Texas Governor Is Poised to Sign Immigration Bill, Raising Risks for Undocumented Students

Campus police officers across Texas would have unfettered authority to check the immigration status of students who have been detained for minor violations such as rolling through a red light or drinking under age, under legislation the governor is expected to sign any day.

Senate Bill 4 landed Wednesday on the desk of Gov. Greg Abbott, who has indicated that he is eager to sign it into law.

The Texas sanctuary city ban wins final legislative approval. I’m getting my signing pen warmed up. #txlege #tcot https://t.co/OHmspC5Zhz

— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) May 4, 2017

It would ensure that police officers, including those at both public and private colleges, have the authority to question a person’s immigration status when detaining someone, even if that detention doesn’t lead to an arrest.

It takes direct aim at colleges that attempt to shield undocumented students from deportation.

Colleges that pass policies prohibiting police officers from checking someone’s papers could be fined up to $25,500 a day.

The bill’s supporters say it’s needed to keep communities safe and to reduce illegal immigration. It was passed after more than 16 hours of emotional testimony from immigrant-rights groups and other critics who say it will result in racial profiling.

Which one of these was posted in TX before #txlege passed a “show me your papers” bill? #SB4isHate pic.twitter.com/OsUX1uio3F

— Rafael Anchia (@RafaelAnchia) April 29, 2017

The bill has been compared to Arizona’s controversial Senate Bill 1070, which critics referred to as its “show me your papers” law. The Arizona law was partially struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2012.

Although the term “sanctuary” isn’t in the Texas bill, the legislation is clearly a response to efforts by some campuses and cities to protect undocumented people from deportation.

Texas is one of at least seven states where Republican lawmakers have pushed legislation that would require colleges to cooperate with immigration authorities.

If the Texas bill becomes law, legal challenges are almost certain. Last month a federal judge blocked the Trump administration from enforcing a threat to strip funds from so-called sanctuary cities, and in Texas, opponents are already lining up to challenge Senate Bill 4.

Moravia de la O, a graduate student in social work and Latin American studies at the University of Texas at Austin, was among 24 people arrested on Monday for criminal trespassing during an all-day sit-in at a state office building.

“Racial profiling is already pretty rampant, and I worry this will just add to that feeling of being unwelcome,” said Ms. de la O, who came to the United States from Mexico when she was 10 but is an American citizen.

A trustee for Austin Community College, Julie Ann Nitsch, told reporters she joined in the protest because if the bill becomes law, “some immigrants won’t come to school because they are afraid.”

Those would include students who received two-year reprieves from deportation under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA, which was approved by then-President Barack Obama.

‘So Clearly Unnecessary’

The more than 750,000 “Dreamers” who were brought to the United States illegally when they were children (or whose parents overstayed their visas) are not the criminals the Trump administration says it wants to focus on, said Michael A. Olivas, a professor who teaches immigration law and higher-education law at the University of Houston.

They are, he said, among the nation’s most law-abiding citizens, but many already live in fear that they or their family members will be deported.

He said he doesn’t understand why Texas lawmakers “would focus on something that is so clearly unnecessary and so divisive and will only give rise to restrictionists who will start calling out people who they think are not in status.”

The law, he said, could create situations where someone turns in a fellow student who talks in class about being undocumented or who simply talks with an accent.

“We need to quit piling on these kids, making them both the heroes of the revolution and the enemies of the state,” said Mr. Olivas, who just ended his term as president of the University of Houston-Downtown.

“All they want to do is keep their heads down, get their degrees,” and get jobs while hoping that comprehensive immigration reform will provide relief down the road.

Marisa Bono, Southwest regional counsel for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said there is a lot of uncertainty about how the law would be applied.

But the way she reads it, campus police officers responding to a minor complaint such as a noise violation could show up at a party and ask everyone to stay while they investigate.

“Technically, everyone in that room is being lawfully detained,” she said, and could be asked for their papers. “This will incentivize racial profiling,” said Ms. Bono. “If there’s a bad-apple campus police officer, he now has a new pretext to stop students based on the way they look or sound.”

College officials could also run into conflicting legal obligations, Ms. Bono believes, if immigration officials contact them seeking information about an enrolled student and that information is protected by federal privacy rules.

Matthew Dowling, the chief of staff for the bill’s Republican author, Sen. Charles Perry, said campus police are already authorized to ask about a student’s immigration status if he or she is “lawfully detained.” What the bill would do is prevent a college from advising police officers to leave immigration checks up to federal authorities.

Students couldn’t be detained just for the purpose of checking their immigration status, Mr. Dowling added. The person has to be involved in a suspected criminal act, which he conceded could include relatively minor offenses like traffic violations.

“Unfortunately, college campuses are not immune to criminal activity, and we want to be sure officers have the tools they need to enforce the law,” he said.

Tying Colleges’ Hands

Denise Gilman, a clinical professor of law at the University of Texas at Austin and director of the law school’s immigration clinic, described a scenario that she fears could happen more often under Senate Bill 4.

In 2009 a campus police officer pulled over a student, Raul Zamora, for a broken tail light and, instead of issuing a citation, took him to jail. Mr. Zamora, who was undocumented and had an outstanding warrant for another traffic violation, had pleaded with the officer not to do that because he might be deported.

Once he was taken to the jail, immigration authorities picked him and up and transferred him to a South Texas detention center for deportation. He successfully fought deportation with the help of the law school’s immigration clinic.

Colleges that try to protect students from getting deported over minor offenses may soon find their hands are tied, Ms. Gilman said.

If Senate Bill 4 is signed into law, she said, it would appear that the university could face financial penalties if it advised the campus police to avoid taking students to jail for minor offenses. “It kind of pulls the rug out from underneath university decisions about how best to provide a safe learning environment for their students,” Ms. Gilman said.

Tony Diaz, who teaches Mexican-American studies at Lone Star College’s North Harris Campus, has organized faculty protests against the bill. Mr. Diaz, who emphasized that his views do not necessarily represent those of his college, said he resents the idea that colleges might be called on to help immigration officials track down an undocumented student who has committed a crime. The chances are slim, he said, that the “bad hombres” whom President Trump vowed to target are in his class.

“I find it hard to believe that hardened criminals are robbing a bank one day and in a class the next day doing a literary analysis,” he said. “If the Border Patrol is not catching them at the border are we supposed to call on the professor? Are we the last line of defense?”

He imagined a scenario in which campus police officers knocked on his classroom door seeking someone immigration officials needed help nabbing.

“Here I am teaching a poem about a mom starting to learn English to help her kids, and the campus police show up looking for a student,” Mr. Diaz said.

“What if I don’t answer? Will I pick up the paper the next day and see a headline about the professor who was harboring an illegal immigrant?”

Katherine Mangan writes about community colleges, completion efforts, and job training, as well as other topics in daily news. Follow her on Twitter @KatherineMangan, or email her at katherine.mangan@chronicle.com.