Texas law against 'harboring' immigrants can stand, appeals court rules
AUSTIN, Texas _ A federal appeals court threw out a suit against Texas Thursday, ruling that the state can continue enforcing a provision of a state law that added criminal penalties for "harboring" immigrants who were in the country illegally.
When the Legislature passed the provision as part of a high-profile border security bill in 2015, lawmakers tried to target the criminal business of human smuggling.
But after the law was passed, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund sued the state last January, on behalf of two landlords who don't ask their tenants to provide their immigration status before renting to them, and an aid group that provides shelter and legal services to unauthorized immigrants. The plaintiffs feared being prosecuted under the provision.
In April, U.S. District Judge David Alan Ezra of San Antonio blocked the state from enforcing the provision, saying the law was overly broad in scope and potential impact. Ezra said the plaintiffs would probably succeed in arguing that the law pre-empted federal law and that they could face "irreparable harm" if the action remained in effect.
At that hearing, Texas public safety officials said the state "would not investigate, file criminal charges, or otherwise engage in enforcement activity" against plaintiffs for "harboring" immigrants who were in the country illegally. They argued that the provision was clear in targeting only human smugglers.
The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals cited that testimony in reversing the district court ruling Thursday, saying the plaintiffs could not "demonstrate a credible threat of prosecution." The court said there was no "reasonable interpretation" by which merely housing or providing services to unauthorized immigrants would constitute harboring those people from protection.
_The Dallas Morning News
