The Dallas City Council has voted to approve a resolution condemning the controversial Texas immigration law Senate Bill 4. While some said it was the right move to show support of the city’s undocumented community, others said it was an act of political performance.
The controversial bill essentially empowers law enforcement officers across Texas to detain those they suspect of being in the country without proper immigration documents. The law has been in legal limbo since being signed into law earlier this year.
Dallas’ resolution, approved at Wednesday's council meeting, “condemns Senate Bill 4 in its current form due to its potential negative impact on public safety and community relations.”
It also recognizes a need to cooperate with state and federal officials and urge the legislature to find solutions that “prioritize safety and respect the diverse communities within” Dallas.
Dallas residents showed up to urge the council to approve the resolution. Through tears, members of the city’s Hispanic and Latino communities spoke of their fears around the new immigration law.
“This is inhumane," Isela Garza, with the Texas Organizing Project, said during the meeting. “It is your duty as our elected officials, and local government, to protect families [that are] being racial profiled. They’ve been harassed just for the simple reason of being Hispanic or Latino.”
Genesis Robledo is a community organizer in District 1. Robledo said every district across Dallas has been positively changed by immigrants.
“SB4 is not just unconstitutional, but it’s also detrimental to the public’s safety — and it is rooted in racial prejudice,” Robledo said during the meeting.
Council Member Adam Bazaldua, who represents District 7, introduced the resolution.
“I know we cant change state law, but what we can do at a local level is to make sure that the impact of state law as we’ve heard from residents here today, is at least understood, hear,” Bazaldua said. “We cannot move backwards in time.”
‘I hope you’ll vote no’
The resolution was passed 11 to 3 — with one council member absent during the vote. Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson, District 12 Council Member Cara Mendelsohn and District 14 Council Member Paul Ridley voted against the resolution.
“I am trying to understand the point of this entire resolution,” Mendelsohn said. “The resolution is simply political performance that will degrade the relationship we have with state leaders and change absolutely nothing.”
Mendelsohn said the language of the policy goes outside of the council’s jurisdiction and could hinder the city’s other legislative priorities in Austin.
“If you have a legislative priority you want passed in this next session, I hope you’ll vote no,” Mendelsohn said. “Passing this resolution will have a negative effect on the ability of our city to advance our legislative priorities and it will invite additional preemptive bills.”
In a June 11 email sent to the mayor and city council, one of the bill’s sponsors, House District 68 Rep. David Spiller said it had come to his attention that the resolution would be coming before council.
“I respectfully request that you not pass the Resolution,” Spiller said in the email.
Spiller pointed to what he claimed were errors in the resolution’s preamble, stating that the bill is “not about law enforcement officers arresting people they ‘suspect’ crossed into Texas illegally.”
“The officers would have to have probable cause that someone did so and, frankly, in most instances, would have none unless the officer saw someone cross illegally, knew who crossed, know when they crossed, and know how they crossed,” Spiller’s email said.
“Unless an officer had extremely good vision from Dallas to the border, they wouldn’t know that and would have absolutely no basis to detain or arrest anyone suspected of Illegal Entry,” he continued.
During the meeting, District 3 Council Member Zarin Gracey said that at a recent community meeting, conducted entirely in Spanish, he heard from residents about their fear to show up to City Hall.
“Some of the residents…they were afraid to actually attend a city meeting,” Gracey said. “Never mind just your safety of walking down the street…and if they were saying, ‘if you want us to show up, you literally have to put SB4 will not apply’ so they will feel comfortable coming to a city meeting.”
Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia reassured residents that he understood the fear they might be feeling about the law.
“I am not naïve, I am very sensitive to the fact that our community is fearful,” Garcia said. “SB4 in no way supersedes the state law banning racial profiling in law enforcement agencies.”
Garcia highlighted the fact that if SB4 passes the legal barriers it currently faces, it prohibits police chiefs to stop officers from enforcing the law.
“Having said that, that’s one of the reasons why we have already gotten together and started formalizing a policy,” Garcia said.
He said the city has met with racial profiling experts, the District Attorney’s Office and other agencies to ensure the policy will help guide the city in the event SB4 passes.
‘We’re singing a different tune’
The city of Dallas has passed resolutions that critics have called performative, claiming they fell outside of the city’s jurisdiction and wouldn’t ultimately amount to change. Bazaldua pointed out what he called inconsistencies and hypocrisy during the discussion.
“Our body absolutely doesn’t have a purview within immigration, just as we didn’t when it came to foreign affairs,” Bazaldua said. “But this body was very proud to support a resolution that condemned Hamas and terrorism, and now we’re singing a different tune.”
Following an attack on Israeli citizens late last year by Gaza-based terrorist organization, Hamas, the council passed a resolution condemning the action.
In December 2023, Bazaldua called on the council to pass a resolution calling for an immediate humanitarian aid effort along with an “exit strategy for all innocent civilians in Gaza.”
At the time, Mendelsohn, who has been an outspoken advocate of the Israeli government’s actions after Hamas’ terrorist attack, indicated to KERA that she would not be supportive of that effort.
"If one thought it was necessary for a city council to advocate for specific action related to Gaza, it should be a call for an immediate return of all hostages and total surrender of the terrorist organization Hamas," she said.
Mendelsohn told KERA on Wednesday that this resolution is different.
“The City Council has previously condemned atrocities and unprovoked military attacks,” she said in a text. “This resolution is criticizing a bill passed by the Texas House, Texas Senate, and signed by the Governor.”
Other council members agreed that the resolution might not have much traction — but it could send a powerful message to Dallas residents.
“Does this have teeth? No not really. Is it out of the purview of a city council? Yeah,” District 13 Council Member Gay Donnell Willis said. “But if we can assuage some fear over attending a city of Dallas meeting…then I support this.”
Got a tip? Email Nathan Collins at ncollins@kera.org. You can follow Nathan on Twitter @nathannotforyou.
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