AUSTIN, Texas — Today, Attorney General Jeff Sessions plugged the Trump Administration’s immigration priorities in a speech in Austin, Texas. During his remarks, Sessions openly praised SB4, a recent Texas bill which, as passed, effectively turns state and local law enforcement officers into federal immigration agents by allowing them to question the immigration status of people they detain or arrest and punishes elected officials who do not turn over immigrants subject to possible deportation.
“Donald Trump ran for office as a law-and-order candidate and now he is governing as a law-and-order president,” Sessions said. “Under his strong leadership, we are finally getting serious about crime and the rule of law. And we are finally getting serious about illegal immigration.”
“Speaking in Texas today, Jeff Sessions reinforced the Trump administration’s open hostility to minorities, immigrants, and the LGBTQ community,” said Sarah Kate Ellis President and CEO of GLAAD. “Now more than ever it is imperative to fight alongside undocumented people and communities of color who are targeted by the Trump Administration’s discriminatory immigration agenda.”
The Trump Administration continues to target undocumented immigrants, including an estimated 267,000 who identify as LGBTQ. Within the past two months alone, the administration has rescinded the DACA program, ordered ICE officials to portray immigrants as criminals in order to push for more raids, and, most recently, moved forward with on a plan to massively increase federal immigration jails by partnering with more privately-run prisons.
Estimates have shown 71% of undocumented LGBTQ adults are Hispanic and 15% Asian or Pacific Islander. LGBTQ immigrants detained by ICE face an increased risk of abuse and mistreatment detention with transgender women facing higher rates of detention and the associated harms.
