State Representative Kronda Thimesch
May 15, 2023
President Trump enacted Title 42 during the pandemic to enable us to prevent illegal immigrants from coming into the country, to prevent further community health risk. Now, Joe Biden has ended the policy… and Texas is being flooded with those who are in a hurry to try again to enter illegally. I’ve seen it first-hand on legislative delegations to the border: these communities are drowning in urgent increased need for crime control and public safety, as well as a complete explosion of drug and human trafficking.
If the federal government won’t do its job, Texans will step up. I was proud to support the legislation of my friend, Rep. Ryan Guillen, whose House Bill 7 will create the Border Protection Unit, among other programs that will support public safety, public services, property owners, and entities along the border dealing with this deluge of unauthorized immigrants. In addition, the key components of HB 20 — another strong border security bill which had been killed by Democrats in a procedural tactic earlier in the day — were added into HB 7 via floor amendment.
Protecting 2A rights is always necessary in Austin. Rep. Carrie Isaac is carrying a pre-emptive bill on which I’m pleased to be a co-author: HB 3137 would prevent Texas municipalities from requiring that gun owners obtain liability insurance coverage for damages resulting from the use of their firearm. This is already happening in California, and it is clearly intended to restrict the 2nd Amendment rights of law-abiding Texans. I’m a gun owner, along with my family members, and I am wary of giving a blank pass to city governments to use local ordinance to make a political statement and impinge on our Constitutional freedoms.
As of this writing, the Texas House is hearing the final reading of SB 14, Dr. Tom Oliverson’s sponsored bill to end the medically questionable and morally unthinkable practice of gender modification and transition on children. I was firmly convicted in my support of Dr. Oliverson when the heated debate took place last Friday, and will remain firm today — to vote for this high-priority bill to protect Texas children, and to remain vigilant in my vote against any procedural tricks or tactics the Democrats will surely be trying at the very last minute.