Austin OKs $200,000 in aid for immigrants

Money will help those in need of legal assistance.

Austin City Council members approved giving $200,000 in emergency city funding on Thursday to provide legal help to immigrants, after an emotionally charged debate in which two council members fought back tears.

The money, proposed by Council Member Greg Casar, adds to the city’s existing contract with Catholic Charities of Central Texas, which helps immigrants secure legal status, obtain U.S. work authorization and get counseling services. The funding will provide services for an additional 50 people per month.

Representatives of the organization, which already provides such services under a contract with the city, said the number of people seeking legal help has increased in the last month from about 25 per week to about 40 per week.

Casar became choked up as he described this “very emotional time” in his North Austin district, which is home to a large number of Latinos and refugees, and relayed some of the hostile voice mail message his office has received.

“We have a history in this country of standing up for immigrants, of standing up for everyone’s Constitutional rights,” he said. “And we also have a history of coming up with degrading labels for people whose rights we want to take away.”

While several other council members also weighed in supporting the additional funding, Council Member Ellen Troxclair said the job of helping immigrants should be one for nonprofits, and suggested an amendment to provide a smaller amount of public funding and seeking private matches for the rest.

She noted some immigrants need help as victims of abuse or people seeking asylum. But “there are also people who are here who have committed heinous crimes and who have been accused of sexually assaulting children and domestic violence, and so I think the thing we have to understand is that this conversation is driven by fear on both sides,” Troxclair said.

She added that people who are concerned about immigrants who are here illegally are “not hateful.”

“They feel like their quality of life and their future in this country is being threatened,” Troxclair said. “They feel like their safety is being threatened when they see reports of undocumented immigrants committing crimes against people in our community and not being held accountable.”

Troxclair’s comments brought a fiery response from Casar, who accused Troxclair of playing politics and spreading fear by trying to tie immigrants to crime.

“The anecdotes you’ve expressed are false,” he said to loud audience applause. “We’re not here to protect your quality of life by protecting you from certain people from certain places.”

The fireworks in the council chambers played out as screams, cheers and horn honking from a “Day Without an Immigrant” protest outside City Hall echoed into the room.

Earlier in the debate, Council Members Delia Garza and Sabino “Pio” Renteria pointed to immigrants’ fears amid recent deportation actions, and noted that nearly everyone is descended from immigrants.

Renteria said families like his were in Texas long before it was part of the United States, and their family ties were not lessened because of where the border ended up being set.

“I get really offended when I hear (anti-Hispanic) comments,” he said. “We opened our arms to the Europeans when they came into Texas and Mexico.”

All but Troxclair joined with Casar in supporting the item. She began to cry during his response to her remarks, and said she could just as easily accuse him of playing politics.

“I wasn’t elected to the City Council to talk about the presidential election or argue against federal immigration policy,” she said, but added: “I will continue to speak out for (conserva- tive) thoughts and opinions, even when they are treated as irrelevant or stupid.”