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How excited are Texas Republicans to file their own Arizona-style immigration reform? This excited:
[State Rep. Debbie] Riddle set up some folding chairs and pitched a make-shift campsite outside the floor of the Texas House of Representatives beginning on Saturday afternoon to make sure she was the first in line when the chief clerk’s office opened for early filing this morning. She spent both Saturday and Sunday night sleeping on the lobby floor.
“A visitor that walked by told me that I reminded them of the kids that camp out for Duke basketball tickets in Durham, North Carolina,” Riddle said. “It was eye-opening to realize that people think it’s normal to be passionate about something like college basketball, but odd to be passionate about your state’s politics.”
Hook ’em. The main prize, as Riddle brags on her website, was HB 17, which more or less parrots Arizona’s SB 1070, allowing police to check the immigration status of anyone they pull over for a traffic stop. Another proposed bill requires parents of public school children to provide proof of citizenship (pdf) and/or immigration status, which would then be forked over to the state, as part of an effort to “identify and analyze any impact on the standard or quality of education” from illegal immigration. Yet another bill seeks to crack down on “sanctuary cities.” Riddle, who made a name for herself as the Paul Revere of the “terror baby” menace, also introduced two bills (one that would increase the penalty for driving without a license, and one requiring valid ID in order to vote) that took on immmigration indirectly.
As I noted last month, it’s no sure thing that immigration reform will pass in the Lone State State, where the party’s biggest donors would prefer to see inaction. But after a landslide election (GOPers gained 44 seats in the Texas house) and with the base so fired up its leaders are literally squatting on the floors of the legislature, don’t expect conservatives to back down so easily.
