{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://casar.house.gov/media/press-releases/news-greg-casar-joaquin-castro-condemn-abbotts-latest-anti-immigrant-bills", "NEWS: Greg Casar, Joaquin Castro Condemn Abbott\u2019s Latest Anti-Immigrant Bills", "2023-11-15", "2023", "2023-11", "Democrat", "House", "TX", "Greg Casar", "C001131", "casar.house.gov", "casar", "https://casar.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2013 Today, Congressman Greg Casar (D-Texas) and Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) joined Texas House Representative and Chair of the Mexican American Legislative Caucus Victoria Neave Criado (HD-170) and state advocates to address the national implications of the dangerous and xenophobic legislation passed by the Texas State Legislature.\n\nSenate Bill 3 and SB4 will have disastrous consequences for immigrants and communities of color in Texas.\n\n\u201cGreg Abbott has really gone off the deep end with his anti-immigrant hysteria. Instead of working on public schools, or health care, or the economy, Abbott puts all his energy \u2014 and billions of dollars \u2014 into these extreme and unconstitutional anti-immigrant laws,\u201d said Congressman Greg Casar (TX-35). \u201cAbbott\u2019s law would tell police to stop working on solving crimes, and instead ask police to hunt down Texans who look like immigrants. It\u2019s unacceptable. I, along with some of my colleagues in Congress, will ask the Biden Administration to intervene and block these unconstitutional proposals.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe anti-immigrant bills on Governor Abbott's desk were written and passed by the xenophobic, extremist, right-wing people who are in control of the Texas Republican party now,\u201d said Congressman Joaquin Castro (TX-20). \u201cThese bills turn every law enforcement officer in the state of Texas into an immigration officer, giving wide latitude to question and challenge the citizenship of just about anyone and interfere with federal immigration enforcement. We\u2019ve already seen how problematic that can get through Operation Lone Star, a program which has violated people\u2019s legal, civil and human rights already.\u201d\n\n\u201cFor the past year, the members of the Mexican American Legislative Caucus and our allies have locked arms to defeat policies like SB 4 in the Texas Legislature. But Governor Abbott will go to the greatest lengths to force legislators into passing his unconstitutional and irresponsible agenda,\u201d said MALC Chairwoman Victoria Neave Criado (HD-107). \u201cFrom wasting millions of dollars each special session to asking for an additional $1.5 billion taxpayer dollars on top of the $10 billion he has already received\u2014Gov. Abbott will now use our hard-earned dollars to execute mass arrests and detention of people across the state. Make no mistake\u2014SB 4 does nothing to protect our border and everything to endanger the 1 in 4 mixed-status families in our state and American citizens. The State of Texas will have to defend this unconstitutional policy in court and we urge our federal government to stop SB 4 from becoming law.\u201d\n\n\u201cSenate Bill 4 will subject Texans across the state to racial profiling, fuel fear and discrimination, and further marginalize vulnerable populations,\u201d said Roberto Lopez, Beyond Borders Senior Advocacy Manager at the Texas Civil Rights Project. \u201cThe Texas Legislature has tried year after year to co-opt immigration policy with its own outlandish schemes, not caring who they may harm, imprison, or forcibly remove in the process. The Texas Legislature knew this bill would not be supported by the community, which is why they worked to pass the legislation swiftly, quietly, and with little public input. People deserve to be welcomed with dignity and respect, not profiling and arrest.\u201d\n\nA recording of the press conference is available here.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-08T01:01:09Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://casar.house.gov/media/press-releases/news-greg-casar-joaquin-castro-condemn-abbotts-latest-anti-immigrant-bills"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8130311034619808, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}