A Republican State Representative from Tarrant County has filed legislation that would put an end to programs created by some local governments across Texas that use tax dollars to provide legal services to illegal immigrants facing deportation from the United States.
House Bill 1554, by State Representative Giovanni Capriglione, would prohibit a governmental entity in the State of Texas from providing “public money, including a grant award, to any person for the provision of legal services in a removal or other immigration-related civil proceeding regarding an individual who is unlawfully present in the United States according to the terms of the federal Immigration and Nationality Act.”
In 2020, Harris County became the first County in Texas to create an “Immigrant Legal Services Fund,” with an initial appropriation of $2 million, to provide legal services to illegal immigrants who faced deportation.
Publicly funded deportation defense funds have been a priority for the Vera Institute of Justice. This leftist policy advocacy group has received funding from the George Soros-backed Open Society Foundations and the Biden Administration’s Department of Justice.
In 2017, the Vera Institute launched the “Safety & Fairness for Everyone (SAFE) Network,” which it describes as “a unique collaboration among governments, immigration legal service providers, and advocates working together to build and implement publicly funded universal representation programs at the local and state levels.”
Harris County has worked directly with the Vera Institute on its initiatives to provide legal services to illegal immigrants and has a contractual agreement with the Vera Institute to be a “SAFE Partner.” According to the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, Bexar County, as well as the cities of Austin, Dallas, and San Antonio, have also allocated taxpayer dollars to assist illegal immigrants with deportation defense.
