During a press conference on Monday, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner (D) told his city’s immigrant population that they shouldn’t be afraid of deportation when they get the help they need during Hurricane Harvey.
“There is absolutely no reason why anyone should not call [for help]. And I and others will be the first ones to stand up with you,” Turner, an attorney, said, according to a Texas Tribune transcription. “If someone comes and they require help and then for some reason [someone] tries to deport them, I will represent them myself.”
The mayor’s answer came in response to a question about Senate Bill 4, a state law that requires local law enforcement officials to ask people for their immigration status during an arrest or lawful detention, the Texas Tribune pointed out. The state law, which Gov. Greg Abbott (R) signed in May and goes into effect on Friday, would also require local law enforcement to hold suspected undocumented immigrants on behalf of federal immigration enforcement officials for deportation proceedings.
SB4 has made immigrants worried that there may be more law enforcement officials ramping up incidents of racial profiling and detentions. But Turner again sought to reassure immigrants during rescue efforts.
“I don’t care who you are, I don’t care what your status is. I do not want you to run the risk of losing your life or [that of] a family member because you’re concerned about SB 4 or anything else,” Turner said.
Texas has a population of 1.65 million undocumented immigrants, nearly one-third of whom live in the Houston-Woodlands-Sugar Land area.
Turner’s message comes after the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agencies released a joint statement saying that they would not conduct immigration checks at evacuation centers, shelters or food banks, and that they would prioritize “life-saving and life-sustaining activities.” But the statement failed to mention they would not have immigration checkpoints, ostensibly set up to stop drivers suspected of being drug traffickers but also used to determine immigration status. Those checkpoints were something CBP had earlier said they would keep open.
The hurricane, which was downgraded to a tropical storm on Saturday, made landfall in southeast Texas and has unleashed widespread destruction and loss of life and property. The storm has especially damaged low-lying regions across new developments built on prairie lands that traditionally absorbed excess rainwater, where poor communities of color are most likely to live.