Texas SB4

Unite Immigrant Families™

Hi, and welcome back to United Immigrant Families. My name is Rosemary Vega, and I'm an immigration attorney in Houston, Texas. Thank you for listening to the podcast. And today I want to talk about Texas, a fairly new Texas law called SB4. So Texas passed this legislation in November of 2023, and it was supposed to go into effect on March 5th of this year, 2024.

However, this legislation has been, um, in the courts. because the ACLU and other lawyers, other organizations have been, um, filing lawsuits claiming that it is unconstitutional. And let's talk about the law and why Many believe that it is unconstitutional. Okay. So what is SB4? SB4 is a law that states that if a law, a police officer, law enforcement officer has probable cause, if they're, they have a reason to stop you, anyone, right?

Then they can ask your immigration status. Texas is claiming that the federal government isn't doing their, their job as far as immigration is concerned. So they're going to do it at least in the state of Texas.

And, you know, many citizens Should know this because it goes back to, you know, many of my clients, when they do their natural exam, we go through the questions and one of the questions is some, some rights and some duties are for the federal government and some is for the state government. And some are for, and one, one of the rights and duties and laws for the federal government is the immigration laws, right?

And that's for the federal government to handle. Okay. So here we go. And that's why the many lawyers are arguing that it is not, this law is unconstitutional. So it's held up in the courts, and that's the basics of it. It's much more complicated than that. I'm trying to simplify it here for for our podcasters and our listeners, but it's much more complicated than that.

Okay. Um, but that's the gist of it. And so, as before, is basically saying If a police officer arrests, stops you for speeding, stops you for, for any reason, right? Speeding, running a red light, running a stop sign, they could ask you your immigration status. However, this is where it gets interesting. Instead of sending you to immigration, they would have a Texas judge determine whether you you're, you're able to stay in the United States. That's where it gets interesting. That's where the issue really lies. So you're going to go through a Texas magistrate, Texas judge, who is going to determine, is this person, you know, able to stay. And are you going to say, Oh, yeah, just I want to be deported.

And then that judge is going to deport you to the United from the United States. Does that judge actually have that authority?

Then you, or you say, no, absolutely not. I'm not going to have, I want to fight my case, which most immigration attorneys would definitely recommend that you fight always. Um, And so you don't agree to any type of removal, don't agree to be deported. So you're going to, to fight this and it's going to be stuck in, you're going to be stuck in fighting, fighting, fighting these cases.

And so right now this law is put on hold because they're, they're arguing this. in the courts. And the Supreme Court, the Supreme Court had said, okay, we're, we don't, it's not ready for us to hear because the lower court needs to hear it first. So right now, the, this circuit is hearing the arguments and they're making those decisions right now.

Eventually, the Supreme Court is going to hear this case. This, the Supreme Court eventually will hear the case and we'll see what happens. But that is where it lies. Okay. So I know there's lots of questions because I've been going out into the community and hearing a lot of the questions that are being asked within the community.

And these are some of the questions that I hear readily. What if I don't have a driver's license and a police officer stops me? So you definitely, definitely need to identify yourself. That is a crime if you do not. So you have to identify yourself. Okay. It's very important. You have to give your full name, your truthful and full name, correct name, your full legal correct name.

Let's be clear on that. So that's very important. Your date of birth. If you have ID, you need to provide identification. Okay. It I do believe that is important. Um, so that that is, that is very important. Um, so right. And then a lot of questions are, you know, will this law go into effect? You know, that is a good question.

And I don't know, I am hopeful that the fifth circuit and the Supreme court. are going to find that it is unconstitutional because the immigration laws is for the federal government. It always has been. There's case law after case law after case law that has always said, this is the way it is. This is the law.

This is a job for the federal government. This is for security reasons. The federal government determines how people come in, who they want to let stay in. This is, these are the laws for the federal government to determine. So I, and that's why we have immigration courts. That's why we have immigration judges.

That's why we have immigration laws. So I, I'm hopeful that that's going to stand, you know, that that is, they're going to, they're going to keep it that way. And they're going to find that, that it is unconstitutional, but we don't know what's going to happen. I don't have a crystal wall to say that's definitely going to happen.

I don't know that. So I'm hopeful, but we're not, we're not a hundred percent certain at this point. So that is very, very important.

Another question that we, uh, that I get asked a lot is what if we're walking down the street and an officer asked me for my I. D. Okay, they may be wondering why you're, are you loitering in an area that you shouldn't be. So identify yourself. If they ask you to identify yourself, you definitely have to identify yourself because it is a crime not to identify yourself.

If a law enforcement officer asks you for your ID, that's number one, you have to identify yourself. Okay. Very important. Um, make sure you don't have any. Any documents that don't belong to you on your person. That's really important. Um, you don't want to have any, any fraudulent documents on your person.

That's, that's a big no, no. And that's a crime. So I can't stress that enough. Do not have documents like that. You shouldn't have them on your person. You shouldn't have them at all. So that is, you shouldn't have them at all. Let's put it that way. Plain and simple. I also get asked a lot. What if I get picked up by ICE, by immigration, and my children are in school?

What's going to happen to them? So this happened a few years ago, and there is a document. It's I'm calling it like a power of attorney, but it's not really a power of attorney. It's something out of the family code and it's to, um, give kind of like a power of attorney to somebody who's not family, the power for them to get guardian.

You give them a power of attorney, a guardianship. in a sense for them to pick up your kids, for them to stay with your kids, to give them those rights for a short period of time. So that way they can act in your, they can, they can take care of your kids. And that way those kids don't end up in the state's custody.

And that's really important, right? And you want to make sure that the school has it. You have it. So that person that you're entrusting that person of confidence, they have it and you know, a family law attorney can help fill that out for you. Um, they're probably more aware of this than, than anybody. Um, maybe one of the nonprofits in the area would be able to fill that out for you.

And this is in Texas. Okay, this is really only in Texas. So I'm just talking about Texas in general today. Um, so that I really wanted to talk about SB4 and what's been happening with that. It's, it's a, it's going on right now. It's a strange situation. We're hoping that it doesn't go into effect, but it could, it could.

Um, but again, know your rights. You can, you can stay quiet. You have to identify yourself. You can have the right to remain silent after you identify yourself. You can record the, what happens. So if you're, if, if they stop you, you can record it. You have that right. They may not enjoy it. They may not be happy about it, but you have that right.

So just keep that in mind. You, you can just know the situation, be aware, always be respectful. Always, always, always be respectful. The same as you gain more with honey than you do with vinegar. Always be nice and respectful because you will gain more with that.

Don't be rude. Don't fight. It's okay to ask questions.

Just do it politely, but know your rights. You can always say, I want to talk to a lawyer. I want, I, I'm going to remain silent until I have a lawyer present. I don't, you know, so know your rights. If you're uncertain about what those rights are, there are many organizations in Texas around Texas who have these cards that they hand out and they have their, their red cards and they hand out with know your rights.

So be familiar and ask questions. Go ahead and talk to organizations in, in the, in the Houston area, in the Texas area, wherever you are in Texas and ask. It's okay. Don't be afraid to go to a nonprofit and ask questions. It's okay to go to your local church and ask. It's okay. Those are places where you should feel safe.

Feel safe to go to your local church, your local nonprofit, and ask the question, feel safe.

Thank you for listening, and if you have any questions you feel you can always ask me, um, you can, um, email me at Unite Immigrant [e-mail]. Thank you and remember, anything said on this podcast is not legal advice.