While reading the following, I asked myself what our new district attorney should do.
Among the many changes President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to bring to the Oval Office when he begins his second term on Jan. 20 is a continuation of the hardline immigration policies he implemented during his first term.
Those policies could have a dramatic impact on the Houston region, where nearly 30 percent of the population is foreign-born. Yet even though it is the federal government that adjudicates and enforces immigration law, local law enforcement agencies will also play a role.
Arrests and convictions for even minor state crimes can trigger a wide range of immigration consequences, including deportation, making the Harris County District Attorney’s Office a key player for noncitizens as federal policy evolves under Trump.
“In the (district attorney’s) offices, when they truly understand immigration, they can make a really big impact on people’s lives,” said Ruby Powers, a Houston-based immigration lawyer.
Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare, a first-term Democrat who took office on Jan. 1, declined to be interviewed for this story.
It is going to get worse as the US Congress has passed the following:
The U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation on Tuesday targeting undocumented immigrants for deportation if they’re charged with nonviolent crimes such as shoplifting.
The Laken Riley Act passed on a 264-159 vote, with 48 Democrats joining Republicans — including Texas Democratic Reps. Henry Cuellar of Laredo and Vicente Gonzalez of McAllen. The proposed law now goes to the Senate on Friday, where Republicans hold the majority. Republicans control 53 seats and need seven Senate Democrats to vote in favor for the bill to pass.
The bill is named after Laken Riley, a 22-year-old Augusta University nursing student in Georgia who was killed in February 2024 by José Antonio Ibarra, a 26-year-old Venezuelan man who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border through El Paso in 2022.
Months before the killing, Ibarra was arrested on a shoplifting charge at a Georgia Walmart but was later released.
My suggestion is that Sean Teare not think about the consequences for someone here illegally. If he charges a citizen, then the non-legal resident does not need nor should they get special privileges.