More Anti-Immigrant, GOP Red Meat: Sen. Patrick Gives Money Transfer Bill Legs In Senate

We’ve told you previously about the bill by State Rep. Leo Berman (R-Tyler) that would impose an eight percent fee on money transfers to Mexico, Central, and South America.

Now, the Senate’s leading anti-immigration voice, State Sen. Dan Patrick (R-Houston) has introduced a similar measure in that chamber which would impose a 10 percent fee on all money transfers that are $5,000 or less to any destination outside the United States. It’s still clear, though, that this is an anti-immigration measure, given that it includes the provision for lawful citizens to obtain a refund of the fee and the fee would go to the “border security” account. (That, of course, and that one of the TLO subject classifications for the bill is “Aliens.” We assume they don’t mean the X-Files, Roswell kind, either, since intergalactic monetary transfers aren’t possible.)

It should come as no surprise that the Senator who wants to pass a South Dakota-style abortion statute is throwing far right on other pieces of legislation. Anti-immigrant rhetoric isn’t only a staple of the Senator’s talk show, but one of the talking points that helped get him elected.

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