Donald Trump

Court Says People ‘Harboring' Immigrants Shouldn't Fear Law

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday said there was no "credible threat of prosecution"

Texas landlords and humanitarian workers who rent rooms or help immigrants in the U.S. illegally should not fear prosecution under a "harboring" provision that was part of a 2015 state border security measure, a federal appeals court said Thursday. 

The decision prompted an unusual celebration from both Texas Republican lawmakers — who say they were never going after landlords and shelters in the first place — and a civil rights group that worried the law could sweep up people other than human smugglers and kidnappers.

The disputed portion of the law expanded smuggling to include someone who prompts a person to remain in the U.S. in violation of federal law by "concealing, harboring, or shielding that person from detection." A federal judge last year blocked Texas from enforcing the provision after some landlords and immigrant shelters sued over fears that the wording potentially left them criminally liable.

But the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday said there was no "credible threat of prosecution" and threw out the case. The Mexican American Legal Defense Fund called it reassurance that their clients wouldn't be targeted, while Republicans called the dismissal proof that the lawsuit was frivolous. 

"I see it as a confirmation as what a joke their lawsuit was from day one. Their clients were never a target of the law," said Republican state Rep. Dennis Bonnen, who authored the bill known as HB11.

That bill is best known for deploying hundreds of additional state troopers, a new spy plane and extra prosecution units to the Texas-Mexico border. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott defended the $800 million price tag by saying that Texas had to act in the face of insufficient border security and immigration patrols by the President Barack Obama's administration.

But despite Republican President Donald Trump's promises to build a wall along the entire 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border, Abbott and other GOP leaders say they're not necessarily prepared yet to decrease border security spending. That's even though Texas lawmakers now face a state budget crunch because of a prolonged oil slump.

The "harboring" provision was the most hotly disputed portion of the bill in 2015. Critics say the lawsuit could have been avoided if Texas Republicans had narrowed the language or done away with it entirely, calling the anti-smuggling provision redundant anyway under federal immigration law. Bonnen disputed that, saying the Texas law captures individual offenders that federal agents won't pursue.

"It seemed that Texas was trying to go after folks that were immigrants," said Nina Perales, an attorney for the Mexican American fund. "It really left our clients exposed."

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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