On Tuesday, if one were to type the word Texas into the Google search engine, one would be immediately inundated with news reports of turmoil and protest in our state house.
This is due to some shameful behavior on representatives on both sides of the isle. If you have not heard, it began when S.B. 4 protestors were loudly demonstrating against the sanctuary cities bill. Some of the protestors held up signs that claimed they were illegal immigrants and they were here to stay.
After this had been going on for some time, Matt Rinaldi, R-Irving, went to a couple of Hispanic Democratic colleagues and said he had called Immigration and Customs Enforcement on the protesters with the hope that the agency would deport the protestors.
What followed was chaos. There was shoving and some legislators had to be restrained, according to the New York Times. According to that same story, Rep. Poncho Nevárez D-Eagle Pass got into a heated argument with Rinaldi and another representative claimed that Rinaldi threatened to “put a bullet in one of his colleague’s heads.”
There is no reason for any of this. If the protestors were indeed trespassing, they should have been arrested by the police but if they were within their rights, then Rinaldi should have respected their right to free speech.
What Rinaldi did was needlessly provocative and childish, but the Democrats behaved no better in response. They should know that yelling, shoving and general turmoil has no place in the halls of our democracy.
It is not surprising that Democrats and Republicans do not agree on certain things. However, that disagreement should never boil over and turn our state house into a national joke.