If passed, House Bill 1554 and Senate Bill 1005 would endanger children, separate families, and lead to violations of the right to due process by prohibiting public funding for legal services in immigration matters for people who are considered “unlawfully present.”
H.B. 1554 and S.B. 1005 would shut down immigrant legal defense fund programs established by local counties, block city governments from giving funding to nonprofits that provide deportation defense, and prohibit law schools at public universities from operating legal clinics that train future attorneys in immigration law. These programs help keep families together and protect due process by ensuring fair proceedings in which immigrants’ rights are respected.
S.B. 1005 is currently being considered by the Texas Senate Committee on State Affairs. Meanwhile, the Texas House Committee on State Affairs held a public hearing on H.B. 1554 on April 18 and that bill could now be scheduled for a vote on the House floor at any time. Please use the tool below to contact your state legislators now! Urge them to protect Texas children and families and defend the right to due process for everyone by voting against H.B. 1554 and S.B. 1005.
You can read the written testimony Children’s Defense Fund-Texas submitted to the House Committee on State Affairs in opposition to H.B. 1554 below:
Chairman King, Vice Chairwoman Hernandez, and honorable Members of the Committee, my name is Trudy Taylor Smith, and I am the senior administrator of Policy and Advocacy for Children’s Defense Fund-Texas (CDF-TX). We are a nonprofit advocacy organization dedicated to building community so young people grow up with dignity, hope, and joy.
CDF-TX opposes House Bill 1554 because it would endanger children, separate families, and lead to violations of the right to due process. By prohibiting public funding for legal services in immigration matters for people who are considered “unlawfully present,” this bill would shut down immigrant legal defense fund programs established by local counties, block city governments from giving funding to nonprofits that provide deportation defense, and prohibit law schools at public universities from operating legal clinics that train future attorneys in immigration law. These programs help keep families together and protect due process by ensuring fair proceedings in which immigrants’ rights are respected.
For individuals facing deportation, the right to continue working, studying, and living life alongside their family, friends, and neighbors in the community they call home is at stake. In many cases, a person’s right to physical safety is also at stake because of dangerous circumstances in their country of origin. Many of these individuals are unable to afford a lawyer, so publicly funded programs provide their only opportunity to access legal services.
When individuals are unable to access a lawyer to help them understand their rights, present evidence, and submit applications for relief, the fairness of immigration proceedings is undermined and immigrants are often deported without an opportunity to assert their rights to remain in the United States lawfully.
More than one million U.S. citizen children in Texas live with at least one undocumented family member.1 Should these children be separated from their parents or other family members through deportations, that trauma will ripple through every area of their lives and reverberate through future generations of their families. Research shows that family separation causes irreparable psychological harm that compromises children’s lifelong ability to thrive psychologically, socially, and economically.2
An estimated 107,000 undocumented children under 16 who call our state home.3 By reducing access to legal counsel, H.B. 1554 would heighten the risk of deportation for these children, even in circumstances where they are legally entitled to remain in the U.S. because of neglect, abuse, trafficking, or dangerous circumstances in their home countries.
Families belong together, and everyone deserves due process—especially when family unity or physical safety is on the line. Therefore, we urge you to protect Texas children and families and defend due process for everyone by voting against H.B. 1554.
Author
Trudy Taylor Smith, Esq.
Senior Administrator of Policy and Advocacy