Immigrant déjà vu
In the early 19th century, Mexico granted such as Stephen F. Austin, contracts to settle the Texas wilderness to act as a buffer from land predators. These settlers were to learn the Spanish language, among other conditions.
When those arriving families wrote back home about the paradise they had just found, their relatives and friends descended on Texas illegally.
In his book “Stories From Texas: Some of Them are True,” author W.F. Strong said that the new immigrants were creating quite a problem after crossing the Sabine River separating Texas from Louisiana. William Barret Travis was one of those undocumented aliens working in Texas. Strong said the new arrivals would not assimilate or acculturate and refused to learn the language.
The government was frustrated. It talked of posting the military on the border. The border laws needed to be enforced. A law was passed prohibiting all new immigrants into Texas, and the military was sent to ports of entry to stop those without legal papers.
Does this sound familiar? This was Texas almost 200 years ago, the 1820s and 1830s, before the battle of the Alamo. The concerned government was not in Washington. D.C., but in Mexico City.
Call me an old fogey, but I would not want my daughter to marry a man who has been indicted on two counts of firstdegree securities fraud and one count of third-degree failure to register with the state securities board. Granted, our wonderful democracy declares us innocent until proven guilty, but I wouldn't want such a man in my family.
Now comes Ken Paxton suing the city of San Antonio because of Senate Bill 4. How ironic, and how sad that the electorate voted such a man into office.
How great is our country!