AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – A federal appeals court says Texas landlords and humanitarian workers shouldn’t fear prosecution under a sweeping state border security law that targeted people “harboring” immigrants who are illegally in the U.S.
The decision Thursday was unusually celebrated by both Republicans who drafted the 2015 law and civil rights attorneys who sued over concerns it could sweep up people other than human smugglers or kidnappers.
Some landlords and shelters worried the anti-smuggling crackdowns could make them criminally liable for renting an apartment or offering a bed to undocumented immigrants.
Republican state Rep. Dennis Bonnen called the lawsuit “a joke” and says that was never the intent. But the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund says the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has now assured their clients they won’t be targeted.
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