Burnam Kills "Homeland Security" Bill

The Homeland Security bill seemed to be gliding easily toward passage in the legislature, even though it was opposed by the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU thought it would put too much new power in the governor's office and politicized the homeland security issue.

That changed yesterday, as Rep. Lon Burnam (D-Ft. Worth) killed the bill on a point of order. He said that he and others believed the bill would curtail some civil liberties.

The bill's author, Rep. David Swinford (R-Dumas), was quick to claim this move would cost the state of Texas millions of dollars in homeland security grants. Rep. Burnam said it would not. I have to believe Burnam on this one.

Whatever the federal government wants to do on homeland security, the one thing they cannot do is leave Texas out. Leaving Texas out of any formula to do anything with our southern border, leaves a big enough gap to make any proposal a joke. Texas must be included in any discussion of border security.

There is still a small chance the bill will be revived. Sen. John Carona (R-Dallas) is trying to revive the bill in the senate. To do so, he must strip the bill of all 14 senate amendments and then get it passed by a "super majority" of the senate. At this point, it's anybody's guess as to whether that can be done.

Many Republicans have spent this legislative session jumping on the anti-immigrant bandwagon. But the truth is that Texas gains more from its immigrants than it loses (even the ones that come here illegally). They provide a huge economic boon that far outweighs the few government dollars spent on them.

The Republican war against brown people is not only bigoted, it is stupid. It will hurt Texas economically and worsen our relations with Mexico.

Hopefully, there are enough senators to keep this bill in its freshly dug grave. Then we can turn our attention to killing federal efforts to harm our southern border, including the ridiculous wall and the terrible new immigration bill.