“Law-abiding” citizens with criminal immunity could be deputized to stop migrants at the Texas-Mexico border under HB 20
In case you missed it, Texas Public Radio’s daily call-in show The Source spoke with Texas Civil Rights Project (TCRP) and the Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC) on Monday about the new HB 20 bill in the Texas Legislature that would create a totallly new border security force.
From the Texas Public Radio episode page:
According to Human Rights Watch which testified against the bill, HB 20 would allow the administration to deputize any “law-abiding” citizen to serve in the unit. And people serving in the unit would be granted criminal and civil immunity against claims of wrongdoing.
Critics of the proposal say it would create an anti-migrant vigilante militia who would terrorize the border region including citizens and legal residents who might appear to be from Mexico.
Listen to the entire HB20 episode on The Source show page here: Does Texas need an anti-migrant border militia?
TCRP retweeted a portion of a Texas legislature session this week where Alexis Bay, Legislative Coordinator for the Beyond Borders program at TCRP and one of the guests on the episode, discusses the potential problems with a citizen militia that could set up check points anywhere in Texas at any time.
Watch the discussion below:
You can track the status of HB 20 on the Texas Legislature website here: HB20 Bill Stages