Texas state Rep. Victoria Neave (D-Dallas) is on her fourth day of fasting in protest of SB4, the controversial bill that would make sanctuary cities illegal in Texas. The Senate has already approved the bill, and the House is set to vote Wednesday night.
Authored by Sen. Charles Perry (R-Lubbock), Senate Bill 4 requires cities and college campuses to comply with federal immigration officials in inquires about people’s immigration status. Failure to comply with immigration officials will result in financial penalties.
Neave herself comes from immigrant parents. In an interview with the Austin America-Statesman, Neave mentions Cesar Chavez’s hunger strike as inspiration. “I know we don’t have the votes to defeat this bill so this was a form of sacrifice, a form of peaceful protest to hopefully encourage others to pray or to help us lobby,” Neave said.
The last meal Neave had was the Holy Communion on Sunday, while attending mass in Dallas.
#SB4 will make us less safe & have a chilling effect on communities. I'm fasting for 4 days in opposition #txlege https://t.co/lo7g6pLiKC
— Victoria Neave Criado (@Victoria4Texas) April 23, 2017
Republicans and Democratic leaders continue to introduce new amendments to the bill in an effort to soften it. Democrats who oppose SB 4 wore black in protest to the capitol as they debated the bill, but were overwhelmingly outnumbered.
“I don’t know if people realize the impact this is going to have on our communities,” Neave said. “This is very personal to me.”
H/T Fox 7