Image via Twitter
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner promised to personally defend illegal immigrants hesitant to seek help or shelter in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, Fox News reports.
Turner, an attorney, said that if any illegal immigrant is turned over to federal immigration authorities while fleeing Harvey, he will represent them himself.
“I don’t care who you are, I don’t care what your status is,” Turner said in a press conference on Monday. “I do not want you to run the risk of losing your life or [that of] a family member because you’re concerned about (Senate Bill) 4 or anything else."
“Put SB4 on the shelf right now,” he said.
Texas Senate Bill 4, or SB4, outlaws sanctuary cities in the state and threatens denial of state grant funds as a penalty for noncompliance. SB4 also gives state and local law enforcement the ability to check immigration status.
The bill is set to take effect Friday, Sept. 1.
“There’s absolutely no reason why anyone should not call [for help],” Turner went on. “And I and others will be the first ones to stand up with you."
He added, “If someone comes and they require help and then for some reason [someone] tries to deport them, I will represent them myself.”
Turner retweeted the City of Houston on Tuesday, assuring illegal immigrants that the city “WILL NOT ASK FOR IMMIGRATION STATUS OR PAPERS AT ANY SHELTER.”
Houston continues to deal with catastrophic flooding from Harvey, which has spun down to a tropical storm over Texas but again made landfall in Louisiana early Wednesday morning.
FEMA administrator Brock Long in an update on Wednesday said that more than 230 shelters in Texas are housing more than 30,000 people.
There are an estimated 30,000 to 40,000 homes destroyed in the Houston area.
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