Immigration News: Latinos in Texas Push for Tougher Immigration Laws

A growing number of Latinos in Texas are pushing for tougher immigration laws.

Latino Texans have formed an activist group in support of tougher immigration laws, including the passage of a bill that would stop cities from implementing policies banning local police from asking immigration-related questions, My Fox Houston reports.

A 53-year-old retired military man, Pedro Rivera, is working with the director of the Remembrance Project, Maria Espinoza, in an effort to recruit Latino conservatives to speak out in support of SB 185.

Espinoza's Houston-based organization worked with families of Americans who were killed by undocumented immigrants.

The group traveled to Austin to stop Texas cities from adopting their own immigration related policies.

Back in 2011, the Texas Senate passed a similar measure which prompted protests before becoming state law.

"We have more Latinos who are behind this issue and also law enforcement," Espinoza said. "We have (four) sheriffs who testified with us to remove sanctuary city policies."

Espinoza disagrees with critics saying that passing SB 185 would promote racial profiling.

"I have never been pulled over. My daughter has never been pulled over, and none of her friends have been pulled over because of profiling," she said

She said people have to weigh in the odds because there are victims who have been murdered by people who "should not have been in the country in the first place."

"There is no comparison in lives lost to someone being detained (for questioning) for five or ten minutes," Espinoza said.

Meanwhile, a Paragon Insights poll found that many Americans supported stronger rules that make it tougher for businesses to employ undocumented immigrants, Breitbart reports.

About 56 percent of those Americans who approved tougher immigration laws were Latino.

The poll also found that a majority of Americans opposed President Barack Obama's executive amnesty and want Congress to defund it.

Only 36 percent of Americans support Obama's executive action on immigration.