Court’s Decision to Let Anti-Latino SB4 Stand Will Subject Millions of Texans to Racial Profiling

WASHINGTON, DC—Today UnidosUS (formerly NCLR) Deputy Vice President Clarissa Martinez De Castro issued the following statement in response to the March 13 decision from a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit overturning most of a preliminary injunction barring implementation of Texas anti-immigrant law SB4:

“This detestable law is a deliberate attempt to terrorize the Latino community and turn decent, hard-working people into targets of racial profiling. Today’s ruling is disappointing, as it renews civil rights concerns for millions of Texans, half of whom are Latinos, and who will essentially be treated as suspects in their own communities. SB4 also attempts to strong arm local authorities into carrying out the Trump administration’s extremist and anti-immigrant agenda.

“Despite the court finding that certain pieces of the Texas law are illegal and not mandatory, the ruling raises more questions than answers, and concerns abound about the practical day-to-day implications of a measure that empowers police officers to treat Latinos like second-class citizens, detain them on suspicion of being undocumented and question their immigration status for no other reason than how they look. By eroding the community’s trust in law enforcement, this law carelessly endangers public safety and sensible efforts to combat crime. As the largest Latino civil rights and advocacy group in the United States, we strongly condemn this law as bigotry and an affront to American values, and vow to fight for its repeal.”