LOS ANGELES ( TNS )— I wonder what the people will look like.
You know, the ones that Texas police are supposed to issue and stop when they appear to be in the country illegally.
Senate Bill 4 was passed last year by Lone Star Republicans, making it illegal to enter Texas from Mexico and sentenced to up to six months in prison. Follow criminals may face 20 times. The state was even , attempt to arrest people to Mexico. Authorities have  , kept the laws in purgatory so much, but it’s still a looming threat.
Despite the fact that governor is not the governor’s responsibility, legislation governing multiculturalism and frontier problems is not the responsibility of the state. Greg Abbott has a realistic explanation for trying to take the federal government and strengthen protection: Border towns in his state , lack the resources , to practice the ancient volume of migrants seeking refuge.
Ponder this: San Antonio has processed more than 600, 000 workers since 2021. It is 150 miles from Eagle Pass, the border city where Abbott sent the National Guard and, in addition, erected jagged line in the Rio Grande. For San Antonio, the next- largest town in Texas, the issue is an issue. For Eagle Pass — a community of fewer than 30, 000 that sits 2, 000 foot from Mexico— it is , the , problem.
But SB 4 is not a option. Because Texas ca n’t respond to questions at the heart of this bill.
The Lone Star State is among , our most diverse in terms of race and ethnicity. It is second in religious variety, fifth in cultural diversity and eighth in economic diversity, according to , one analysis of U. S. Census data. So what does a Texan actually look like? Discuss like? How are police officers supposed to determine who is and is n’t authorized to be in Texas?
Hurricane Katrina forced some 250, 000 residents to , Houston, and more than 100, 000 New Orleanians , stayed. The , fastest- growing city in the nation during the pandemic , was San Antonio. Texas is household to , the fourth- largest Eastern American population in America.
And SB 4’s idea is that law enforcement will issue, question, and possibly even make arrests for people they believe have crossed the southern border illegally.
But once I ask: What will the persons look like?
Because the facts of the census show that the two states are essentially the same in terms of diversity despite the rash of” Do n’t California my Texas” bumper stickers I’ve seen around the state. Trying to determine a person’s identity from Dallas based on appearance is similar to trying to determine the exact person in Los Angeles. And we hold the belief that local law enforcement can maintain SB 4 without being bigoted with proper training.
Six light former police officials in Mississippi were , only sentenced , for torturing two Black men in January 2023. No 1963 but 2023. The final punishment for officials connected to , George Floyd’s 2020 suicide had not happened already  , when Mississippi’s “goon club” beat, abused and sexually assaulted the two Black men.
James Baldwin , questioned in 1968 , why a Black male do have faith in” some ideology which you maintain me exists in America which I have never seen”. Why would anyone today believe that the absurd laws of Texas would be upheld pretty?
In the event of a conviction, state courts may be required to get workers to return to Mexico. Of course, not everyone who is in the U. S. fraudulently is from Mexico. If the immigrant returns freely, the judge will drop the charges, which would mean that the bill’s authors believe needy people who risked their lives would rather return than to our slow-moving, defunct justice system.
What a sad idea. Either Texas’s politicians think our criminal justice system is worse than it is or they are ignorant of the hungry poverty and violence that are causing people to flee Latin America. In any case, SB 4’s reasoning is detached from reality.
Here’s the truth: The emigration system is broken. Migration is a problems. Not only is it racist and illegal to demand from Texas officials that they enforce SB 4 pretty on the streets or to Texas judges how to apply it in court. It’s even difficult.
( LZ Granderson is a Los Angeles Times op-ed columnist. )
