- Harris County Commissioners Court will consider a proposal to spend an additional $1,334,751 to provide legal services to illegal immigrants facing deportation
- Harris County established an Immigrant Legal Services Fund in 2020 to provide legal services to illegal immigrants
- State Representative Giovanni Capriglione filed a bill during the recent legislative session that would have banned local governments in Texas from funding the legal representation of illegal immigrants in deportation proceedings
Harris County Commissioners Court is set to consider an agenda item to spend more than $1.3 million to provide legal services to illegal immigrants who are facing deportation.
The agenda item for the October 16 meeting requests approval to continue contracting with five organizations that receive taxpayer funds from Harris County through the County’s Immigrant Legal Services Fund Program. If approved, the organizations would receive an additional $1,334,751 from Harris County taxpayers to continue providing legal services to illegal immigrants.
According to the background statement provided on the agenda item, “On November 10, 2020, Harris County Housing & Community Development Department (HCD) received Commissioners Court approval to design and implement the Immigrant Legal Services Fund (ILSF) Program in Harris County. Commissioners Court allocated Harris County General Funds for the one-year provision for deportation defense legal services, subject to a one-year extension. The selected vendors delivered direct legal representation to immigrants or indigent residents of Harris County who were unrepresented by legal counsel in detention status or facing the threat of deportation.”
The organizations set to receive funds under the proposal are:
BakerRipley: $300,000
Galveston-Houston Immigrant Representation Project: $243,687
Justice for All Immigrants: $278,690
KIND, Inc.: $278,687
Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Service: $243,687
The practice of providing taxpayer-funded legal representation to illegal immigrants has drawn the ire of some conservative state lawmakers.
State Representative Giovanni Capriglione authored House Bill 1554 during the legislative session earlier this year that would have prohibited 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.”
Capriglione’s legislation received a hearing in the Texas House State Affairs Committee, where it passed on a 10-5 vote. However, the bill did not receive a vote on the House floor.
Organizations that provided testimony against House Bill 1554 included the Texas Immigration Law Council, the American Immigration Lawyers Association- Texas Chapter, the Texas Unitarian Universalist Justice Ministry, and the Texas Civil Rights Project. Representatives from Harris County Commissioners Court and Travis County Commissioners Court also registered their opposition to the bill.
In addition to Harris County, Bexar County, and the cities of Austin, San Antonio, and Dallas have spent taxpayer funds to provide legal services for illegal immigrants.
