The ACLU Is Warning Americans That Thanks To Republicans Its Not Safe To Travel In Texas

[herding cats]

The ACLU has issued a travel alert warning Americans that they can anticipate having their constitutional rights violated if they travel to Texas.

The ACLU has issued a travel alert warning Americans that they can anticipate having their constitutional rights violated if they travel to Texas.

In a statement provided to PoliticusUSA, the ACLU announced the travel warning:

The American Civil Liberties Union issued a “travel alert” today informing anyone planning to travel to Texas in the near future to anticipate the possible violation of their constitutional rights when stopped by law enforcement.

The alert comes amid the passing of a Texas law known as SB4. The law gives a green light to police officers in the state to investigate a person’s immigration status during a routine traffic stop, leading to widespread racial profiling, baseless scrutiny, and illegal arrests of citizens and non-citizens alike presumed to be “foreign” based on how they look or sound. The travel alert applies to all travelers to Texas, including U.S. travelers from other states and U.S. citizens. In addition, this alert applies to all encounters with federal, state, county law enforcement including local police and sheriffs.

The message is clear. Texas is not a safe place for you and your constitutional liberties to travel.

http://www.politicususa.com/2017/05/09/aclu-warning-americans-republicans-safe-travel-texas.html

Link to tweet

[Demtexan]

1. I guess I need to carry my passport with me.

I am white so it might be ok for me.

I worry about smart phones being taken.

[meow2u3]

4. I guess I can't ever visit my family

Most of them live in Texas and I'd be pulled over and humiliated for having out-of-state plates.

[Demtexan]

5. I would stay out of Texas for awhile.

I wonder if people will bothered at bus stops.

[meow2u3]

9. Last time I was in Texas was in 2003, about a month after my mom passed away

And that was to bring my mom's car to my niece, who inherited it.

I don't plan on even passing through any time soon. BTW, I used to live in Texas and now live in PA.

[Demtexan]

11. The cities and their counties went blue in the last election.

My county and some other counties went straight blue.
All down ticket.

We tried.

I think things will turn around with health care mess.

Other then Austin and San Antonio there is not much to visit.

[cloudbase]

34. There's quite a bit more to see.

Gotta get out more.

[aggiesal]

14. There is no one document that proves you're a US Citizen ...

US Passport is good, but they do issue them to non-citizens for special purposes.
Plus many people don't even acquire a US Passport, because they're hardly ever needed.
I haven't had a valid US Passport since 2001.

Birth Certificate is good as well, but you could immigrate to another country, give up your US Citizenship to
acquire your new country's citizenship, thus making your US birth certificate null.

We are literally not issued a document that states we are US Citizens.

Papeles por favor!

[LeftInTX]

38. Our local police chief is baffled by this

Most of the state's police chiefs and sheriffs were against this bill.

Really I think the only way to determine whether someone is a citizen is with a bit of an investigation. That is why this "Show me your papers" is a bunch of crap. It will either lead to racial profiling or requiring each and every person to carry some sort of "proof of citizenship".

[aggiesal]

41. I'm willing to bet that ...

most of the Police Chiefs and Sheriffs voted in the GOP
in control of the Texas state government.

What did they expect was going to happen?

Also, I believe that Cheetolini will institute an RFID chip for all citizens.
That will be our "proof of citizenship".

California drivers license already has a magnetic strip on the back with
all kinds of pertinent information, including a digitized image of our
thumb print.

[cannabis_flower]

19. I don't worry for me..

but for my Honduran husband on TPS status. I need to remind him to carry his work permit and Texas State ID with him at all times. I'm pretty sure he does but still I'm going to remind him.

[christx30]

30. I was born in Tyler, Texas,

but I'm Hispanic. You better believe I carry a driver's license and social security card at all times. These are scary times.

[still_one]

2. North Carolina lost over 3.7 BILLION dollars because of their bathroom bill. Perhaps that's what

needs to happen in Texas.

Actions should have consequences

[LuckyLib]

25. Exactly. An economic boycott. Change the venues

of a few sports events and conventions.

[still_one]

27. Texas has all kinds of business and industry conventions throughout the year

[aeromanKC]

33. +1000

Money talks!!

[meow2u3]

3. I see a major lawsuit in Texas' future

Last time I checked, local law enforcement cannot be compelled to enforce Federal law. Isn't that known as the anti-commandeering clause?
IANAL, but it doesn't seem as if a state can compel local law enforcement to enforce harsh immigration laws.

[Gothmog]

6. From my twitter feed

Link to tweet

?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.democraticunderground.com%2F10029033817

[herding cats]

8. Thank you.

I'm adding that to the OP so people know this is not a joke, but real.

[Gothmog]

22. You are very welcomed

Great thread and I love your DU name

[Gothmog]

7. From the ACLU

Link to tweet

[LeftInTX]

39. What about living in Texas????

Help get me outta here!!!!

[AgadorSparticus]

10. I grew up in Texas. It is a shadow of what it used to be...

This is terrible. This breaks my heart. C'mooooon, Texas. You can do better.

[argyl]

23. I lived in the Hill Country/San Antonio area from 5th to 11th grade.

I just loved it. The Mexicans there were not a persecuted minority but an essential part of the community. No prejudice meant,they called themselves Mexican and expected us to do the same. They would refer to us as Anglos.
There were German, Czech, Polish and Italians who came to form their own communities after receiving land grants. They came without slaves and were vehemently opposed to slavery. Needless to say they didn't fit in well with slave holding Southerners and there were lynchings in the Civil War era. And even in the 60's they kept part of their culture. I attended a number of events where the food was sausage and sauerkraut accompanied by accordions playing polka.
But I'd come to the area from suburban Houston. I thought everyone was white. And I was fascinated with my new classmates and soon grew to love them dearly.
Mexican Homecoming Queens, Head Cheerleaders, Anglo Homecoming Kings wth Mexican Homecoming Queens and vice versa, all normal. And none of the Mexican kids I knew were undocumented. Same for their parents.
I didn't accept them, I loved them. As did most other students.
There were Anglos who didn't like Mexicans and Mexicans who didn't like Anglos but they were in a very small minority. It was a special place, almost magical to my young mind, a place where a special melange of people could live in peace as neighbors.
And then I moved to the Dallas area.

[AgadorSparticus]

32. I grew up in the Rio Grande Valley. Much like you: 6th grade through college

And I had the same experience. I don't remember such racism and bigotry growing up between the Mexicans and the whites. Everyone just got along. And I am Asian. Hell, at times, I even felt like I was a Mexican too. I don't remember anyone being documented or undocumented. Just kids that were gone for certain seasons because they were migrant workers.

I guess those days are long gone.

I can only imagine what Dallas must have been like. Dallas felt like it was on another planet to me as it was SO FAR away from the RGV. I got a primer when I got to college.

[Mountain Mule]

12. K&R!

I have Native American blood from my father's side of the family. My Dad had deep brown eyes and black hair, and people would sometimes assume that he was Hispanic. I inherited his coloring and I tan as soon as I spend more than a half hour out-of-doors. Years ago I was traveling in south Texas and got stopped by la migra. They questioned me for almost two hours despite the fact that I am a US citizen and had all the proper ID. Sounds like Texas has actually become worse these days. I won't be traveling there again anytime soon.

[marlakay]

13. My daughter just bought house in San Antonio

Hubby in air force 4 more years then they plan to stay there. I promised to visit in the fall.

Since I am Caucasian I probably won't have a problem especially staying with Lt Colonel in AF. Everything is all military in Texas.

Daughter loves it there, says people nice.

But she sees it through veil of being treated like royalty.

They are in north Texas now. Personally used to west coast and hills, mountains and trees I couldn't live there. And thats without the crazy politics.

[TheBlackAdder]

15. I stopped vacationing in Florida when a correlation between vehicles driven and road aggression made

.


I would vacation, with the Family, at least once or twice a year while visiting extended family. We would spend, on average $5-7K a year taking in all of the sights, restaurants, attractions, and shopping. Now, that's completely cut off. We have not been down to Florida in 3 years, and I avoid most Red(neck) states.


I found it odd that some times I would get people flipping me off, cutting me off, and tailgating and other times not.


After about 5 years, of this shit, the solid case was made that it was the vehicles driven. If I drove down in my own car, or got a rental car that had out of state tags on it, the Floridians would treat us like shit. If I got a rental with Florida tags, we were completely left alone. The third year of this is when I started to piece together this phenomenon. I noted the car, which was always about the same, my driving style which didn't change, and whether the car had Florida plates or not. the only variable was the Florida plates, because the places traveled were all about the same too.


I can only assume that many people in Florida carry firearms, while many out-of-staters would not.

This feeling of superiority seems to be the driving force of their behavior. They fucked with us because they could. They knew we weren't carrying, and if we tried to start shit, they had their equalizer ready to go, and the laws to justify it.


.

[SCVDem]

24. In the 1990s

Rental cars even with Florida plates would remove all stickers identifying them as a rental.

I recall it was over a LEO shooting in Liberty City. Guess where I got lost in?

[TheBlackAdder]

26. I remember Enterprise removing their 'e' stickers because people knew they were probably tourists.

[LeftInTX]

40. Road rage is an issue in Texas, but it is more about who has the biggest, fastest truck

I finally got handicapped plates and I found that the yahoos have gotten better.

[TheBlackAdder]

42. That's interesting. You didn't want to "Roll some coal" with the rest of them?

[AllaN01Bear]

16. who do the fuk you think you are , the gestapo?

this is america, not nazi germany.

[El Mimbreno]

18. Ya, und ve must zee your papers. nt

[Sunlei]

17. trumps EO gave local police this authority. police here will even stop walkers, bike riders.

People are now afraid to call the police for help.

Others are emboldened to call police on their 'neighbors' so when police come to their home everyone gets asked to show ID.

[dalton99a]

20. The Texas of LBJ, Ann Richards, Molly Ivins

[geretogo]

21. Koch money is power , power corrupts , absolute power corrupts absolutely . This country is going

down to the point of no return without a violent up rising .

[Initech]

28. So Republicans, how's that "no big government" thing working for you?

You created an even bigger government, assholes!

[IronLionZion]

29. It would be very funny if Native American cops pulled over European-Americans

just to see if they had their papers. I doubt many good old boys have papers.

I went to Texas about a month ago and took my passport.

[hamsterjill]

31. I am a sixth generation Texan currently living in San Antonio.

I don't even recognize my beloved Texas at times these days.

Make no mistake, please. There are many, many, MANY of us down here working hard to change this state. We just haven't been able to make the changes yet, but don't give up on us. We're not giving up ourselves.

As stated up-post, I hope the idiots who passed this measure will feel the economic kick in the ass from this.

[Skittles]

35. hasn't that always been the case?

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

36. K&R

[beam me up scottie]

37. K & R

We're going to need the ACLU more than ever in the next four years.

[Scurrilous]

43. K&R