Texas Aiming for Arizona-Style Immigration Law | On the Record

Special Guests | Texas State Rep. Debbie Riddle

This is a rush transcript from "On the Record," Nov. 9, 2010. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, FOX NEWS HOST: Is Arizona's illegal immigration law moving east to Texas? A Republican state rep in Texas just camped out at the Texas state Capitol. Why? Well, she has some ideas about illegal immigration. Texas state representative Debbie Riddle joins us live. Good evening.

STATE REPRESENTATIVE DEBBIE RIDDLE R-TEXAS: Hello, Greta!

VAN SUSTEREN: Is it true that you slept in the state Capitol leading up to filing this new bill?

RIDDLE: Absolutely. I kind of set up camp there, Greta, because Monday morning at 8:00 o'clock is the first time that we'd be able to file our bills early. I wanted to be first in line so that I could get the lowest house bill number that I could possibly get. So I got there about 2:00 o'clock on Saturday and camped out until I could file my bill.

VAN SUSTEREN: I'm curious -- and I'll get to the substance of the bill, but why did you want a low number?

RIDDLE: A low number does not necessarily guarantee the fact that the bill would pass, but it kind of greases the wheels a little bit. It gets it out there first. It's like do you want to get in traffic before rush hour hits, or do you want to get in the middle of rush hour traffic? That's about it.

VAN SUSTEREN: All right. Now, your bill that you filed, it is identical to Arizona? And if so, I assume that you anticipate running into maybe the same problems Arizona's bill did.

RIDDLE: No, it really has some significant differences. First of all, it's only about a page and a half. And anybody can read it. I encourage everybody to read it. What it does, Greta, is a law enforcement officer has the discretionary tool that he can inquire as to someone's legal status if they are already being detained because of a warrantless arrest, which as you know, is fairly serious. If, in fact, he determines through ICE that that individual is not here legally, then he can arrest them for criminal trespass. And that would be a class B misdemeanor.

VAN SUSTEREN: All right, now, there are different types of warrantless arrests. There's warrantless arrests for murder because you -- you know, you see the person running from the scene, and you know, there's blood dripping from the knife. And there's warrantless arrests for something like, you know, stealing a ham from the grocery store. Under your statute, are they indistinguishable for when you can make that inquiry about whether the person is here illegally or not?

RIDDLE: If they are being detained because the warrantless arrest, then the officer would, in fact, have the discretion that he could inquire as to their legal status.

VAN SUSTEREN: All right, now, Governor Perry would have to sign this if it gets voted into -- by the -- by your -- your government -- by your legislature. Governor Perry would have sign it, and he has made statements that he thinks that immigration policy -- you know, he's very -- if I -- I mean, if I may be so bold as to try to repeat what he said to me, is that, you know, he's -- he's very adamant about protecting Texas, securing the border, but he sees it as a federal responsibility. So is he likely to sign your bill, should it end up on his desk?

RIDDLE: I think that there's a strong possibility of that, Greta, because the bottom line is this. This is all about safety and security. In Houston, my hometown, since 2004, Greta, the gang-related violence, which is connected with the Mexican drug cartels, has gone up over 250 percent. That's serious. We are looking at some serious security issues here for the citizens, and we have to address that. And this is just one of the bills that I'm introducing that, in fact, does address it.

VAN SUSTEREN: Well, we have been down to the border and we've watched it, and of course, we've also followed these -- the lawsuit as sort of wound its way through Arizona. And it'll be interesting to see whether yours is seen as -- whether the federal government -- should yours get passed, whether the federal government comes in and says, This is our business, this is an immigration issue. But we will monitor it. Thank you for joining us.

RIDDLE: Thank you.

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And I thank you!