Lucio Vasquez/ Houston Public Media
Harris County commissioners’ funding renewal of a 5-year-old immigration authorized protection fund drew backlash and the ire of a county decide candidate.
Commissioners on Thursday accepted the allocation of greater than $1 million for authorized protection companies as a part of the county’s Immigrant Authorized Providers Fund, aimed to enhance due course of within the federal immigration system. This system, which was first proposed by Harris County Decide Lina Hidalgo in 2020, will ship direct authorized illustration to immigrants in detention or going through the specter of deportation, in response to county paperwork.
Aliza Dutt, the mayor of Piney Level Village and a Republican candidate within the 2026 race for county decide, spoke in opposition to the fund throughout a public remark interval of the commissioners courtroom assembly Thursday.
Dutt mentioned this system focuses on defending individuals who broke legal guidelines somewhat than defending the individuals who comply with them, pointing the blame at Democratic management.
“Crime is up, our deputies are stretched skinny and households are being crushed by on a regular basis residing bills,” she mentioned. “That is what’s mistaken with Harris County below Democrat management. They put unlawful immigrants first and taxpayers final.”
The movement to create this system in 2020, and later present the primary allocation of $2.5 million for the initiative that yr, was accepted by commissioners on the time in a 3-2, party-line vote, with Democrats in help. Commissioners that yr additionally unanimously accepted $500,000 to help immigrants who’re victims of crimes and due to this fact eligible to acquire authorized standing by cooperating with regulation enforcement.
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Some teams condemned the creation of the authorized fund in 2020, arguing governments shouldn’t use taxpayer {dollars} to defend immigrants. The transfer was backed by organizations together with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and United We Dream.
“The aim is to offer attorneys for immigrants to have the ability to pursue their case,” Hidalgo mentioned in 2020. “If it seems their case has no advantage, and so they’re to not keep, that is fantastic. However they need to have a shot at a good course of and so they can’t probably navigate the system, difficult complicated system, with out the authorized help.”
The cash accepted by commissioners on Thursday will probably be awarded to a number of nonprofit organizations together with BakerRipley, Galveston-Houston Immigrant Illustration Venture, Justice for All Immigrants and Refugee and Immigrant Middle for Schooling and Authorized Providers. The accepted funding will final by means of Dec. 31, 2026.
Commissioners made little dialogue on the merchandise this week earlier than Commissioner Rodney Ellis made a movement to approve the merchandise as introduced. Commissioner Tom Ramsey, the lone Republican on commissioners courtroom, requested county authorized workers whether it is authorized for the county to allocate funding to the nonprofits. The authorized workers advised him it’s.
