The passage of House Bill 12 by the Texas House of Representatives is an affront to the dignity of Texans. It ignores our State’s rich heritage and cultural diversity, and an overstepping of the appropriate authority of state government. As Bishops, we are concerned for all of the people in our communities. This bill ultimately diminishes the dignity and safety of all people.

Respect for all human life, from conception to natural death is a sacred principle embraced by all faith communities. We are all called to uphold the dignity of all in our communities, and that responsibility includes welcoming the immigrants in our communities. For decades we have urged the passage of federal comprehensive immigration reform and we have implored the state legislature to focus immigration legislation on healing Texas communities and affirming the rights and inherent worth of every person.

Systems already exist to promote public safety. The Secure Communities Programs already checks the legal status of people arrested for crimes and holds them for the proper immigration authorities. This bill will erode the trust between law enforcement and the immigrant community, and will likely lead to a violation of the civil rights for citizens and permanent legal residents. It is disheartening to see this House affirm the dignity of life in some instances, but fail to protect the lives of our state’s immigrants, permanent legal residents, and citizens.

Even though good amendments that exempt hospitals and hospital districts, prohibit profiling, and protect the privacy of children’s school records have been added to the bill, they fail to change the basic thrust of the bill.

We pray that when this bill continues on to the Senate, that our Texas Senators will affirm the dignity of all human life in our state and protect the safety of our communities. We urge Texas’ Senators to champion respect for all people, a respect not earned but imbued by God our Creator, and oppose HB 12.