OMG, how excited are Texas Republicans to file their own Arizona-style immigration reform? You’d think this was the line for Justin Bieber tickets . . . NOT. . . Saturday afternoon, State Rep. Debbie Riddle pitched a make-shift campsite outside the floor of the Texas House of Representatives to make sure she was the first in line when the chief clerk’s office opened for early filing Tueday morning, spending Saturday and Sunday night sleeping on the lobby floor.
Instead of the much coveted Justin Bieber ticket, all Representative Riddle got was HB 17, (lower bill numbers are reserved for such mundane items like the budget) which is similar to Arizona’s SB 1070 and would allow police to check the immigration status of anyone they pull over for a traffic stop. Another early filing bill requires parents of public school children to provide proof of citizenship and/or immigration status, which would then be relayed to the state, as part of an effort to “identify and analyze any impact on the standard or quality of education” from illegal immigration. Yet another bill seeks to crack down on “sanctuary cities.”
Riddle, who made a name for herself as the spokesperson for the “terror baby” menace, also introduced two other bills (one that would increase the penalty for driving without a license, and one requiring valid ID in order to vote) whose intent seems to be to take on immmigration indirectly.
After a landslide election (the GOP gained 44 seats in the Texas house) and with the base so fired up that its leaders are literally squatting on the floors of the legislature, we can expect this to be an interesting session.
