Duque, who is Latina and Catholic, represents two constituencies Abbott courted during his campaign. The same constituencies strongly opposed the sanctuary cities ban, which Abbott made an emergency item in January and championed throughout the legislative session.
Now, his crusade may have cost him the support of some Latinos and Catholics, who are promising to oppose Abbott when he runs for re-election next year.
“He says one thing, but does another,” Duque said. “I think this is a moment for the next generation of Latinos to come out and vote and elect someone who will be really honest.”
During Abbott’s State of the State Address in late January, he pointed out a guest in the audience, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, the archbishop of Galveston-Houston and the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Abbott thanked DiNardo for his support on issues, such as abortion, that he fights on partly because of his Catholic faith.
But Abbott hasn’t publicly responded to DiNardo and other Texas bishops who oppose the sanctuary cities ban. The Texas Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a statement two weeks ago saying its members were “disappointed” in the bill passed by the House and signed by Abbott.
“Immigration law should be enforced in a way that is targeted, proportional and humane,” DiNardo said in that statement. “This bill does not meet the standard.”
On Friday, the Texas bishops joined a chorus of other advocacy groups asking Abbott to veto the bill. Sunday night, as churchgoers were wrapping up their days of worship, Abbott signed the sanctuary cities ban during a Facebook Live video stream. Some Catholics took that as an affront.
“I’m shocked that the Governor chose to sign this anti-Latino, anti-immigrant, ‘Show Me Your Papers’ bill today on a day of worship,” Rep. Cesar Blanco, D-El Paso, said in a statement. “While many Hispanics and immigrants are attending mass, the Governor is signing a bill that will profile these people and tear apart their families.”
Here’s a letter signed by a large number of faith leaders denouncing SB4, which will have no more effect on Abbott than a letter signed by Hollywood celebrities. You’ve heard the term “cafeteria Catholic”, which refers to people who pick and choose which part of the dogma they adhere to? It’s often used derisively to describe pro-choice Catholics, but by any reasonable definition, it fits Greg Abbott to a T. He’s right there on banning abortion and discriminating against the gays, but one matters like immigration, refugees, economic and environmental justice and on and on, he’s no more devout than any Christmas-and-Easter-only churchgoer. Like the people who pray in public, he wants to make sure you know how super-duper pious he is.
And look, it’s not like he’s ever made any secret of his support of “sanctuary cities” legislation. If you thought otherwise, you probably also thought Donald Trump wasn’t going to take away your health insurance. All I can say now is I hope you’ve finally figured it out.
I voted for Abbott he was much better than his opponent.
Here in Harris County lip service is sometimes is payed to immigration but the Democratic Party would rather kowtow to the Republicans on the immigration issue while fighting for Gay and Women rights, that is not lost to those of us that keep up with politics in Harris County.
While I believe that people like Beto O’Rourke may help carry Harris County for the Democrats in 2018 I don’t expect the bigotry of the Democratic Party toward the Latino community to change. If you don’t think that Latinos made a difference let me quote what Hector DeLeon stated in a comment, found in the Texas Tribune.
“The Census report use as a basis for the Texas Tribune story about Hispanic voter turnout in the 2016 election is not accurate. It suggests that the Hispanic vote was only up by 48,000. A simple surname query using a Census list of 12,000 Spanish surnames indicates that an estimated 250,011 Spanish-surnamed voters cast ballots in the 2016 election in Harris County. In the 2012 election, using the same list of surnames shows that an estimated 179,000 voted. That is an increase of 71,000 just in Harris County. Even when conducting the query with a more conservative list, the Census’ list titled the 639 Most Frequently Occurring Heavily Hispanic Surnames, the number of Spanish-surnamed voters totals 210,040 in 2016. That is compared to 149,528 using the same list in 2012 election. That is an increase of over 60,000 just in Harris County. Regardless of the Spanish-surname list utilized, the queries suggest the 2016 Hispanic voter turnout was up about 40 percent in Harris County. There is no way the Hispanic vote increase in the third largest county in the nation would not be reflected statewide. That Census report merits 4 Pinocchios for not true.”
Some morning when I read what the Left writes, I think neither party deserves my vote they are both as bad when it comes to people that are Spanish surnamed, but at least the Republicans attempt to reach out to them which is much more than the white privileged Democrats do.
Forgot to link where the comment can be found.
https://www.texastribune.org/2017/05/11/hispanic-turnout-2016-election/
My own analysis of the 2016 election finds the same type of numbers of those that voted in Harris County.
The straight party vote is one of the reasons Democrats carried Harris County, take that away and you would have had many Latinos who would have voted for Clinton and gone home, and I ain’t talking about the Black vote.
If you think Catholics are the ones that vote for Abbott based on abortion then you have not met the non-Catholic Hispanic Christians. Democrats want to do well they need to go way beyond their bigotry.
“If you thought otherwise, you probably also thought Donald Trump wasn’t going to take away your health insurance. All I can say now is I hope you’ve finally figured it out.”
So anyone that thought different is on ACA insurance? They are not capable of thinking, as I stated white privilege at work analyzing that which they don’t understand or attempt to understand.
Unions are a waste, how did they do in Pasadena? They pander to the Democrats while supporting the Republicans, wake up you so called progressives.
“So anyone that thought different is on ACA insurance? They are not capable of thinking….”
Neither: American Hispanics in Texas are not capable of obtaining a Texas DL or Texas ID card. It stands to reason that they all only have medical coverage thanks to the ACA and Medicaid. Life on the plantation……
Neither:
As to the unions, think about it. I know lots of people employed in the O&G industry, and the petrochemical industry. Those are good, well paying jobs, and there’s a very clear demarcation between Trump supporting those industries via lighter regulation and better trade deals, and the Dems, who promise even harsher regulation, and continuation of bad trade deals, TPP etc., with resulting job losses. Look at coal country. The union members in Pasadena know what side their bread is buttered on, regardless of what their union leadership actually supports. I’m sure the dues still supports the Dem party, but the rank and file have gone rogue, acting in their own self interest, and that’s not likely to change.
Reagan was able to break through to the union rank and file, and now Trump has blown that door wide open. The only unions that might still actually hold sway to get their members to vote Dem at this point would be SEIU and the like……unskilled, easily replaceable folks. The odd thing about this is, those easily replaceable people at the bottom rung are the ones most threatened by illegal immigration, which holds wages down and increases competition for those unskilled jobs. That’s good for the business owners who employ unskilled labor, but not great for the laborers themselves, who can’t figure out why the “fight for $ 15/hr” campaign has been such an abject failure. No need to pay $ 15/hr when there’s a steady stream of new folks willing to work hard for $ 7/hr.
Having worked in union shops when they were mostly white union people, in Pasadena, many unions now see minorities getting jobs their family or friends would have gotten before but for affirmative action. By the way the unions are the ones that pushed to keep the status quo.
We are all replaceable no one’s life is worth more than another in the eyes of God, man is not as smart as God and tends to worship Mammon. God takes everyone their final destination is the only thing unknown.