ICE Secure Communities sneaked into texas bill last minute now passed for all state

Last Action: Reported enrolled on May 29, 2011<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<what does this mean???

looks like reported enrolled means it passed both houses, and waits for governor to sign it but texxas has a pocket pass so governor doesnt have to sign unpopular bills and still have them passed


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http://www.texastribune.org/texas-le...uphill-battle/

Secure Communities Provision Added to Texas House Bill

A portion of a multifaceted homeland security bill that appeared near dead earlier was successfully attached tonight to a House bill relating to the deportation of illegal immigrants who have been incarcerated and released from prison.

SB 9, by state Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, was left pending in the House Calendars Committee after sailing through the Senate last month. The deadline to set a House calendar was Sunday, and SB 9 didn’t make the cut. But today Williams attached a piece of SB 9 — the part that requires the names of all persons arrested to be run through the federal Secure Communities initiative — as an amendment to HB 2734 by state Rep. Jerry Madden, R-Plano.

Secure Communities is a program administered by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in which local law enforcement compares the fingerprints of those arrested to a DHS database to determine if the individual can be deported. The system is currently in place in county jails statewide, but Williams said there are “loopholes” — specifically, local jails that do not transfer arrested persons to county lock-ups.

Madden’s bill would require that illegal immigrants who are arrested be released to the custody of ICE and leave the country as soon as possible.











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http://www.texastribune.org/texas-le...uphill-battle/
Southbound Checkpoints Given New Life in Senate



A measure eyed by some lawmakers as a means to stop the flow of illicit cash and weapons into Mexico via the Texas border is on life support.

An amendment to a Department of Motor Vehicles “clean-up” bill, HB 2357 by state Rep. Joe Pickett, D-El Paso, would grant the Texas Department of Public Safety the authority to erect southbound checkpoints 250 yards away from an international border crossing into Mexico to search for cash, drugs, ammunition and weapons. It was offered by state Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr., D-Brownsville, who tried and failed to have the measure adopted as a stand-alone bill earlier this session.

HB 2357 seeks to modernize DMV record sharing, retention and vehicle registration, which Pickett says makes the amendment too unrelated to be attached to his bill.

“It’s not something this bill had anything to do with,” Pickett said. He fears fighting to keep the amendment on will kill the entire bill, which he said would also expand the DMV's online capabilities for titling, registration and liens.

State Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, is the Senate sponsor of the bill and accepted the amendment after two lines in Lucio’s original bill were altered to include in the checkpoints’ purposes checking for the fraudulent titling of stolen vehicles heading south.

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Aside from his doubts that the amendment in germane, Pickett also expressed concern over what the checkpoints could mean for local law enforcement and business interests on the border.

“Local police and sheriff’s department already do a lot of this interdiction now,” he said. Adding DPS in to the mix could lead to “turf” battles, he said. Commercial truckers may also be inconvenienced, he said, as lines to enter Mexico during peak hours are already backed up on Texas’ southbound highways. The cities of Laredo and El Paso are two of the country’s busiest land ports with Mexico.

Lucio said the inconvenience is worth it.

“My concern continues to be not having the ability or doing as much as we should to seize any guns, ammunition, or cash that is going south. Obviously those three items represent the lifeline [of the cartels],” he said. “This is the only opportunity we have in this whole session to pass a homeland security measure.”

Lucio said state Rep. Eddie Lucio III, his son and a lawmaker from San Benito, is speaking with Pickett and the House parliamentarian about the issue in the hopes of convincing the two that the amendment is germane. (The House parliamentarian makes the ultimate decision.) Late afternoon Rep. Lucio said negotiations were ongoing.

If the amendment fails it will be another blow to lawmakers’ last-ditch efforts to revive border and homeland security measures this session.

Williams attached a piece of SB 9, a multifaceted homeland security bill that failed to move out of the House, as an amendment to HB 2734 by state Rep. Jerry Madden, R-Plano. The amendment would require the names of all persons arrested to be run through the federal Secure Communities initiative. HB 2734 relates to the deportation of illegal immigrants who have been incarcerated and released from prison. Madden said the amendment is not germane, however, and wouldn’t accept the amendment in conference.

Williams acknowledged time is running out, but said there was still time to find a vehicle.

“We’re working everything that we can on it,” he said. “It ain’t over until it’s over.”

The regular session ends Monday.



Legislation that would grant the state authority to erect southbound checkpoints near the Texas-Mexico border was successfully revived today after lawmakers attached it as an amendment to a bill concerning record sharing by the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles.

If the amendment to HB 2357 sticks, it would grant the Texas DPS authority to create the checkpoints 250 yards away from the state’s border with Mexico to search for weapons, drugs or bulk cash. HB 2357, by state Rep. Joe Pickett, D-El Paso, is a bill that seeks to modernize records sharing, registration and title transaction practices by the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles. State Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Transportation and Homeland Security, is the bill’s sponsor in the Senate.

The amendment was offered by state Sen. Eddie Lucio, Jr., D-Brownsville, who filed a separate bill this session, SB 288, to create the checkpoints as a means to curb the flow of weapons and cash to Mexican drug cartels. The bill was never placed on the House calendar, however. An amended version of SB 9, an omnibus homeland security bill by Williams, also included the checkpoint language, but it, too, died after never being placed on the calendar before Sunday’s deadline. Williams allowed the amendment to HB 2357 after Lucio tweaked two lines from his original bill to designate the checkpoints’ purposes to include checking for the fraudulent titling of stolen vehicles heading south. The language made the amendment germane, and Lucio was able to keep his original language that allows DPS officers to also search for the contraband. The Texas DPS would share the costs of establishing and operating the checkpoints with local and federal agencies, and law enforcement officers would need probable cause to search a vehicle, according to the text of the amendment.

The move marks the second time a controversial piece of border and homeland security legislation was revived in the waning days of the legislative session. On Monday, Williams successfully added a provision originally included in his SB 9 that would mandate the implementation of the federal Secure Communities program in all local detention facilities. The program is administered by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and allows local law enforcement to compare the fingerprints of those arrested to a DHS database to determine if the individual can be deported. Williams successfully attached that to HB 2734 by state Rep. Jerry Madden, R-Plano. Madden’s bill would require that illegal immigrants who are arrested be transferred to the custody of ICE and be deported as soon as possible after their release.






not sure if passed or not, not many articles on it, this is the latest status from
http://www.mygov365.com/legislation/...tab/overview/#

Current Status
Introduced (House of Representatives) on Mar 16, 2011
Reported by Committee (House of Representatives) on Apr 6, 2011
Introduced (Senate) on Apr 26, 2011
Introduced (Senate) on Apr 29, 2011
Referred to Committee (Senate) on Apr 29, 2011
Amendment Introduced (Senate) on May 23, 2011
Passed (Senate) on May 23, 2011

Last Action: Reported enrolled on May 29, 2011<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<what does this mean???

looks like reported enrolled means it passed both houses, and waits for governor to sign it but texxas has a pocket pass so governor doesnt have to sign unpopular bills and still have them passed

i guess this covers civil disobedience/misdemeanors?

Link says nothing about the bills passage, I wonder if this is correct, since the session ended monday.

This is very unfourtunate. I hope that that is not the case.

I believe it hasn't been passed yet.

However, Dick Perry has called a special session where they will consider 7 or 8 issues and this will be one of them.

Considering how the republicans have supermajorities in the senate and the house and how during the special sessions they can create new rules as to how bills will be voted on (ie: only a simple majority required to end debate and move to a vote is possible from what I understand).... this bill will pass.

I'll say 99% that it'll pass.

Well, just don't do anything stupid. Don't drive w/out valid license, don't drink in strange places (even if of age), don't jaywalk, etc =/

Been posting on here for awhile that its going to be a nightmare here in Texas my state for awhile democrats dont even have enough seats to hold up even a vote they are so outnumbered. I think the actual count is 99 republicans and 30 something democrats our whole state is going to look different when they get through with us.