<\/p>\n
On Memorial Day the Texas legislature conducted ceremonial proceedings, concluding its current legislative session. Those proceedings were interrupted by protesters<\/a> angry over the passage of SB-4, Texas\u2019s new \u201canti-sanctuary\u201d law. SB-4<\/a>, requires Lone Star State police chiefs and sheriffs to cooperate with requests to hold criminal aliens in custody, for arrest by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Critics<\/a> charge that the bill will lead to \u201cracial profiling\u201d and \u201ccivil rights\u201d violations.<\/p>\n The protesters, many of whom wore red tee shirts<\/a> that read \u201clucha\u201d (\u201cfight back\u201d in Spanish) and carried signs reading \u201cI am illegal and here to stay<\/a>,\u201d eventually became unruly. In response, Representative Matt Rinaldi took the eminently reasonable step of calling ICE. Apparently, this touched off a scuffle on the floor of the legislature.<\/p>\n The media response has been predictably biased. Most mainstream media outlets have implied that Rep. Rinaldi committed some unpardonable sin. Coverage of the incident by The Daily Beast<\/em><\/a> is typical. In a piece titled, \u201cReport: Texas Republican Called ICE on Protesters,\u201d it quotes Democrat Representative Ramon Romero, Jr. who said of Rinaldi, \u201c\u201cHe saw a bunch of people who look Latino, and he assumed they\u2019re undocumented. So how can he say SB 4 won\u2019t lead to racial profiling?\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s not abundantly clear how Representative Romero could have said that with a straight face (although, the anti-borders lobby is not noted for being logical). It seems fairly clear that Representative Rinaldi, when confronted with a group of people overtly declaring their illegal alien status, simply took them at their word. Therefore, it\u2019s beyond absurd to claim that Rinaldi\u2019s motivations were racist.<\/p>\n Of course, what the mainstream media, Representative Romero, and the anti-borders lobby don\u2019t seem to understand is that most Americans don\u2019t see immigration as a \u201cracial\u201d issue; they see it as a rule of law<\/a> issue. And, when they see illegal activity posing a threat to their communities, they expect their law enforcement dollars to be spent resolving the situation.<\/p>\n If a group of self-admitted burglars had been protesting harsher penalties for theft, the whole world would have wondered why no one simply had them arrested. So the thought foremost in the minds of most Americans reading about the dustup on the floor of the Texas House of Representatives was probably, \u201cHallelujah, Representative Rinaldi! What took you so long?\u201d Now, if only ICE had answered the call and actually showed up.