@mayorraulreyes says #sb4 harms towns like #elcenizo #texas. Via @NBCLatino #sanctuarycities pic.twitter.com/fnYSLxcVFN
— Raul A. Reyes (@RaulAReyes) June 5, 2017
The State of Texas recently distinguished itself with its own version of a “Papers, please” law–designed to override local control over immigration and take a hardline against the undocumented in a sign of increasing nativist control over the conservative movement.
That law, SB4, was passed largely along party lines in a 93-54 vote by the Republican-dominated Texas legislature in late April and was signed into law by GOP Governor Greg Abbott a little more than a week later.
But now Raul Reyes, the 34-year-old mayor of El Cenizo, Texas, has lobbed the first legal challenge against the controversial legislation which he calls, “a reckless, dangerous, and discriminatory law.”
The lead plaintiff in a suit against the State of Texas filed in federal court in San Antonio, Reyes claims the anti-sanctuary city law is legally coercive and unconstitutional. Specifically, the suit alleges multiple violations of the 10th Amendment and the Constitution’s Preemption Clause.
Speaking with NBC News, Reyes said:
“We are a small town in the nowhere of South Texas but I truly believe we are doing the right thing in taking a stand. This is bigger than me, bigger than El Cenizo, even bigger than Texas. If this (case) goes to the Supreme Court, which we anticipate that it will, it will be a landmark decision.”
