Helen Gym, vice-chair of Local Progress, a nonprofit representing progressive elected officials from around the United States, and a member of the Philadelphia City Council, spoke to a crowd of activists and other elected officials at the Texas Legislature on July 28, 2017. The rally gathered in opposition to SB4, the recently signed law which would overrule local protections on undocumented immigrants and force law enforcement officials to actively participate in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) actions. It’s been compared to a “supercharged” version of Arizona’s infamous “Show Us Your Papers” law.
Over 150 elected officials signed off on a letter to Gov. Greg Abbott opposing the law. In her speech, Gym compared SB4 to similar bills that have been introduced in other parts of the country. She continued,
These things are not unique. They call back to the darkest days of our times and of our struggles for civil and human rights. … We meet that with another calling back to those times when we remind ourselves that an unjust law is no law at all, when we tell ourselves that we have a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws in this country.
Read more:
- Texas Police Say “Show Me Your Papers” Law Is Damaging Public Safety — Before Even Taking Effect
- Under Trump, local governments become activists
- Newest Immigration Law Could Cost Texas $13 Billion, Report Finds
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‘An Unjust Law Is No Law At All’: Philadelphia Councilperson Helen Gym On Immigration & Texas Bill SB4 by Kit O’Connell is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at https://kitoconnell.com/2017/08/07/helen-gym-immigration-sb4/.
