmaking everybody ’s life miserable. It doesn ’t say that. It ’s not going to happen. Mostof the, at least in my ears, Members, most of the complaints about this bill soundpreposterous to me. This is not going to happen. The examples that people have usedin opposition to this bill have occurred before this legislation even passed. I thinkabout something else, and that is what happened on 9-11-2001, and how almost 4,000Americans have lost their lives because of that act. And what happened? There were21 people involved, foreign nationals, most of whom were here illegally, that ranaround this country for two or three years preparing to knock down the World TradeCenter. And we act like improving our ability to identify people who are hereillegally and are trying to do us harm is somehow bad public policy. It ’s not. The firstobligation of government is to provide order and to protect the citizenry. This bill maynot do a whole lot, but I think it could provide some additional protection for ourcitizenry against those people who are here to harm us. And nobody ’s talked aboutthat. I don ’t like standing in the lines and the hassle of going to the airports. It ’s anecessary evil in this time. But here ’s the real reason why I think I have to vote forthis bill. And this reason, didn ’t ask to be here, I didn ’t ask to be in Special Session toconsider this, but now that I ’m here, you know, it ’s sort of like an umpire, you ’regoing to have to make the call. All of us on this floor, Democrats and Republicans,Hispanic Texans and Anglo Texans took the same oath. It said, we will, to the best ofour ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution and laws of the UnitedStates and of this state, so help me God. The laws of the United States and this state, itdoesn ’t say, except for the ones that we find inconvenient or the ones that we happento disagree with. It says, to the best of our ability, to preserve, protect, and defend theConstitution and laws of the United States and this state, so help me God. And Icannot reconcile this oath that I took with opposition to this bill, which is simply aneffort to make sure that our law enforcement agencies and our drivers ’license issuingauthorities do a better job of identifying who is an American citizen and, if they arecommitting a violation of our laws, to at least ask the question, are you here legally, ornot? And so, Members, I will be voting in support of this bill, not because Iparticularly want to, but because of the oath that I took compels me to do so.

President:iiThere ’s one additional Member on the screen. Senator Deuell, for whatpurpose do you rise?

Senator Deuell:iiSpeak for the bill.

President:iiYou ’re recognized.Senator Deuell:iiThank you, Mr. President, Members. I wasn ’t going to speak, andsometimes the way it ’s been, being in the majority when we know we have the votes,we just sit and listen to the opposition, and then with the confidence of numbers, westay silent. But I ’d like to bring a little perspective to the bill. I think that what somepeople, perhaps, don ’t recognize in listening to the testimony in the Committee, wasthat there ’s not an illegal immigration problem, and I think there is. It ’s probably notas bad as some people think, but I also think that it ’s worse than other people think.And, yes, the federal government is not doing its job, and it ’s not this particular


administration, it goes back. And we ’ve had to deal with it from a state level. I thinkwe appropriated over $200 million this year for border security, 9-11 changed a lot ofthings, more specifically to one of our Members, but also to this nation. And Iunderstand the opposition, and a lot of wounds from times past have been opened interms of racial discrimination and ethnicity discrimination, and I appreciate that. Andwe are a nation of immigrants, and we had many European immigrants come over toEllis Island. But they were asked questions about where they were from, and theywere screened and given health tests. But they were here legally. There was a system,and we still have that, and we ’re a nation of laws. And some of the icons of justice isa lady blindfolded because justice is blind, meaning that it doesn ’t discriminate. Andwe have this illegal immigration problem, and that ’s what we ’re trying to address. Itjust so happens that in this state, particularly, a lot of the illegal immigrants areHispanic. But the things that we do to address that are not because they ’re Hispanic,it ’s because they ’re illegal. And I have many Hispanics in my district, even in thenortheast part of Texas. Many more was, when I started practice in ’86, had afederally qualified health center, Hispanic patients were fairly rare. Now, I ’m inprivate practice, and I have a lot of Hispanic patients. I assume most are legal, perhapssome are not. I don ’t ask, that ’s not the place at a medical office, but what some of theHispanics have told me, and some are not immigrants, some have been here a lotlonger than many of us have, certainly me, they resent the ones that, of anynationality, that are here illegally, because it stigmatizes them to a certain degree. Ithink tonight ’s an example of that, and the ones that have immigrated here have doneso legally, and they feel like people are competing unfairly, not playing by the rules.And one of the reasons that they wanted to come to this country was because we are anation of law and rules. And you know what ’s happening at the border and otherplaces, not only in Mexico, but Central and South America. My mother and singlemom, brother, and I came to Texas in 1960, came to Dallas, South Oak Cliff, SenatorWest. We came from a small town in West Virginia in an integrated neighborhood.The kids that I grew up with were, there were no Hispanics, but there were Black andWhite, and we played together, fought together, called each other names that wouldget you in trouble now. And moving to South Oak Cliff, Senator West and I didn ’t livethat far apart. We weren ’t particularly comfortable with the environment. In fact, wewere asked to leave a church because my grandmother pointed out in a Sunday schoolclass, she didn ’t see any reason why African Americans couldn ’t come to our church.People disagreed, they thought we might be happier, they looked at us as Yankees andasked us to find another church. We found another church. And it ’s not the same typeof discrimination, but try driving around Texas with hair about the length of SenatorHuffman in a Volkswagen bus like I did in the late ’60s and early ’70s, and you ’ll finda certain type of discrimination. So, but we do have this problem, and Senator Ogden,I think, expressed why some of us are uncomfortable and yet are going to vote for thisbill. And I ’ll leave you with a story I heard Paul Harvey tell once, and I think it, youcan think of this bill as being sort of the moral of this story. There was a young boywho found a little baby bird that was still alive and he had it in his hand. And hewalked up to a man and said, well, do you know if the bird ’s alive or it ’s dead? Well,the man knew what was going to happen, that if he told the boy he thought the birdwas dead, he would open his hand, and show him that it ’s alive. But if he said the


bird ’s alive, the little boy would squeeze the bird, open the hand, and show him thatit ’s dead. And I think this bill is what we make of it in this state. I think the state hasheard the debate. I think this bill ’s going to pass. I think law enforcement testifiedagainst it. Some were for it. I think our law enforcement officers in this state are justas varied as we are in this body, just as varied as we are throughout the state. I thinkthey will listen to this debate, and I think I trust them to act accordingly and show theworld that justice is blind and is administered equally. The man ’s answer to the littleboy was, is the bird alive or dead is, it ’s as you want it to be. And I think this bill willbe as we collectively want it to be. I tend to be an optimist, and I look for the best inthings, and I think that this bill, if applied in the proper way, will be of a benefit toTexas, accomplish its goal, and not bring out the worst in all of Texas. Thank you.

President:iiSenator Patrick, for what purpose do you rise?

Senator Patrick:iiI stand to support the bill, Mr. President, speak in support.

President:iiYou ’re recognized.Senator Patrick:iiMembers, like Dr. Deuell just said, I was not planning to speak,and I ’ve listened to each and every word from Senator Whitmire to Lucio to SenatorUresti and VanideiPutte and Gallegos and everyone who spoke against the bill. AndI ’ve been listening to where my Christian heart is, since that has been brought up. Andthere is a passage also, Senator Whitmire, that says do not judge lest you be judged.And each of us have to make those personal decisions. There have been other issueson this floor this session where the church wanted us to vote a certain way, and someMembers did, some Members didn ’t. I never looked at others and judged how theyvoted on, were they more or less of a Christian than I was, or believer. We all answerthat question to our God when we meet Him one day. For our lives we have to beheld accountable, and for our votes we will be held accountable. As Senator Ogdensaid, we have a Constitutional duty. And so, that ’s why I ’m voting for this bill. But Ialso look at this a little bit differently because I want there to be a day when peoplecan come to this country and not have to be afraid to go out together as a mother andfather, as someone mentioned. I want people to come to this country and be able towork without hiding in the shadows and worrying if they ’re going to go home thatnight because they were rounded up. I want there to be an immigration policy on thefederal level that allows people to come here without being stuffed in the back of an18-wheeler, that allows young girls to come here without being raped by coyotes onthe border, allows people to come to this country without being part of a humantrafficking ring, and have to pay a bounty back to the human smugglers, otherwisetheir families will be hurt. It is proven, sadly, that under all administrations, and underboth parties, the federal government has abdicated its responsibility. Not just to theborder states and to the country at large but, really, to those people who want to cometo this country. And so, my hope, Senator Whitmire, is that this bill and other stateswho take action, and we can agree or disagree, do some states go too far, not farenough, that ’s an issue for another day, but if the states stand up and speak out that wehave to protect our border and protect our Constitution, and we have to defend thelaws, that maybe the federal government will finally act, whether the same Presidentreturns for four more years or a new President arrives, that finally the federalgovernment will act as it sees states act. I don ’t want people to come here and hide. I


want them to come in here and to be proud Americans, or to come here, and theirfamily is back home, and they send their money home, and they work here, and theygo back to rebuild their own country. But to not pass this law would be to throw upour hands and do nothing. And I think our citizens are crying out, our Latino citizens,our Anglo citizens, our Black citizens, all of our citizens are asking us to help. And Ithink, in a certain way, Members who oppose this bill, those who are here illegally arecrying out for help. And will there be unintended consequences? We would all like tohope not, but there will be. And most of the people who come to this country, eventhough they break the law coming here, they come here for the right reasons. Butthere is a criminal element that comes here. And I would say, Members, that there arenot unintended consequences, but intended consequences by those criminals whocome in here and prey on our citizens, Black, White, and Brown. So, will there beunintended consequences if the bill passes? Yes, sadly. And hopefully we canaddress those, and correct those if they happen. But if we do nothing, there areAmerican citizens today of all colors who will be the victims of crime, who will turnto us as their Senators and say, why didn ’t you do something to save the life of myhusband who was an officer, or my wife who was injured, or my child who was hurt?Why did you do nothing when you had the opportunity to stand up for the State ofTexas and for my safety? So, with a heavy heart for a lot of people, those who hide inthe shadows, those who come here across the border in fear, this is a bill that I cansupport because I feel I have an obligation to our state, our Constitution, and, quitefrankly, my fellow brothers and sisters, no matter what country they come from. Theyhave a right to come to this country in a safe manner, live safely, and live proudly. So,I support the bill, thank you.

President:iiThank you, Senator. Senator Ellis, for what purpose do you rise?

Senator Ellis:iiBriefly speak on the bill, Mr. President.

President:iiYou ’re recognized.Senator Ellis:iiI will be brief. I was listening to the debate today. I wasn ’t on the floorall of the day. I had a little minor surgery this morning, so you ’ll be glad to know it ’sgoing to be a brief speech before the painkillers kick in again. I think, Members, wehave learned a lot during the Regular Session and this Special Session on this subject.I think we ’ve learned to change our language a bit. I haven ’t heard people refer topeople who are in this country illegally as "aliens" as much as I used to hear it.Sometimes all of us may slip and do that, but that ’s not happening nearly as much. Ithink all of us have tried to ratchet up the level of this discussion, but we still got along ways to go. I think there are always unintended consequences of any legislationthat passes out of any body, any body that passes laws. A major unintendedconsequence out of this legislation, I think, is going to be, Senator Patrick, it ’s notgoing to keep more people from coming into this country, and I don ’t think this bill asit is written and is going to pass is going to keep more people from being in theshadows. I think it ’ll be the reverse of that. I think it ’s going to be more people aregoing to go into the shadows. And we ’re going to have more instances where peopleare having to live on the margins because they will be so afraid of being detected.They ’re going to even work cheaper and take more abuses. I suspect the legislationwill be challenged in court, and we ’ll see what happens with that, but the biggest


consequence of this law, I think, is that instead of prodding the federal government togive us comprehensive immigration reform, this patchwork in the various states andjurisdictions really makes it more difficult to get there because a lot of the energy thatis being used on both sides of the political equation for these efforts in various stagesreally detracts from finding a consensus on the federal level. You take a decent humanbeing on this issue, Senator John McCain, he was for a reason to compromise beforehe ran for President, and then decided he had to be against it because he had to workhis base. I don ’t think bills like this move us toward that consensus. Hey, this is a bigstate, and it ’s a trendsetter, state with another governor who may end up running forPresident, state with a presiding officer who may well be one of those people makingthe decision on what happens on this issue in, on the federal level when it gets on theplate. I don ’t think this makes it easier. I think it makes it harder. Other point that Iwant to make to you, I heard a lot of references about Ellis Island tonight, and I thinkit ’s interesting for all of us to go back and get a little quick history lesson. Theancestors of everybody in this Chamber, not just the 32 of us who are elected to behere, ancestors of everybody in this Chamber probably came here as an illegalimmigrant unless they ’d been masquerading as something other than a NativeAmerican. You know history is written by she or he who writes it, and it ’s interesting,each year when we discuss and celebrate the independence of Texas, as an example,very rarely do we go back and look at just what the commitments Moses Austin hadto make to the Spanish government to get that decree for the empresarios to settle herein this land. And then, Leticia, what it took for Stephen F. Austin to move to Mexico,become very much accepted, very much a part of the society in Mexico, to get theland grant again that had expired because his father didn ’t use it. Now, one read ofhistory, not necessarily my read, but one read of history was that the Mexicangovernment, when they got their independence from Spain, among other things,declared slavery to be illegal, put it in the Constitution. And they said to theempresarios, you ’ve got to make a number of commitments, a lot of commitments.Three big commitments were, for people who advocate English-only might I add, theysaid, you ’ve got to learn Spanish, you ’ve got to speak Spanish, or you ’ve got to fakeit. At least when we show up, you ’ve got to at least decide, if you can ’t say hello,know how to say adios when we leave. They said, for people who are very much partof the religious right, you ’ve got to adopt our religion, their religion beingCatholicism. And the third one, a major one, was they said, you couldn ’t have slaves.Now most reasonable folks could fake a little Spanish. You could say, as difficult asthis land is, I don ’t think we ’re going to be going to church every Sunday. But thatissue of the slave trade was a major source of frustration. All of our ancestors camehere as immigrants. Some over 12 million crossed Ellis Island. The only reason thatname stands is probably because Ellis ’ancestors, probably not mine, I ’m not part ofthat family, probably came here as immigrants as well. I guess that ’s a good Scottishor a good Irish name. But initially, the Native Americans called that land, they calledit, I think, Gull Island because of the seagulls that were settling there. And then atsome point, they named it after whatever the tree was that they hung people from.And then when Sam Ellis got the land from the colonial powers, he was so slick, hetried to sell it. He was a real estate speculator, among other things, and that name EllisIsland stuck. Florence, over 12 million people crossed that little 3.5 acres of land,


which is now maybe somewhat in the neighborhood of 20 something. Some of thatlandfill from establishing the Port Authority of New York went over to expand thatisland so the tourist trap would go on today. I wanted to give you this little historylesson to just make a basic point. Immigrants have been the lifeblood of this land,whether they were White, whether they were Hispanic, whether they were, Royce,African slaves who came here, and pretty much built the great western empires thathave existed all this time. It ’s amazing what you can do with free labor. A lot ofpeople, I think, don ’t really want comprehensive immigration reform because theywant people living in the shadows. In a lot of ways it ’s a new form of slavery. Theywant people who work cheap. They want people that they can push around, and theycan ’t do anything about it. And them not willing to draw the line between what ispolitically right, but morally wrong. I don ’t question anybody ’s personal beliefs ordesires, regardless of how you vote for this bill tonight, but all of us who ’ve gotten tothis level in government, you know it ’s not just what ’s written on paper, it ’s how it isenforced. And our state has historically had an ignoble history when it comes todealing with issues of race and ethnicity. Only four majority-minority states in thecountry, first one was Hawaii, second was New Mexico, third ’s California, and thefourth one is Texas. And that, to me, is why passing this legislation in Texas is so bad.Our population is a reflection of what this great nation ’s population will be in thenot-too-distant future, and that, my friends, is why with all of the great things thatwere said tonight by previous speakers, starting with you, Dean, far better than I couldsay it. The emotion that I felt in Senator Zaffirini ’s voice, and Uresti ’s voice, SenatorHinojosa, I saw him on the news earlier tonight talking about his personal story ofbeing deported although he was in this country legally. It says to me that there onlyhave to be 16 votes to pass this bill, and I hope some of you will rethink your positionand decide when the roll is called, do you want to be on the wrong side of history.Thank you.


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