{"id":250593,"date":"2016-12-21T21:01:01","date_gmt":"2016-12-22T04:01:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=250593"},"modified":"2017-01-10T06:48:38","modified_gmt":"2017-01-10T13:48:38","slug":"in-texas-lawmakers-dont-mess-with-employers-of-undocumented-workers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2016\/12\/in-texas-lawmakers-dont-mess-with-employers-of-undocumented-workers\/","title":{"rendered":"In Texas, lawmakers don&#8217;t mess with employers of undocumented workers"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_250601\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 771px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-250601\" src=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/fenceSatRPT714cms_jpg_800x1000_q100-771x506.jpg\" alt=\"Dan Patrick posters\" width=\"771\" height=\"506\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/fenceSatRPT714cms_jpg_800x1000_q100-771x506.jpg 771w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/fenceSatRPT714cms_jpg_800x1000_q100-336x221.jpg 336w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/fenceSatRPT714cms_jpg_800x1000_q100-768x504.jpg 768w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/fenceSatRPT714cms_jpg_800x1000_q100.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Bob Daemmrich \/ The Texas Tribune<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Delegates wave Dan Patrick posters advocating a more secure border on the Texas Republican Convention floor on June 7, 2014.<\/p><\/div>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Few Texas politicians have harnessed anger over illegal immigration like Republican Lt. Gov. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/directory\/dan-patrick\/\" target=\"_blank\">Dan Patrick<\/a>, who rose from talk radio host to powerful state leader largely on the strength of his incessant border security screeds.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Though he once embraced a foreign guest worker program himself, Patrick got elected lieutenant governor in 2014 in part by<a href=\"http:\/\/www.politifact.com\/texas\/statements\/2014\/jun\/20\/battleground-texas\/dan-patrick-has-called-illegal-immigration-invasio\/\" target=\"_blank\"> decrying<\/a> what he called an \u201cinvasion\u201d of disease-carrying immigrants and<a href=\"http:\/\/danpatrick.org\/dan-patrick-releases-new-tv-ad-secure-border\/\" target=\"_blank\"> tying<\/a> his GOP foes to policies that supposedly draw them here. He went on to become the top Texas cheerleader for immigration hardliner Donald Trump&#8217;s presidential bid.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">But there\u2019s one arena in the battles over illegal immigration that Patrick hasn\u2019t yet entered as lieutenant governor:\u00a0the private workplace.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"module align-left half type-aside\">\n<h3>About this article<\/h3>\n<p>This article originally appeared in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2016\/12\/14\/lawmakers-go-easy-employers-undocumented-workers\/\" target=\"_blank\">The Texas Tribune<\/a>,\u00a0a nonpartisan, nonprofit media organization that informs Texans and engages with them about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues. It\u2019s part of the news organization\u2019s \u201cBordering on Insecurity\u201d series.\u00a0The Texas Tribune is taking a yearlong look at the issues of border security and immigration, reporting on the reality and rhetoric around these topics. <a href=\"http:\/\/apps.texastribune.org\/bordering-on-insecurity\/\" target=\"_blank\">Sign up to get<\/a> story alerts.<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Despite\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/danpatrick.org\/dan-patrick-border-champion\/\" target=\"_blank\">promising<\/a> during the 2014 race to crack down on Texas employers who hire undocumented workers, it was status quo last session in the state Senate that Patrick oversees. And illegal hiring practices in the Texas workplace, which the state has authority to police, have largely gone missing from his public outrage over the porous border and illegal immigration.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">That\u2019s not political apostasy. It\u2019s the default posture in pro-business Texas \u2014 and one of the increasingly rare areas where Republicans and Democrats come together in common cause year after year.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Trump\u2019s ascendency to the White House may or may not change the hands-off approach in legislatures and Congress to the illegal hiring practices common in U.S. businesses. It certainly has the potential to shake things up in unprecedented ways \u2014 as Patrick and other Republicans gush. But if past performance and recent public pronouncements are any guide, Texas leaders will continue going easy on those who avail themselves of low-cost undocumented immigrant labor \u2014 particularly in agriculture, construction, janitorial services and the leisure and hospitality industry.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The reason is simple: Business interests rely on undocumented immigrant workers, while pro-immigrant activists fight to protect the labor rights of those facing abuse and exploitation. When the Chamber of Commerce and the American Civil Liberties Union are on the same side of an issue at the Capitol, they\u2019re hard to beat.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cWe know what an important part immigrant labor plays in Texas, and to suddenly wipe out large sectors &#8230; would have a devastating impact on the Texas economy,\u201d said Bill Hammond, head of the influential Texas Association of Business, the state\u2019s top business advocacy group. \u201cWe need immigrant labor to do those tasks where not enough Americans will.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The left-right convergence \u2014 bringing businessmen and liberal immigration activists together \u2014 has been key in blocking legislation that would make life more difficult for undocumented immigrants in Texas, said Bill Beardall, executive director of the Equal Justice Center, a nonprofit law firm that advocates for immigrants and other low-wage workers in Austin.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cWe begin each session of the Legislature highly concerned that some of these anti-immigrant bills are going to pass,\u201d Beardall said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been extraordinarily successful in Texas in preventing that from happening.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3 dir=\"ltr\">Don\u2019t ask, don\u2019t tell<\/h3>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">While the deals get cut behind the scenes at the state Capitol, workers continue to live in the vast shadows of the underground labor market, where a \u201cdon\u2019t ask, don\u2019t tell\u201d system allows employers to accept fake documents, fraudulently treat employees as \u201cindependent contractors\u201d or simply pay them in cash under the table \u2014 all with little fear of punishment.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The workers are everywhere: at construction sites, behind the kitchen doors of popular restaurants, in the fields and \u2014 when the lights go out \u2014 emptying the trash and cleaning the toilets in office buildings and shopping centers.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">An Austin janitor from southern Mexico, who preferred to use his nickname &#8220;Chunco,&#8221; says he bought fake documents for about $100 to get a job cleaning Target stores. He told The Texas Tribune he and other undocumented workers were paid less than the minimum wage and got no overtime.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">With the help of Beardall\u2019s Equal Justice Center, Chunco and other workers sued the retail giant for labor law violations. Target denied the allegations, blamed a contractor also named in the class action lawsuit and did not admit fault in a settlement brokered by the Equal Justice Center.<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>The legal status of the workers was immaterial to the claims of wage law violations, so it&#8217;s impossible to determine from the court records who in the chain of employment might have known that Chunco in the country illegally.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">He&#8217;s now back at work on a custodial crew that cleans Target stores.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cIn any company, store or wherever you go, you have to present a Social Security number and a permanent resident ID,\u201d Chunco said in his native Spanish. \u201cWhat they want is to have something in which you identify yourself and that you do the work. They don\u2019t know or care how you got it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Policymakers could potentially fix the problem by legalizing employment that is currently unauthorized, as backers of comprehensive immigration reform and proponents of guest worker programs through the ages have promoted.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Or they could get serious about regulating and heavily penalizing the companies and people who keep hiring undocumented workers \u2014 as conservative activists have urged Congress and legislatures to do with little enduring success.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Lawmakers have chosen the path of least resistance instead \u2014 political gridlock \u2014 allowing the problem to fester and prompting outrage in the electorate.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">In the absence of a systematic fix, the high demand for illegal labor makes it virtually impossible to \u201csecure\u201d the southern border, said John Connolly, former executive associate director of Homeland Security Investigations in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cIf you can come here and get a job and for 50 bucks, buy a Social Security card and some other type of documents and you get a job and you\u2019re getting paid, that\u2019s the pull. That\u2019s why you can come here,\u201d Connolly said. \u201cIf they\u2019re told, &#8216;Look, don\u2019t come here anymore, they\u2019re enforcing the laws, you can\u2019t get jobs,&#8217; people aren\u2019t going to make that expense and make that long journey to come here to the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">A further border security complication: Many of the undocumented immigrant arrivals \u2014 nearly 6 out of 10, according to\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/jmhs.cmsny.org\/index.php\/jmhs\/article\/view\/45\" target=\"_blank\">estimates<\/a> by the Migration Policy Institute \u2014 aren\u2019t sneaking across a border at all but rather are overstaying legal visas. And many of the tens of thousands of Central Americans <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2016\/10\/10\/central-america-passes-mexico-migration-us\/\" target=\"_blank\">arriving at the U.S. border each month<\/a> aren\u2019t running away from the U.S. Border Patrol when they cross. They look for the first uniformed agent they can find to turn themselves in and file a legal asylum claim.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Either way, the word is out: If you can get through all that manpower lined up on the U.S.-Mexico border, there is a job waiting for you hanging sheet rock, changing diapers, mowing lawns, whatever.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cThe first thing you\u2019re going to do is send back messages to home,\u201d Connolly said. \u201cTo your hometown or wherever, and say, \u2018Hey, so and so is hiring and you make your way up here.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<h3 dir=\"ltr\">Business usually wins<\/h3>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">While Texas has been under both Democratic and Republican rule, business interests have typically been able to douse a populist brush fire \u2014 like on immigration policy \u2014 even when the party in power is providing the fuel.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">When former Republican Gov. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/directory\/rick-perry\/\" target=\"_blank\">Rick Perry<\/a>\u00a0was at the height of his power and sought to shore up his right flank ahead of a run for president in 2011, top business leaders joined with civil rights organizations to shoot down his effort to empower local police to crack down on undocumented immigrants in so-called \u201csanctuary cities.\u201d It was viewed as bad for business.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Those lined up against included one of Perry\u2019s largest state donors at the time, the late Houston billionaire homebuilder Bob Perry (no relation), <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2013\/04\/16\/us\/politics\/bob-perry-swift-boat-ad-backer-dies-at-80.html\" target=\"_blank\">perhaps best known<\/a> for being the financier behind the infamous \u201cswift boat\u201d ads against 2004 Democratic nominee John Kerry; and Charles Butt, the billionaire chairman and CEO of H-E-B Grocery, a bipartisan political donor known for his support of public schools and opposition to private school voucher initiatives.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Their united opposition to the policing\/immigration bill was recorded in an email, obtained by The Texas Tribune and other media outlets, sent June 23, 2011, by premier Austin lobbyist Buddy Jones. It was addressed to former state Rep. (and later Congressman) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/directory\/pete-gallego\/\" target=\"_blank\">Pete Gallego<\/a>, D-Alpine, then on the state House committee considering the bill in a special session whose agenda was announced and controlled by the Republican governor.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cThey think it is very bad for Texas,\u201d Jones wrote to Gallego. \u201cI wanted you to feel free to tell others that these two giants of Texas business are concerned that this is taking Texas in the wrong direction.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The bill died shortly thereafter.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Not much changed after Gov. Perry left town a couple of years ago. In the last session of the Texas Legislature, lawmakers adopted the moderate vision of Perry\u2019s successor, Gov. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/directory\/greg-abbott\/\" target=\"_blank\">Greg Abbott<\/a>, when it came to illegal hiring practices. It was the weakest possible iteration of a dozen bills proposing electronic employment verification (E-Verify) as a way of stopping undocumented immigrants from getting jobs here. Republican leaders didn\u2019t allow a public hearing on the tougher approaches, much less an up-or-down vote, legislative records show.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Instead, lawmakers voted to require E-Verify only for employees directly working for state government. Practically speaking, the law has had no measurable impact on government employment practices. The rule was already in effect under an executive order signed by Perry, the former governor. And the agency put in charge of implementing E-Verify rules for state government \u2014 the Texas Workforce Commission \u2014 says the\u00a0Legislature <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2016\/03\/25\/states-e-verify-law-operating-under-honor-system\/\" target=\"_blank\">never gave it the power<\/a>\u00a0to enforce the requirement, meaning compliance operates on the honor system. The agency has no records of anyone being turned down for state work because of the E-Verify rules, but they\u2019re not in charge of that, either, so assessing any impact from it appears to be impossible at this point.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The workforce commission is also supposed to police the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2015\/03\/15\/groups-try-again-misclassification-bills\/\">kind of fraud<\/a> that enables rampant hiring of undocumented immigrants by employers who dishonestly classify them as independent contractors instead of employees. But since the law took effect in 2014, the agency had penalized just 49 employers and issued only $138,000 in fines \u2014 $93,000 of them still uncollected as of late October. The agency says state law keeps secret the names of the people or entities fined.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">To put the paltry fines in perspective, an investigative report by McClatchy Newspapers (dubbed \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/media.mcclatchydc.com\/static\/features\/Contract-to-cheat\/?brand=nao\" target=\"_blank\">Contract To Cheat<\/a>\u201d) calculated that 38 percent of the 806,000 workers in the Texas construction industry alone (2011 data) were \u201cmisclassified\u201d as contractors, the highest of the states the news outlet studied.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">A huge number of them are undocumented.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Abbott <a href=\"https:\/\/trib.it\/2giKdID\" target=\"_blank\">declined to be interviewed<\/a> for this story. So did the other major state leader who sets the legislative agenda, House Speaker <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/directory\/joe-straus\/\" target=\"_blank\">Joe Straus<\/a>, R-San Antonio. Straus&#8217;s office released a written statement taking note of bills that might expand E-Verify; it said the speaker was &#8220;generally supportive of a guest worker program but also recognizes that such issues are within the purview of Congress and the federal government.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The governor wants Texas to &#8220;enhance E-Verify&#8221; but did not specify how he would do that in a written statement released by his press office.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">&#8220;The governor believes the Trump Administration and Congress will deploy the necessary resources this upcoming year to secure our border once and for all,&#8221; the statement said. &#8220;Until that happens, until the border is secure, any discussion of immigration reform is premature. Reforming the immigration system rests solely with the federal government.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Patrick took a single question from the Tribune about his views on policing the Texas workplace. He didn\u2019t directly answer what the state might do with its own considerable power to restore the rule of law in the Texas workplace but said with Trump in the White House, Washington had a \u201creal shot\u201d at both securing the border and fixing the nation\u2019s immigration woes.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cIf we have real legal immigration reform and a president that America really believes has done his best to secure the border, then the question you asked me will be irrelevant in several years,&#8221; Patrick said. His office declined to answer other questions about Patrick&#8217;s border and immigration views.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">For his part, Abbott explained his go-slow approach on E-Verify in a rare<a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2014\/02\/04\/video-abbott-discusses-securing-texans-policy\/\" target=\"_blank\"> open-ended press conference<\/a>\u00a0in 2014, saying the government should set the example for the private sector \u201cbefore the state goes about the process of imposing more mandates on private employers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Fast forward to the approaching 2017 session of the Legislature, though, and most of the private workplace appears likely to remain a safe space for private employers who hire undocumented immigrants.<strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">When it comes to mandatory E-Verify, Sen. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/directory\/charles-schwertner\/\" target=\"_blank\">Charles Schwertner<\/a>, R-Georgetown, author of the 2015 bill, said extending it to all private employers is a non-starter for now in the Texas Legislature.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cWe don\u2019t like a heavy hand on business,\u201d Schwertner said. \u201cIf we can get something done without putting a heavier hand on business, that\u2019s kind of the best way to handle it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Schwertner is proposing instead to extend E-Verify to <a href=\"https:\/\/cms.texastribune.org\/admin\/stories\/story\/108708\/\" target=\"_blank\">state government contractors<\/a>. Most of them are covered already by former Gov. Perry\u2019s existing executive order, but Schwertner wants to make it permanent and enforceable. It&#8217;s too early to say what the chances are for that limited measure.<\/p>\n<h3 dir=\"ltr\">Patrick\u2019s earlier battle<\/h3>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Though knowingly hiring people without proper work documents became a federal crime in 1986, states still have wide discretion to regulate business activity and punish certain companies or individuals that do it. Thanks to a Supreme Court <a href=\"http:\/\/articles.latimes.com\/2011\/may\/26\/nation\/la-na-court-immigration-ruling-20110526\" target=\"_blank\">ruling<\/a> on Arizona\u2019s controversial immigration law, states gained the explicit power in 2011 to require private employers to use E-Verify, and at least nine states \u2014 Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Utah \u2014 made it mandatory for most or all private sector employers, according to a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ncsl.org\/research\/immigration\/state-e-verify-action.aspx\" target=\"_blank\">tally<\/a> by the National Conference of State Legislatures. How far state regulators go in enforcing the laws <a href=\"http:\/\/cis.org\/e-verify-at-the-state-level\" target=\"_blank\">varies significantly<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Long before the ruling on the Arizona law, though, a small group of Texas lawmakers in 2009 got the chance to ponder using their own power to punish employers who illegally hire undocumented immigrants in violation of state labor and tax laws. The lead crusader of that ultimately doomed effort in the Senate: Dan Patrick.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Then a rank-and-file state senator, Patrick proposed legislation that would have suspended business licenses to employers who knowingly hire undocumented immigrants and pay them under the table in cash.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cFor whatever reason \u2014 cheaper labor, a bigger workforce, less accountability or an unfair advantage to their competitors, some employers in Texas choose to operate outside those laws,\u201d Patrick said during a contentious\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/tlcsenate.granicus.com\/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=14&amp;clip_id=2227\" target=\"_blank\">public hearing<\/a> on the bill. \u201cThose employers might prefer to pay a fine when caught. In other words, do it now, ask forgiveness later. This is not the way a business operation in Texas should run.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Patrick said then that the state had clear power to take business licenses away from violators, and he noted the \u201cgreen light\u201d he got to pursue the crackdown in the form of an official state legal\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.texasattorneygeneral.gov\/opinions\/opinions\/50abbott\/op\/2009\/htm\/ga-0695.htm\" target=\"_blank\">opinion<\/a>. The author of that opinion: then-Attorney General Greg Abbott, now the governor.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cFederal immigration law allows for the state government to address the employment of illegal aliens in relation to licensing laws,\u201d Patrick told the Senate Committee on Transportation and Homeland Security. \u201dI see this as a pro-business bill.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">In that view he stood virtually alone, however, and Patrick seemed genuinely perplexed when a parade of business heavyweights unloaded a heap of criticism on his bill.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">When the Texas Association of Business panned the measure, Patrick told Hammond, its influential CEO, that he thought he had the group\u2019s support in closed-door meetings. Hammond said if he gave that impression he \u201cmisspoke.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Patrick\u2019s exchange with chicken magnate Bo Pilgrim, founder of Pilgrim\u2019s Pride, was more illuminating and entertaining. Pilgrim is no stranger to the legislative process or the use of political influence in matters of business regulation.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">In 1989 the folksy chicken processor\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1989\/07\/09\/us\/texas-businessman-hands-out-10000-checks-in-state-senate.html\" target=\"_blank\">grabbed national headlines<\/a> for passing out $10,000 checks in the (then Democratic) Texas Senate in a bid \u2014 ultimately successful \u2014 to gain more protections for business owners who face lawsuits from injured workers.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">In the 2009 hearing, Pilgrim confronted Patrick with a passage from the Bible, Leviticus 19:34, urging that the \u201caliens\u201d among us be treated as though they were native-born.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cIt don\u2019t state where it\u2019s a legal alien or not,\u201d Pilgrim scolded in his deep East Texas drawl.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Patrick tried to convince him that the bill could help companies like Pilgrim\u2019s because it would ensure unscrupulous competitors don\u2019t undercut the company by illegally hiring cheap, imported labor.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Pilgrim didn\u2019t budge. He urged Patrick to lay off state employers and instead focus his efforts on convincing a gridlocked U.S. Congress to pass sweeping immigration reform. In the meantime, he said undocumented workers will continue to flock across the border in search of work.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">That\u2019s when Patrick reiterated his support for giving eventual legal status to foreign workers.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cI join you. We need to have a way to bring the workers here we need,\u201d Patrick answered. \u201cBut we in Texas cannot wait for the federal government to act.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">As the hearing wound down, Patrick could see the writing on the wall. A virtual Who\u2019s Who of Texas business interests joined the Texas Association of Business and Pilgrim in opposing the bill, including representatives of The Texas Farm Bureau, the Texas Association of Builders, the Texas Nursery and Landscaping Association and the Texas Restaurant Association, to name a few.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The bill got closer than these efforts usually do: It went to a tie vote in committee, where it died on party lines \u2014 Republicans for it, Democrats against. A day later, on April 30, 2009, Patrick resurrected the measure and it was voted out of the committee, but moderate Lt. Gov. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/directory\/david-dewhurst\/\" target=\"_blank\">David Dewhurst<\/a> never scheduled it for a vote on the Senate floor, records show.<\/p>\n<h3 dir=\"ltr\">&#8216;A new slave class&#8217;<\/h3>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Almost eight years have passed since Patrick attempted to rein in the worst business practices that, in his view, had turned undocumented immigrants into a \u201cnew slave class in this country.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Despite defeating Dewhurst in 2014 and taking the reins in Texas Senate, though, state government hasn\u2019t moved any closer to punishing or shaming private employers along the lines Patrick advocated in 2009 and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.legis.state.tx.us\/BillLookup\/History.aspx?LegSess=831&amp;Bill=SB30\" target=\"_blank\">2013<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Nor has the U.S. Congress delivered the comprehensive fix Patrick <a href=\"http:\/\/www.edinburgpolitics.com\/tag\/sb\/page\/7\/\" target=\"_blank\">said he wanted<\/a> just days after he was first elected to the Senate: \u201cWe should begin to put into place a guest worker program that identifies who is coming to our country so we can stop drugs and criminals at the border and at the same time bring the workers to Texas that our economy needs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Patrick\u2019s press office did not respond to an email asking if Patrick still thinks a guest worker program is needed.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">With the 2017 Texas legislative session just around the corner, Patrick and his fellow GOP leaders have another opportunity to solve the border and immigration woes they campaigned on. They have huge majorities in both houses of the Legislature.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">While there are no signs yet they\u2019ll directly target the employers who continue to give jobs to undocumented immigrants, Republican leaders might again push up against powerful business interests in their drive to ban so-called \u201csanctuary cities.\u201d The devil, as usual, will be in the details.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">If their final version defines sanctuary cities as those whose jails refuse to hand over \u201ccriminal aliens\u201d wanted for possible deportation by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), they\u2019ll get little blowback from Texas business interests. All Texas sheriffs currently cooperate on such matters with ICE, and only one incoming one, Democratic Sheriff-elect Sally Hernandez of liberal Travis County, has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2016\/08\/31\/austin-poised-become-first-sanctuary-city-texas\/\" target=\"_blank\">made any serious noise<\/a> about changing that.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">But if they go back to the 2011 playbook that drew the ire of business titans like Bob Perry and Charles Butt \u2014 basically changing what immigration enforcement powers local police have \u2014 they should expect a fight.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cWe don\u2019t believe that the state should be dictating to city councils and then police departments with regard to their attitudes and policy of dealing with immigrants,\u201d said Hammond of the Texas Association of Business. \u201cIt\u2019s not the purpose of the police department. That\u2019s the job of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><em>Disclosure: The Texas Association on Business, the Texas Farm Bureau, the Texas Association of Builders, the Texas Nursery and Landscape Association and the Texas Restaurant Association have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune.\u00a0A complete list of Tribune\u00a0donors\u00a0and sponsors can be viewed\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/support-us\/donors-and-members\/\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><em>Juli\u00e1n Aguilar, Travis Putnam Hill and Patrick Svitek contributed to this story.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For all their condemnations of illegal immigration, Texas lawmakers \u2014 Republican and Democratic \u2014 have shown little interest in cracking down on businesses that employ undocumented workers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":250601,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[140,3331,142,2260],"class_list":["post-250593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-border-and-immigration","tag-bordering-on-insecurity","tag-crime","tag-texas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=250593"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250593\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/250601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=250593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=250593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=250593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}