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Texas Civil Rights Project

30 Mar, 11 tweets, 5 min read

@RobertoAleLopez

Happening now: our own @RobertoAleLopez joins @BetoORourke @RepRaulGrijalva @RepFilemonVela + border leaders call on @POTUS to:
✋ HALT CONSTRUCTION
✋ CANCEL THE CONTRACTS
✋ REINSTATE THE LAW
✋ REDIRECT FUNDS
#NotAnotherFoot #TearDownThisWall
Watch: txcivilrights.pro/2QUfARZ

@RobertoAleLopez

“Today marks 68 days since the Biden administration took executive action to place the border wall on pause and initiate a 60 day review for the appropriated and redirected resources.” - @RobertoAleLopez

@POTUS

"During this review period #RGV border justice advocates like myself sent a letter to @POTUS & cabinet members urging them to:
-Cancel the contracts
-Dismiss all cases
-Restore+revest the land
-Consult with communities instead of giving $ to DHS.
But this hasn’t yet happened."

"TCRP even put together and published a whole flowchart, which we also attached in our letter, and which that the administration could use to understand the varying legal situations hundreds of Texas residents may be in." news.txcivilrights.org/2021/02/03/sou…

"The anxiety, the pressure, that hundreds across South Texas feel is real. It’s still unclear to folks like our client and #RGV teacher, Nayda Alvarez, whose home would be bisected by border wall construction, what the fate is of the border wall in South Texas."

"We said it at the start of the pandemic and we’re saying it again: no Texan should be fighting the virus and the federal government at the same time. These lawsuits must end." #NotAnotherFoot

"For decades now administration after administration has continued to pour more money into so-called border “security.” Already DHS has nearly $50 billion in funding annually, and has the biggest law enforcement arms in the country. This ever-increasing funding has to stop."

"We want the gov't’s pause to be permanent, not just shifting $ over to companies that profit off incarceration like GeoGroup/CoreCivic, or gov't agencies with long histories of horrendous acts like shooting children across the border or letting children die on their watch."

"In a way we’re not having the right conversation. Right now we’re debating whether or not Biden is doing the right work and what advocates want, when I wish instead we were talking about the root causes of border militarization."

"Such as how we continue to call Black/Brown people trying to enter this country a crisis, or how our role in perpetuating climate change + past+present American imperialism has forced people to leave their homes or to send their children off on their own in a dangerous journey."

@RobertoAleLopez

"Or how corporate greed incentivizes detention centers and border walls. We need to pull ourselves that way, to that discussion.

I hope to continue to have these conversations about how we can reimagine our approach to welcoming neighbors at our door." - @RobertoAleLopez

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More from @TXCivilRights

Texas Civil Rights Project

@TXCivilRights

31 Mar

🚨Happening now: #txlege Senate is debating #SB7, the omnibus anti-voting bill that would make voting much more difficult for millions of Texans. Watch with us: tlcsenate.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.ph…

Within a minute of speaking--THAT'S FALSE--SB7 does not create a VBM tracker. It requires SOS to develop an online VBM tracker if there is specific appropriation. Otherwise, it's discretionary by the SOS. An effort to say they created a VBM tracker without definitively doing it.

Fact Check: Sen. Hughes saying that people receiving VBM apps from counties automatically would mislead people into thinking they can vote by mail when they can't- but the forms clearly explain who is eligible and that you should only apply to vote by mail if you are eligible.

Read 15 tweets

Texas Civil Rights Project

@TXCivilRights

27 Mar

@TXCivilRights

THREAD 🧵👇🏽: Yesterday, @TXCivilRights attorneys testified against the voter suppression omnibus bill, #SB7. We flagged the inevitable discriminatory impact SB7 would have on already-marginalized Texans. #txlege

@HarrisVotes

What you didn't see during verbal testimony were the three charts attached to our written testimony with demographic breakdowns on who used the two new voting options offered by @HarrisVotes in 2020: extended hours & drive thru voting. We’d like to share this data here.

Limiting voting hours (like 24 hour voting) and flexibility in polling locations (like drive thru voting) as SB7 seeks to do would disproportionately harm communities of color, who tend to have less flexible work schedules, by significant margins. See the graphs below 👇🏽

Read 7 tweets

Texas Civil Rights Project

@TXCivilRights

26 Mar

@jcslattery

Our own @jcslattery is finally getting to testify on all the voting bills in this hearing! You can watch along with us here: tlcsenate.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.ph… #txlege #TXDeservesBetter

James pointing out how the grand majority of these bills, including #SB7, #SB1114, and #SB1235, would make voting harder for people of color, people with disabilities, and elderly voters. #TXDeservesBetter

James correctly points out that this hearing, like the House Elections Committee, has seen Black legislators disrespected by white legislators, and that the rules around invited testimony vs public testimony have primarily benefitted white voices over those of Texans of color.

Read 6 tweets

Texas Civil Rights Project

@TXCivilRights

26 Mar

Since this hearing makes it hard to dive into the details of the bills, we'll do it here, starting w/ #SB1340. It proposes major changes to the voter list maintenance process w/ discriminatory registration guidelines aimed at discouraging people of color & immigrants from voting.

#SB1340 would make the Secretary of State, not local registrars, the primary manager of the voter registration process, giving the person in this position *unchecked power* to deny people the right to vote based on their race and immigration status.

#SB1340 would require most Texans registering to vote to first have their citizenship verified by the Secretary of State, violating the federal mandate that voters must be able to register up to 30 days before an election.

Read 6 tweets

Texas Civil Rights Project

@TXCivilRights

26 Mar

Curious about #SB7? Check out this thread. #SB7 targets voters w/ disabilities, voters of color & civil servants by enacting discriminatory voting requirements, decreasing the number and hrs of polling locations and intimidating voters with fear of criminal prosecution. (1/6)

#SB7 requires voters with disabilities to “prove” they have a disability w/ medical documentation when they apply to vote by mail. No other vote-by-mail-eligible voters are subject to this requirement. The time & money it takes to obtain documentation is a de facto poll tax (2/6)

#SB7 gives poll watchers new rights to harass and intimidate voters, which will almost certainly be weaponized against voters of color. The bill restricts expanded voting methods, which are also critical for voters of color, working ppl & those with family responsibilities. (3/6)

Read 6 tweets

Texas Civil Rights Project

@TXCivilRights

26 Mar

Now laying out the omnibus anti-voter bill #SB7, which we'll be testifying against later today. This bill harms Texans in many different ways, including allowing partisan poll watchers to record people trying to cast their ballots. #TXDeservesBetter

Similarly to yesterday's House Elections Committee, there seems to be reticence by white committee members to listen to the concerns of a Black fellow legislator (Sen. West) on SB 7 They're letting him ask questions, but there's already been one attempt to get him to speak less.

Sen. Zaffirini points out that there's nothing in this bill prohibiting partisan poll watchers from uploading the videos they take of voters onto Youtube and similar websites.

Read 5 tweets

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