AUSTIN, Texas – A Hispanic Texas lawmaker who a Republican colleague threatened to shoot “in self-defense” after the Democrat pushed him said Tuesday that the altercation was a boiling point in a session where minority members were powerless to stop conservative legislation they say is discriminatory.
Tensions erupted on the floor of the Texas House of Representative on Monday when Republican state Rep. Matt Rinaldi told Democrats he called U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents about demonstrators in the gallery holding signs that read “I am illegal and here to stay.”
Hundreds of immigrant-rights activists – many of whom were Hispanic – had jammed the state Capitol on the final day before the Texas Legislature adjourned until 2019. Some came from as far as Arizona to protest a “sanctuary city” crackdown that will allow police starting September to ask people during routine stops whether they’re in the U.S. legally.
Democratic state Rep. Poncho Nevarez did not deny pushing Rinaldi, who wrote on Facebook that he told Nevarez after being threatened that “I would shoot him in self-defense.” Nevarez said he was “sick of” the attitudes toward Hispanics in the Legislature and was taking a stand.
“Another legislator sidled up to me yesterday and said, ‘Those aren’t Americans up there.'” said Nevarez, referring to the protesters in the gallery.