State Representative Poncho Nevarez Threatened With His Life on Final Day of 85th Legislative Session
By: Miguel Munoz, Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc., Copyright 2017
Texas State Representative Alfonso “Poncho” Nevarez (D-Eagle Pass) received a death threat from a fellow State Representative Matt Rinaldi (R-Irving) on the last day of the 140 days long 85th Texas Legislative Session on Monday, May 29, 2017.
During the last day of the 85th Texas Legislative Session, concerned Texans organized a protest rally against the passage of Senate Bill 4 “Sanctuary” City law (Show Me Your Papers) in the gallery of the Texas House of Representatives and State Capitol to demonstrate the intentional discrimination and racism of this law against Latinos, African-Americans, and minorities approved by the Texas Republican-majority Senate and House of Representatives and signed into law by Governor Gregg Abbott on May 7, 2017.
The protestors carried signs, placards, and wore red-colored shirts expressing their displeasure against this controversial Senate Bill 4 “Sanctuary” City.
One Texas Republican State Representative Matt Rinaldi did not seem to like the House gallery being full of protestors and told fellow Democratic State Representatives on the House Floor that he had called the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) against the protestors, whom he claimed some carried signs that stated they were here illegally and planned to stay anyway, causing strong disbelief among Democratic State Representatives that a State Representative would have called ICE against the protestors.
Several Democratic State Representatives heard State Representative Matt Rinaldi state to “Fuck Them” to the protestors, causing a scuffle and arguments among State Representatives with Rinaldi. State Representative Poncho Nevarez caught wind of Rinaldi’s statements and told him that these things would be better taken care outside of the House Floor, which Rinaldi misinterpreted as Nevarez seeking to threatening him to physically get him and replying that he would put a bullet through Nevarez’s head in self-defense.
State Representative Matt Rinaldi’s unprofessional conduct and reaction to the Senate Bill 4 protestors proved all the legal arguments of many Texans who opposed the passage of Senate Bill 4 “Sanctuary” City law, including the racial profiling of all the protestors and people of color in the House Gallery as being undocumented aliens when in fact they were not, the racial animus and intent of Senate Bill 4 “Sanctuary” City law as being discrimination and racist against Latinos, African-Americans, and minorities in Texas, and the suppression of minorities legal and constitutional rights of freedom of speech, to peacefully assemble, and to vote in Texas. Rinaldi just disproved all the disguised law and order arguments made by the Texas Republican-majority Legislature in approving this hateful and discriminatory Senate Bill 4 “Sanctuary” City.
The Texas Republican Party has a horrific record of discriminating against the growing Latino, African-American, and minority community in Texas through passage of discriminatory Voter ID Law, Congressional Re-Districting, State Re-Districting, Senate Bill 4 “Sanctuary” City, failing to provide an equitable public education funding scheme, reducing or denying Medicaid insurance funding, and many other state laws with similar results.
Recently, top American and Texas CEOs of the largest corporations such as Facebook, Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft wrote a letter to Texas Governor Gregg Abbott requesting that he stopped passing discriminatory laws in Texas because it has a counter-productive effect on business, the economy, and profits.
The Texas Republican Party during its years of dominance in state politics has established a systematic discriminatory, oppressive, and suppressive political and educational systems against Latinos, African-Americans, and minorities in Texas instead of assisting them to fulfill their full social, cultural, and economic potential to make and grow the State of Texas’ economy to its fullest potential. The discrimination, racism, and hate has just got to stop in Texas. The time has come for all people from all walks of life, citizenship, race, national origin, creed, sex, and ethnicity to live and work in peace, harmony, and love in order to maximize Texas’ full potential.
