Texas Gov. Perry continues crackdown on undocumented immigrants

  • August 22, 2012


Austin — Despite a slight gesture of loosening restrictions at the federal level, the civil liberties of undocumented immigrants in Texas will remain a target of the state's governmental apparatus. On Monday, Aug. 20th, far-right Republican Gov. Rick Perry notified state agencies that the new federal measure wouldn't alter Texas's ban against providing services for such immigrants.

Perry emphasized that Texas applicants for new driver's licenses or state ID cards must prove legal residency. Some applicants for license renewals must also demonstrate U.S. citizenship or legal status.

Perry's crackdown comes in response to a June 15th announcement by the Obama administration that it would implement a very marginal, two-year deportation “reprieve” for a narrowly defined category of some undocumented immigrants. The measure applies only to younger immigrants between the ages of 16 and 30 that have resided in the USA for at least 5 years consecutively.

As the leftist paper Workers Vanguard (Aug. 3rd) points out, even to just be considered for the temporary "reprieve", an individual must register as an “illegal”. Furthermore, he or she must be a high school graduate or have served in the U.S. military, and must have no criminal record.

Despite the restrictions, there are no guarantees and no right of appeal if an application for residency or citizenship is rejected. Even worse, once an individual registers, the state will have the information necessary to track the person down for possible deportation.

Reflecting widespread disdain on the left, Workers Vanguard characterizes Obama's immigration measure as a "Cynical Ploy" for the Latino vote:
Running neck and neck in the polls with Republican candidate Mitt Romney, Obama is trying to refurbish the less-than-threadbare image of the Democratic Party as a friend of labor, blacks and immigrants. This con job has long served as a key prop in preserving the rule of racist American capitalism. The purpose is to sucker the working class and minorities into believing that they have a stake in the electoral outcome between two parties that equally represent a system based on the exploitation of labor and rooted in vicious racial oppression.
Nevertheless, in the context of the extremist rightwing GOP's ruthless hounding of immigrants, particularly in states like Arizona, Texas, and Alabama, Obama's gesture is seen as comparatively humane by some Americans. According to an Aug. 20th report in the Austin American-Statesman newspaper, most Austin-area immigrants covered under the deportation "reprieve" expected at least minor benefits such as the right to apply for a driver's license, which Perry's order evidently rules out.

"Gov. Rick Perry's letter is just another part of the political fight that's going on to deny any benefits to immigrants who are in the country illegally — no matter what the circumstances" asserted Marion Chapala in a statement quoted by the Statesman.

Chapala, described as an undocumented Mexican citizen who has lived and worked in Austin since 1998, declared that "People like me are just caught in the middle. I really didn't expect getting any state services because of Obama's new policy, so I'm not surprised."

Texas Gov. Perry continues crackdown on undocumented immigrants - Austin Civil Liberties | Examiner.com