With no signs that attacks on the immigrant community will slow down any time soon, Austin City Council on June 28 voted through a measure to get the ball rolling to create an Office of Immigrant Affairs. The resolution directs the city manager to review what’s in place in other cities that have similar offices (for example, Dallas) and report back on how the city can up its investment in protecting immigrants. Part of that task includes exploring options for funding a clinic to help immigrants learn how to become citizens. Austin is home to the largest refugee resettlement site in Central Texas, with about 57,000 Austin residents eligible for citizenship, according to city documents.
Sponsored by CMs Delia Garza, Leslie Pool, Greg Casar, Pio Renteria, and Mayor Steve Adler, the resolution came after council members visited the “tent city” in Tornillo, Texas, that houses more than 300 migrant children torn apart from their families when crossing the border as a result of (now reversed) federal policies. The item wasn’t just about the logistics of a new office but also about showing opposition to any policy that ends in separating children from their parents or in the mass incarceration of immigrant children. “I proposed this resolution to send a strong message to the immigrant community that Austin has leaders who will stand up and fight for them, that the immoral and un-American Trump policies do not reflect who Austin is or the values of our community,” said a passionate Garza during a press conference at City Hall last week. “We must do everything that we can to support immigrant families in Austin and across the country.”
This article appears in July 6 • 2018.