Bill Text: TX HCR19 | 2021-2022 | 87th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Urging Congress to abolish U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2021-03-11 - Referred to State Affairs [HCR19 Detail]
Download: Texas-2021-HCR19-Introduced.html
87R6392 BHH-D | ||
By: Reynolds | H.C.R. No. 19 |
|
||
WHEREAS, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has | ||
strayed far from its original mission, gaining a disturbing | ||
reputation as a mass-deportation strike force incompatible with | ||
democracy and human rights; and | ||
WHEREAS, In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks against our | ||
nation, ICE was established to promote national security by | ||
preventing "acts of terrorism by targeting the people, money, and | ||
materials that support terrorist and criminal activities"; the | ||
agency grew wildly in subsequent years, losing its focus as its | ||
budget ballooned with multimillion dollar contracts for private | ||
companies backed by swarms of lobbyists; and | ||
WHEREAS, Today, some 8,000 ICE agents are tasked with | ||
locating, arresting, detaining, and removing undocumented | ||
immigrants; only about 6,000 are involved in tracking the | ||
terrorists and transnational crime syndicates that present a grave | ||
peril to the nation and its people; these agents in ICE's Homeland | ||
Security Investigations division combat money laundering, drug | ||
trafficking, human smuggling, child exploitation, and cybercrimes; | ||
in counter-proliferation operations, they target individuals | ||
attempting to smuggle military and high-tech equipment out of the | ||
country; HSI has also been involved in such complex, high-profile | ||
cases as the takedown of the nefarious Silk Road website and the | ||
arrest and capture of Sinaloa cartel leader Joaquín "El Chapo" | ||
Guzmán Loera; and | ||
WHEREAS, In June 2018, 19 special agents in charge of | ||
regional HSI offices submitted a letter to the secretary of | ||
Homeland Security requesting that their division be spun off from | ||
ICE, stating that their work has been undermined by ICE's | ||
controversial detention and deportation policies; they cited a | ||
breakdown in partnerships with local law enforcement officials, who | ||
question the independence of their agency in light of aggressive | ||
measures against immigration; such actions include targeting | ||
families at churches and schools, conducting massive raids, | ||
arresting undocumented workers for minor offenses, and breaking up | ||
families by sending longtime U.S. residents to countries they | ||
hardly know; and | ||
WHEREAS, While resources are directed away from agents | ||
dedicated to national security, ICE exercises increased | ||
surveillance of communities of color and immigrant communities; | ||
moreover, its draconian detention policies have filled the coffers | ||
of companies that run for-profit facilities with a long, troubling | ||
history of lax oversight, unsafe conditions, and grotesque | ||
mistreatment, as documented by the DHS Office of Inspector General; | ||
in the 2019 fiscal year alone, ICE detained more than 510,000 | ||
immigrants, 81 percent of whom were held in such private | ||
facilities, costing taxpayers millions of dollars; and | ||
WHEREAS, Before the creation of ICE, immigration violations | ||
were handled by the Immigration and Naturalization Service, which | ||
was part of the Department of Justice and worked closely with the | ||
Department of Labor; the inclusion of these functions under ICE has | ||
led to the deprioritization of transnational crime fighting while | ||
framing immigration, historically an engine of economic | ||
development and societal enrichment, as a national security threat; | ||
ICE has become a bloated agency tainted by controversy and largely | ||
unmoored from its original purpose, and the responsible path | ||
forward is to transfer its critical national security functions and | ||
develop a more humane and effective immigration system that | ||
complies with constitutional protections, domestic law, and | ||
binding international treaties; now, therefore, be it | ||
RESOLVED, That the 87th Legislature of the State of Texas | ||
hereby respectfully urge the United States Congress to abolish U.S. | ||
Immigration and Customs Enforcement; and, be it further | ||
RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official | ||
copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to | ||
the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of | ||
Representatives of the United States Congress, and to all the | ||
members of the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that | ||
this resolution be entered in the Congressional Record as a | ||
memorial to the Congress of the United States of America. |