Immigrant Bashing for Votes and Bad Policy

 Florida under Gov. Ron DeSantis is showing Texas what happens when a state passes draconian immigration laws. Undocumented immigrants flee the state which then shuts down construction businesses and leaves unpicked crops in the fields. Republicans in Florida are getting mad at DeSantis for wrecking their businesses while he grandstands on his harsh immigration policies while campaigning for the Republican presidential nomination in states like Iowa.

Gov. Greg Abbott just signed S.B. 4 last week which is similarly harsh regarding undocumented immigrants sending them to jail or deporting them quickly. In a few months there will be crops that need tending, homes that need building, and repairs that need doing but not enough people to do them here in Texas just like Florida today. Of course if Texas Republicans could remember as far back as 2011 they’d know this all played out before in Georgia and Alabama leaving millions of dollars in crops rotting in fields.

Florida has a 2.8% unemployment rate, which is more than 25% lower than the 3.9% national rate, so the argument that immigrants steal jobs from citizens is easily discredited. In fact there are only 53 people looking for work for every 100 job openings in Florida. Now the Republican controlled Florida legislature is considering solving the “problem” by loosening child labor laws to allow 16 and 17 year olds to work overnight during the school year. Such regulations were originally put in place to prevent work from interfering with children’s health, safety, and education. This isn’t about doing something positive for children it’s about bailing out the legislature from its own bad policy and giving benefits to corporations. From their point of view Republicans probably think high-schoolers that work too much and end up not finishing their education are a gold mine of future voters as the lower a voter’s educational attainment the less likely they are to vote for Democrats.

20 years ago Democrats and Republicans shared similar views in that they equally believed that immigrants strengthened the country. Today that’s no longer true as Republicans candidates and media talking heads have found a receptive audience for immigrant bashing. Donald Trump’s first presidential campaign and presidency raised such bashing to new heights all while Republican legislators have fought any form of comprehensive immigration reform. Today Republicans are using the desire of President Biden to continue supporting Ukraine in protecting its borders and citizens against the Russian invasion as leverage to push further harsh measures on immigrants and asylum-seekers.

Strangely we have blowhards like Senator Ted Cruz raising a ruckus about supposed open borders under Biden, a claim that is patently untrue, but which is getting media attention in Central and South American countries thereby encouraging migrants to rush to our southern border. Cruz and his Republican colleagues are actually a major cause of the very “crisis” they’re so loudly complaining about.

Then you have Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY) whose mother was a Cuban refugee who fled the island nation in 1959 when Fidel Castro took power. When Malliotakis campaigned to represent the 11th District of New York in 2022 her rhetoric consisted of attacking asylum-seekers. That's more than a little hypocritical coming from the direct offspring of someone who came here seeking political asylum.

Democrats have repeatedly tried to pass comprehensive immigration reform that is both fair and effective but their colleagues across the aisle refuse to cooperate. If Republicans really wanted to address immigration they’ve had plenty of opportunities but have chosen not to because they prefer to use it as a hammer when campaigning and fund-raising.

Published in the Seguin Gazette December 27, 2023

Proof Republicans Lack Moral Courage

It’s astonishing to me that contrary to what Republican legislators like Senator Bryan Hughes says about his 2021 anti-abortion bill SB8, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is dead set on proving that claims that Republican passed anti-abortion laws apply even when a woman’s life, health, and future ability to have a child is at risk.

This latest episode started with Kate Cox, a 31 year old Dallas mother of two, who was delighted to learn she was pregnant with her third child then months later learned that the fetus suffers a lethal anomaly which could cause it to be born only to die within hours at best and at worst die in her uterus and a cause fatal infection that even if treated could cause to be unable to ever have another child at worst. She wants to terminate her pregnancy and while Sen. Hughes and others claim the law allows that doctors and hospitals and their lawyers say that’s not what the law says. A Travis County district judge granted a temporary restraining order allowing Mrs. Cox to terminate her nonviable pregnancy.

A.G. Paxton then sent a letter to three hospitals, threatening legal action if they allowed the abortion to be performed at their facility. Next Paxton asked the Texas Supreme Court to intervene and they have issued a stay on the temporary restraining order, meaning the existing law remains in effect so no abortion for Mrs. Cox, she’ll just have to suffer the consequences of Republican over-zealousness.

Some months ago Hughes wrote a letter to the Texas Medical Board asking for an investigation into "disturbing allegations" that patients with serious pregnancy complications were being sent home from the hospital without care. Hughes wrote "Pregnancy complications such as these should be swiftly and reasonably treated to prevent or address a medical emergency determined by the physician," asking the Texas Medical Board to issue guidance on the issue.

Paxton is the state’s lawyer and he believes that there are no conditions under which terminating a pregnancy is not a violation of Texas law. This is the same Ken Paxton who has been impeached for accepting bribes and other crimes in order to cover up his adultery and provide his mistress with a job and home in Austin. Paxton has also been indicted for violations of federal securities laws.

About half the population of Guadalupe County is represented in the Texas Senate by Dr. Donna Campbell who talks about her career as an emergency room physician and her anti-abortion stance whenever she campaigns. You’d think that a physician, a career that most of us associate with extreme compassion, would be the first to recognize that sometimes terminating a pregnancy is medically necessary. Campbell has not once made an effort to amend the state’s anti-abortion legislation to make it possible to address the complexities of pregnancy that she must know full well exists. Of course, she’s also among the majority of Senate Republicans that voted to acquit Ken Paxton in his impeachment trial even after Paxton’s former chief assistant described his efforts to encourage Paxton to step back from his dishonorable actions and dismay at having to resign and report Paxton’s behavior.

There’s a reason that maternal mortality dropped over much of the last century but has been going back up here in Texas for the last few decades. How many women will have to die, how many will have to lose their ability to have children before these Republicans who lack empathy are forced to back off even a little on their zealous application of narrow-minded law?

Published in the Seguin Gazette - December 13, 2023