AUSTIN, Texas – Tempers flared at the state capitol Wednesday in a fight over controversial immigration bills.
Rep. Armando Walle, a Houston Democrat, had a profanity-laced exchange with some Republicans during the special session that was caught on camera.
The bill would make it a state crime to enter Texas illegally and empower local police to arrest people or send them back to Mexico.
Here’s what Walle had to say during this heated exchange with East Texas Republican Cody Harris. This was after the congressman moved to limit new amendments to the bill.
“That pisses me off,” Walle said. “No, no, no. You’re my friend, man. I love you, but this (expletive) hurts. You don’t understand that what you’re doing is hurting our community. It hurts us personally, bro.”
Walle spoke out against the bill earlier in the day on X and also during a press conference when he called Republican immigration measures a waste of taxpayer money.
House Bill 4 is just one of three border bills moving through the House during this special session. Supporters say the state is being forced to act because the federal government is not doing its job.
We spoke to Walle on Wednesday night. Here’s what he had to say.
“I have no regrets,” he said. “I explained to my colleagues on the floor that the net effect of passing a motion to cut off debate is to exclude the voices like those in my community to express their views, to table amendments, to have a debate on the floor in a civil manner on the front microphone and the back microphone. And so I was just expressing the frustration that I think many of us have that we’ve had an anti-immigrant sentiment in this state for the last 20 years. And so for me, I’m never going to apologise for standing up for what I believe is right.
