US HUMAN RIGHTS NETWORK
Human Rights in Texas
A Report by the US Human Rights Network
This Report was prepared for the US Human Rights Network’s 2015 Advancing Human
Rights Conference in Austin, TX: Sharpening our Vision Reclaiming our Dreams*
December 2015
© 2015 US Human Rights Network
All rights reserved
250 Georgia Avenue SE, Suite 330, Atlanta, GA 30312
Telephone: 404-588-9761 | Fax: 404-588-9761
Email: [email protected]
www.ushrnetwork.org
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Table of Contents
I.
Introduction......................................................................................................................... 3
II.
Criminal Justice System .................................................................................................... 5
III.
Immigration ...................................................................................................................... 15
IV.
Women’s Rights................................................................................................................ 18
V.
Healthcare ......................................................................................................................... 21
VI.
HIV/AIDS .......................................................................................................................... 21
VII.
Environmental Justice ..................................................................................................... 22
VIII. Education ......................................................................................................................... 24
IX.
Worker’s Rights ............................................................................................................... 26
X.
Housing and Homelessness .............................................................................................. 27
XI.
LGBTQ Rights ................................................................................................................. 29
XII.
Police Brutality ................................................................................................................ 31
XIII.
Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………..….. 33
XIV.
Endnotes........................................................................................................................... 34
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I. Introduction
The US Human Rights Network
The US Human Rights Network (USHRN) is a national network of organizations and individuals
working to strengthen a human rights movement and culture within the United States led by the
people most directly impacted by human rights violations. We work to secure dignity and justice for
all.1
USHRN places priority on elevating and amplifying the voices of those who are marginalized and
vulnerable, and whose voices are most often ignored.
Our work is guided by the following core principles:
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Human rights are universal, interdependent, indivisible, and inalienable.
Human rights movements must be led by those most directly affected by human rights
violations.
Human rights advocacy and organizing should prioritize the struggles of the poor and most
marginalized groups in society.
Human rights movements must be inclusive and respect and reflect the diversity within
communities.
Human rights encompass civil, political, economic, social, cultural, environmental, sexual, and
development rights for individuals, Peoples, and groups.
__________________
Advancing Human Rights 2015: Sharpening our Vision, Reclaiming our Dreams
On December 10-13, 2015, human rights advocates from across the United States will convene in
Austin, TX for the US Human Rights Network’s 6th biannual national conference – Advancing
Human Rights 2015. At the conference, we will seek to elevate human rights struggles around the
country, share strategies for advancing human rights, and celebrate the movement’s successes.
This year’s conference theme is: Sharpening our Vision, Reclaiming our Dreams, which reflects
the deep need to re-center an economic, social, and cultural rights (ESCR) agenda as a key
component of our movement work. Building off of Martin Luther King, Jr’s Poor People’s
Campaign and his understanding that an end to racial oppression requires addressing poverty and all
human rights, we seek to re-affirm and elevate the link between inequality, violence, and the
criminalization of economically and politically marginalized groups. Effective human rights
movement building demands an intersectional approach, in which equal attention is given to the role
and impact of race, gender and gender identity, economic and social class, sexuality, disability, age,
immigration status, and other dimensions of our lives.
As the conference takes place in Austin, Texas this year, this report serves as an overview of some
key human rights issues and violations in Texas; this report is not a comprehensive overview of all
human rights issue in Texas.
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Austin is home to the Lyndon B. Johnson presidential library and museum, where one can literally
see the pens he used to sign into force many major pieces of legislation that were the direct results
of human rights movements; including the: the Civil Rights Act, Voting Rights Act, Elementary and
Secondary Education Act, Fair Housing Act, and Economic Opportunity Act. In a speech to
Congress before the passage of the Voting Rights Act, entitled - The American Promise, then
President Johnson said: “There is no issue of States rights or national rights. There is only the
struggle for human rights.”2
In considering the current human rights situation in Texas, it is important to reflect on the history of
the land and people. More than 200 Indigenous Peoples were living in what is now central and
southern Texas and northeastern Mexico when the Spanish invaders first arrived in 1690. 3 Texas
declared its independence of Mexico in 1836 and its government, militia, and settlers are believed to
have killed almost 200,000 Indigenous People.4 With the U.S. annexation of Texas in 1846, the
extermination of Indigenous Peoples continued. The 2010 U.S. census reported that over 170,000
people in Texas identified themselves as ‘American Indian.’5 Indigenous Peoples and culture have
been marginalized in contemporary Texas.6 And Indigenous Peoples in Texas are affected by the
same human rights violations as other marginalized groups in Texas, including the issue areas that
are the focus of this report, such as criminal justice, environmental justice, healthcare, and housing.
This report examines twelve issues areas in Texas that are illustrative of the struggle for human
rights: the Criminal Justice System, Immigration, Women’s Rights, Healthcare, HIV/AIDS,
Environmental Justice, Education, Workers’ Rights, Housing and Homelessness, LGBTQ Rights,
and Police Brutality. Our analysis adheres to an international human rights framework, including an
intersectional analysis of the ways different forms of discrimination and disadvantage intersect and
overlap—to better understand the full impact of human rights violations on individuals and
populations.7
Human Rights: International Human Rights Accountability Mechanisms
USHRN works to grow and deepen the engagement of grassroots and national groups in using and
the human rights framework, including international, regional, and domestic human rights
mechanisms, to bolster human rights accountability in the United States.
Human Rights are the recognition of the inherent dignity and equal and inalienable rights of all
human beings. Human Rights are based on a set of principles and a legal framework. These
principles include that human rights are universal, indivisible, interdependent, and inalienable.
The United States adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in 1948.8 This
document, along with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the
International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) are referred to as the
“International Bill of Rights.”9 In addition to signing the UDHR, the United States has formally
accepted and ratified three out of the ten core human rights treaties. 10 The treaties that the United
States has ratified include the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR),11 the
International Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD), 12 and
the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
(CAT).13 As such, the United States must undergo periodic reviews of their compliance with these
three treaties by the related UN treaty body Committees, as well as the United Nations’ Human
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Rights Council for the Universal Periodic Review, which is based on these treaty body obligations,
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and other applicable international law.14
Under the U.S. Constitution, treaties constitute “the supreme law of the land,” on par in legal status
with all federal law.15 However, the United States ratifies human rights treaties with certain
conditions including that they are non-self-executing.16 U.S. federal courts have also held that
human rights treaties are non-self-executing and do not create enforceable rights domestically,
although they do impose international legal obligations on the U.S.17
II. Criminal Justice System
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law. All are equal before
the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to
equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any
incitement to such discrimination. Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent
national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by
law. No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile. Everyone is entitled in full
equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination
of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.18
a. Death Penalty
The Texas criminal justice system harbors flawed and discriminatory policies and practices that
violate an individual’s right to competent representation and a fair trial. Between 1982 and 2014,
Texas executed 510 people, five times the number of Oklahoma’s execution rate, which is second in
the nation.19 In 2013, Texas accounted for 42% of all United States executions, and was one of
seven states to perform executions in 2014.20 Over the last five years, 60% of all new death
sentences in Texas have been imposed on African-Americans.21
While African-Americans comprise only 11.8% of the Texas population, they comprise 42.7% of
death row inmates, according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.22 Latinos comprise
27.3% and whites comprise 28.1% of the death row population. The Texas criminal justice system
rests on four main practices that make it exponentially easier for Texas courts to execute
individuals.23
First, the state lacks a public defender system for indigent defendants, relying on court-appointed
lawyers who lack experience in capital murder defenses and appeals. In 2002, Texas’s highest
courts claimed that a lawyer could handle a death penalty case without having to clear any special
hurdles to do this highly specialized work – setting a low competency standard that places
defendants at risk of poor representation.24 In a study of 131 executions occurring as of June 10,
2000, the Texas Civil Rights Project reports that in 43 (approximately one-third) of those cases, the
defendant was represented by an attorney who was already disbarred, would be disbarred or
reprimanded in the near future, or was otherwise sanctioned, including held in contempt.25
Additionally, in one-third of the trials, the attorney presented no evidence or presented only one
witness, many of them prison informants who frequently testify in exchange for reductions in their
sentences.26 In addition, when an attorney is selected to represent a defendant, their pay is
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significantly lower than what is needed to maintain office functions and legal duties. The State Bar
of Texas estimated that defending a post-conviction capital case requires roughly 400-900 hours.
However, the Court of Criminal Appeals, with a $25,000 reimbursement cap, effectively limits
state-funded compensation to 150 hours, requiring attorneys to forfeit either adequate income or the
dignity of their client’s case.27
Second, District Attorneys in Texas have unfettered and unrestricted discretion in choosing when to
prosecute a capital case. Beyond the overreach of power, this practice allows factors such as poverty
and racism to guide the decisions of the District Attorney. In “tough on crime” states like Texas,
District Attorneys seek to safeguard their elected position by showcasing their convictions as proof
of their political agenda. The more convictions a district attorney can demonstrate, the more likely
the individual is to be elected or retain their position. This practice decreases the district attorney’s
drive to search for justice, and instead focuses on the ability to incarcerate as many individuals as
possible, regardless of innocence.28
Third, the courts utilize the juror selection process to systematically eliminate jurors who express
reservations about the death penalty.29 This includes jurors that believe that the capital punishment
system may be skewed against individuals based on their economic and racial background. As a
result, residing jurors over a capital case do not adequately represent a cross section of the
community, causing a disproportionate likelihood of receiving the death penalty.
Finally, the sentencing process denies the option of life without parole, even though this would
significantly decrease the likelihood of a death penalty conviction. Jurors are frequently misguided
about Texas’ laws on lifetime sentences, thinking life means people will be released on parole in a
few years.30 Further, Texas law forbids informing the jury about the true meaning of a life sentence
in a capital case.31 This regularly leads to juries imposing the death penalty on individuals because
of a concern for public safety, when actually Texas requires an individual sentenced to life to serve
40 years before being released on parole.32 In addition to these misconceptions about the sentencing
law, if they decide to appeal, defendants sentenced to the death penalty must go through an unjust
appeal process. There are a number of factors that make the appeals process much less than
meaningful, they include: 1) a conservative appeals circuit;33 2) the political desires of elected
district attorneys and judges in a state where a reported 73% of the population are in favor of the
death penalty;34 and 3) as explained above, a defense system that is lacking when gauged against
those of other states.
As a result of these practices, Texas has created a system that breaks the national norm: about
two-thirds of all death penalties are reversed by courts nationwide, but in Texas, only 3% of
cases have been granted a new trial since 1995.35 Texas gives the bulk of clemency power to its
Board of Pardons and Paroles and not to the governor, reducing the opportunity for executive
clemency.36 The governor has the ability to override the board’s decision and grant last minute
reprieves up to 30 days, but Governor Rick Perry has only granted this clemency once. Out of the
280 inmates granted clemency since 1976, Texas governors have only granted clemency twice.37
Without a careful and thorough examination of each death penalty case, prisoner’s human rights to
a fair trial and life are violated.
b. Executing the Mentally Ill
Texas has a troubled past of executing the mentally ill, an act that violates the Supreme Court’s
decision in Ford v. Wainwright (1986) that held that the Eighth Amendment prohibits the execution
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of an individual who is mentally ill or handicapped.38 Since the year 2000, individuals such as
Andre Thomas, who killed his children and wife under the belief he was carrying out an order from
God to exorcise their demons; Kelsey Patterson, a schizophrenic with delusions who was denied
clemency from Governor Rick Perry; Steven Staley, a paranoid schizophrenic man with an IQ of 70
who frequently suffers delusions; and Marvin Wilson, convicted of murder with an IQ of 61 and
functioning at around a five-year-olds reading level, have all been sentenced to death.39 All of these
executions occurred after the key 1986 Supreme Court decision in Ford v Wainwright that it is
unconstitutional to execute a person deemed to be mentally incompetent.
One reason for Texas’ high rates of mentally ill executions is the lack of key criteria definitions
when determining whether an individual is mentally ill. The Supreme Court has failed to define key
standards for determining whether an individual is competent enough to understand the
consequences of his actions, and therefore, the severity of his punishment, leaving lower courts to
resolve the issue within their own jurisdictions.40 Texas courts have failed in this respect, relying on
a set of factors – called the Briseño factor - written by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals and
legal reasoning to circumvent attributing the crime to the defendant’s mental capacity. The factors
used are not supported by clinical research and supersede medical factors utilized to determine an
individual’s mental state.41 The Briseño factors use the following evaluations:
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Whether people who knew the individual as a child think he was intellectually disabled and
“act in accordance with that determination”
Whether the individual carried out formulated plans or conducted himself impulsively
Whether the individual can lie effectively
Whether his offense required forethought, planning, and complex execution, among other
considerations
Whether the individual seems less impaired than the character Lennie from John Steinbeck’s
Of Mice and Men. If the person seems less impaired than the fictional character of Lennie,
then he or she should not be exempt from execution.42
Another critical flaw in is that the judge or jury is allowed to apply these factors to the specific
crime itself, instead of the general actions and behavior of the defendant, allowing a mentally
disabled person to be deemed mentally competent at the time of the crime.43 By applying these
factors, Texas courts are able to circumvent Supreme Court decisions such as Ford v. Wainwright
and Atkins v. Virginia, which specifically ban executing the mentally ill under the basis of the
Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution.44 While states retain the right to determine
which defendants are mentally incompetent, they must follow the Supreme Court’s mandate to use
universal medical diagnostic practices.45 Texas uses unscientific, subjective tests to manipulate the
system into allowing a “picking and choosing” of capital sentences. Texas is the only state that
absolutely substitutes the Briseño factors for clinical definition or assessment of mental disability.46
In addition to utilizing these factors, Texas has an impossibly high standard requiring Texas
petitioners to “prove that their adaptive deficits are the result of intellectual disability alone, and not
a personality disorder” in order to satisfy mentally ill requirements.47
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Earlier this year, at the May 2015 U.N. Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of
the U.S.’ human rights record, the most mentioned recommendation was a moratorium on or
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abolishment of the death penalty – at 48.48 Following China, Iran, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia, the
United States ranked fifth world-wide with 39 executions in 2014.49
The U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), in its 2014 Concluding
Observations called on the U.S. Government to take concrete and effective steps to eliminate racial
disparities at all stages of the criminal justice system, including by amending laws that have a
racially discriminatory impact. It also called for a moratorium on the death penalty with a view to
abolishing it.50 The U.N. Committee Against Torture (CAT) and the U.N. Human Rights
Committee (ICCPR) also both called for the abolition of the U.S. death penalty in 2014. 51 CAT
“express[ed] its concern at reported cases of excruciating pain and prolonged suffering that
procedural irregularities have caused to condemned prisoners in the course of their execution.”52
And the Human Rights Committee urged the United States to “[t]ake measures to effectively ensure
that the death penalty is not imposed as a result of racial bias.”53
c. Exonerations
Often referred to as “the ultimate nightmare,”54 death penalty convictions are frequently doled out
to innocent victims, as illustrated by Texas’ 39 exonerations in 2014.55 According to a 2012 study
by the University of Michigan and Northwestern University law schools, Texas ranked 3 rd
nationally in wrongful convictions over the last 24 years, trailing behind only Illinois and New
York.56 While the number of exonerations may show Texas’ dedication to act on innocence claims,
the question remains: why is Texas so quick to issue the death penalty when so many are later
exonerated?
Many exonerations are a result of extraordinary efforts not ordinarily available to most death row
defendants. As a Senate Subcommittee has stated: “judging by past experience, a substantial
number of death row inmates are indeed innocent and there is a high risk that some of them will be
executed.”57
Those exonerated from death row in Texas receive $80,000.00 per year incarcerated with an
additional annuity.58 But, as Sen. Rodney Ellis has aptly stated, no amount of money can make up
for the injustice of incarceration while innocent.59 Many exonerated inmates struggle to find work
after exoneration, citing inexperience, age, and the stigma that comes with being previously
incarcerated. In failing to properly prosecute and utilize standard trial practices, Texas is
systematically denying potentially innocent defendants their human and legal right to a fair trial,
deserved freedom, and ultimately life.
d. Racial Discrimination
Issues of racial discrimination are rarely discussed within the context of human rights in the United
States. Persistent contemporary forms of racial discrimination and race disparities exist across the
United States in almost every sphere of life, and the criminal justice system in Texas is no exception
to this epidemic. For example, in 1999, 46 residents of Tulia, Texas, a town of 4,500, were arrested
on accounts of dealing powder cocaine.60 The demographics of the 46 residents raised questions of
racial bias and discrimination – 39 of the suspects were black. 10% of the African American
population of Tulia was convicted by a single account of an undercover officer who provided no
audio, video, or witness evidence to these alleged accounts.61 In early April 2003, years after the
initial raid, 38 drug convictions were thrown out by the judge after a court-appointed lawyer, Van
Williamson, began uncovering unsettling moral and character information on the undercover
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officer.62 Under Governor Perry, twelve remaining cases in Tulia, Texas were released on June 16,
2003.63
The Tulia case is just one example of racial discrimination visited on minority communities. Lack
of representation in police forces only serves to aid racial tension. In 48 Texas counties, every
licensed officer was white.64 In 167 police departments, no minorities served as peace officers,
despite the fact that minorities made up at least 30 percent of the population in a third of the
communities.65 Racial tensions are only exacerbated by repeated troubling incidents that fuel
community mistrust of police officers. In 2013, a surveillance camera caught a black woman,
arrested for unpaid traffic tickets, Keyarika Diggles, being slammed into a countertop by white
officers.66 And the summer of 2015 death of Sandra Bland illustrated how these stops can result in
greater tragedies for Black women. More information on the Sandra Bland case and police brutality
in Texas follows in the final section of this report.
e. Inadequate Prison Facilities
i. Conditions
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) operates one of the largest prison systems
in the country, overseeing over 150,000 prisoners.67 Texas prisons are currently running at
critically understaffed levels due to better pay and working conditions in Texas’ booming oil and
gas industry. Most prisons in Texas report between 20-30% vacancy levels, but at the end of
October 2012, West and Southern Texas had understaffing levels of 70%.68 Severe understaffing
has led to more officers being hired without adequate training, creating a dangerous environment for
both the inmates and employees of the prison. Inmates, as a result of understaffing, are often forced
to sacrifice recreational time due to the inability of the staff to adequately and safely supervise the
inmates. Inmates who are suicidal or have medical needs are also placed at a higher risk of injury or
death, as officers are not available to respond to medical or psychiatric emergencies.69
Since 2007, 14 inmates have died due to extreme heat conditions in nine different Texas state
prisons, with temperatures of some reaching over 140˚.70 Prison employees are also put at risk for
heat-induced medical issues. Ninety-two correctional officers suffered health-related injuries and
illnesses in 2012.71
The National Weather Service recognizes the danger of heat, citing excessive heat as one of the
“leading weather-related killer[s] in the United States.”72 Despite this, Texas prisons regularly have
internal heat temperatures that are classified as “extreme danger” by the National Weather Service,
which ranges between 112-136˚ F.73 Relief from the heat comes not from air conditioning provided
by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, but through purchasing fans for $22.50, the fifth most
expensive item in jails.74 However, reports by the Center for Disease Control state that fans will not
protect individuals from heat stroke or other heat-related illnesses, and may actually increase heat
stress on the body.75
Texas lags behind other states that have mandated that prison temperatures be regulated. The
Arkansas Department of Corrections mandates summertime cell temperatures be between 74˚- 78˚F,
and all prisons have been air-conditioned since 1970.76 Similarly, the Arizona Department of
Corrections adjusts its prison temperatures based on the American Society of Heating,
Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers’ “summer comfort zone” standard which determines
safe temperatures on factors such as humidity, air pressure, and air speed.77 Texas Department of
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Criminal Justice is well aware of the propensity of heat-related deaths in its prisons but fails to
change conditions that are detrimental to its employees and inmates. A report by the University of
Texas of Law – Human Rights Clinic, notes that the indifference of TDCJ officials “to the risk of
extreme heat on inmates constitutes a violation of the Eight Amendment against cruel and unusual
punishment.”78 The complacency of the TDCJ also violates international standards of fair treatment,
violating the State’s obligation to ensure and promote each individual’s dignity, right to health, and
right to humane treatment. Knowing that some inmates, due to pre-existing medical conditions or,
as required per medication must be kept in cooler conditions, places a duty on TDCJ and its
corrective officers to maintain said conditions for these prisoners. Anything less of providing this
duty constitutes reckless behavior that violates the State’s duty to care for the physical wellbeing of
its incarcerated.
The Estelle Unit in Huntsville, Texas, operated by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, is one
of the most notorious prison units in Texas, housing prisoners with physical handicaps and prisoners
in need of physical or respiratory therapy. One-third of the general population at Estelle is over the
age of 50, and hundreds others are deaf, blind, or mobility-impaired.79 According to the Prison
Justice Initiative’s report on the Estelle Unit, 65% of inmates reported being assaulted during their
incarceration at Estelle and 35% witnessed assaults against other prisoners. In addition, every
respondent reported being assaulted and/or witnessing an assault during their incarceration.80 Many
of those who were assaulted did not report the assault, fearing retaliation. Of those who did report,
17% received same-day treatment immediately following the assault. Most waited several hours to
several days, if they received treatment at all.81
Staff at the Estelle unit frequently retaliate against prisoners who submit reports on the ongoing
abuse, the most common form of retaliation is denying prisoners “lay-ins.” Lay-ins are cards that
permit a prisoner to leave the housing area and enter the medical area for an appointment. If a
prisoner does not have this card, they are not allowed to see the doctors. When prisoners report an
officer’s failure to provide a lay-in, the officers typically report that the prisoner refused treatment
for their injuries. The Prison Justice Initiative reports three root causes of the perpetual abuse of
power at the Estelle Unit: (1) ineffective administrative mechanisms that allow prisoners to seek
relief, (2) frequent retaliation from the correctional staff, and (3) failure by the leadership at Estelle
to stop the assaults and reprimand bad staff actors.82 Instances where officers take blind canes,
walkers, and wheelchairs away from impaired prisoners are not isolated cases. Many prisoners fear
walking in the hallways where correctional officers are most likely to attack. One prisoner stated: “I
feel unsafe. I watch and witness several prisoners get beat down for nothing! Most of them are
handicapped.”83
In 2014, the U.N. Human Rights Committee Called on the United States to: “monitor the conditions
of detention in prisons, including private detention facilities, with a view to ensuring that persons
deprived of their liberty are treated in accordance with the requirements of articles 7 and 10 of the
Covenant and the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoner.”84
ii. Pregnant Incarcerated Women
Prison conditions and practices are harmful to pregnant inmates, which make up 300-500 women a
month in the Texas prison population.85 While each jail is required to have a health services plan in
place, there are no specifications as to what types of services must be provided at each prison
location, leaving necessary regiments including medical examinations, prenatal vitamins, and
nutritional plans for pregnant inmates to the discretion of each prison. 86 Some pregnant inmates
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report the use of restraints prior-to and during labor, violating a 2009 law that bans said restraints
because of its propensity to cause intense pain, swelling, reduction of circulation and increase the
risk of blood clots.87 This is largely due to the exceptions carved out in the law that allows the
director to restrain a pregnant inmate if there is a “substantial risk that the woman will attempt to
escape.”88 Arguments have been made that this exception allows prison employees to circumvent
the law by deeming any pregnant inmate high risk, and thereby allowing them to be restrained.89
Notwithstanding requirements that detention facilities have a health care plan for pregnant women,
many Texas prisons still lack adequate resources to care for pregnant women at their facilities.
Many women report feeling uneasy or mistreated when they do receive medical attention, leading to
high-stress and unease, which can be detrimental to both mother and child during pregnancy. One
pregnant woman at Harris County jail waited up to six hours to see a nurse after she began
bleeding.90
Instances of women losing babies due to lack of medical attention in prison happen frequently in
Texas, such as the case of Nicole Guerrero. On June 2, 2012, Guerrero began experiencing cramps
and bleeding and requested medical attention. At 6:30 PM, she was examined by a nurse who told
Guerrero the baby was fine, and sent Guerrero back to her cell. At 11:00 PM she began
experiencing contractions and immediately began repeatedly hitting the medical emergency button
in her cell. The nurses checked on her over four hours later, at 3:30 AM, only to bring her to a
medical separation cell where Guerrero gave birth, alone, to a baby whose umbilical cord was
wrapped around its neck.91
The need for a comprehensive plan for pregnant inmates is only reaffirmed by the failure of prisons
to shift their gender-neutral policies. Pregnant incarcerated women report more need for psychiatric
care, are subject to higher stress levels, and are at increased risk of medical emergencies, of which
the current standards of operation do not address, even with the recent reformations.92
The U.N. Committee Against Torture has criticized the United States for its harmful practices
against incarcerated pregnant women.93 In 2014 on this topic it stated: “the regime of the prison
shall be flexible enough to respond to the needs of pregnant women, nursing mothers and women
with children (see the United Nations Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Noncustodial Measures for Women Offenders (the Bangkok Rules, as adopted by the General Assembly
in its resolution 65/229 of 21 December 2010, Rule 42.2).”94
iii. Solitary Confinement
Texas uses solitary confinement four times more than the national average and maintains
prisoners in solitary confinement for an average of 3.7 years.95 Nineteen individuals in solitaryconfinement cells are under the age of 19.96 In 2011, Juan Mendez, the United Nations Special
Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, concluded
that even 15 days in solitary confinement constitutes torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment or punishment, and that 15 days is the limit after which irreversible harmful psychological
effects can occur.97
Not to mention that for the taxpayer, this means that Texas prisons are utilizing $46 million dollars
a year above normal correctional costs. If prisons reduced the use of solitary confinement to the
national average by replacing inmates in the general population as soon as possible, the state would
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save $31 million dollars a year of taxpayer dollars, and decrease the amount of money spent on
post-confinement mental health treatment.98
From 2009 to 2012, 255 people died in Texas county jails; 47 of the 88 inmates who killed
themselves were housed in solitary cells.99 Individuals in Texas’ solitary confinement cells are
confined at least 22 hours a day in a 60 square foot cell.100 Although policies allow between 1-2
hours of recreational time a day, many prisoners report that their officers rarely release them.101 In
addition, inmates in solitary confinement are deprived any educational opportunities, rehabilitative
programs, addiction management programs, and/or group therapy, resulting in a suicide rate that is
five times higher than the general population of inmates.102
Solitary confinement: “breaks down [an inmate’s] ability to interact with other human beings;
erodes their family relationships; deprives them of educational, rehabilitative, and religions
programming; causes mentally healthy people to descend into mental illness; and severely
exacerbates symptoms for people with pre-existing mental illness.”103 Individuals released from
Texas solitary-confinement cells are rearrested at 25% higher rate than prisoners released from the
general prison system.
Ninety-five percent of the Texas Civil Rights Project’s respondents to a 2015 survey on solitary
confinement reported developing psychiatric symptoms after being in solitary confinement: 30%
reported having outbursts; 50% reported anxiety or panic attacks; and 15% reported
hallucinations.104 Other long-term psychiatric effects of solitary confinement include: the incapacity
to think clearly, loss of memory, obsessive thoughts of revenge and torture, delusions and poor
impulse control.105 All of the reported symptoms materialized only after being placed in solitary
confinement. A federal Texas judge denounced Texas’ solitary-confinement cells as cruel and
unusual punishment in violation of the United States constitution, describing the cells as “virtual
incubators of psychoses – seeding illness in otherwise healthy inmates.”106
Beyond the mental consequences of solitary confinement, prisoners report being denied basic
necessities while in solitary confinement. 80% of the Texas Civil Rights Project’s survey reported
receiving insufficient amounts of food, 22% report they were denied water, and another 22% report
being denied showers. Numerous people claim that officers never removed them from their cells for
recreational time. An unnamed officer in a Texas jail revealed that officers often punish individuals
by refusing these necessities as a punitive measure.107
Multiple studies have showcased the deterioration of mentally ill patients once placed in the
criminal justice system; being incarcerated alone tends to exasperate and increase the frequency of
psychological breaks and suicide, with solitary confinement only increasing the risk. 108 Texas,
despite these reports, continues to place at least 2,012 mentally ill prisoners in solitary confinement
without access to medical assistance as a means of control or punishment.109 The few who do
receive medical care report that meetings with medical personnel last less than two minutes, with
75% reporting that the medical expert yelled through the cell door rather than entering, and 89%
reporting that the medical meetings were not confidential.110 Texas Jail Project reports that in 2012,
one mentally ill woman was held in a 6x9 solitary confinement cell in Hardin County jail for 7
months after being denied release for treatment at a local facility.111
When the mentally ill are placed in solitary confinement, their mental health deteriorates, causing
an increase in negative behavior and subsequent punitive consequences from correctional
officers.112 Failure to recognize special needs of mentally ill prisoners results in disproportional
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force against prisoners with mental illnesses. Judge Williams Wayne Justice, a previous judge in
Texas, stated: “’whether because of a lack of resources, a misconception of the reality of
psychological pain, the inherent callousness of the bureaucracy, or officials’ blind faith in their own
policies,’ many officials have been insufficiently attentive to the unique needs of individuals with
mental illness when they are confined in correctional facilities.”113
iv. Sexual Assault
One average, 4% of national prison inmates and 3.2% of jail inmates are sexually assaulted each
year.114 In Texas’ Harris County Jail, that rate skyrockets to 7.6% - about one in twenty - with an
additional one in ten (10%) youth in Texas prisons claiming sexual assault annually.115 And yet,
Texas is one of seven states that refused to sign the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) which
passed in 2003. Sexual violence in prison systems can lead to physical harm, psychological injury,
depression, humiliation, and trauma for the victim.116 Governor Perry rejected PREA claiming it
would create a financial burden to bring facilities into compliance. However, Governor Perry
rejected the 4 million dollar federal grant given to Texas to aid in improving state prisons, part of
which could have been allocated to implement PREA. He further contended that PREA was
unconstitutional, because it violated Texas’ equal opportunity law requiring prisons to hire specific
genders for prison systems.117
As one of the leading states in the nation for sexual violence in prison systems, Texas’ failure to
implement PREA is particularly concerning. A non-profit human rights watch group, Just Detention
International, receives about 30 letters per week from inmates who claim they have been sexually
assaulted in prisons across the country – a quarter of these letters come from Texas.118 Between
2002 to 2005, Texas had 550 reported cases per 1000 prisoners, a rate four times the national
average.119 Texas also has the largest reported rate of sexual assault and rape of inmates by
guards.120 These numbers, while astounding, are likely deflated, as many sexual assault claims go
unreported. For those that do report abuse, many are merely transferred to a new location, with little
notifications about the progress of their reports.121
The vulnerabilities to sexual assault are heightened for LGBTQ incarcerated individuals. Texas
prisons require that each person is incarcerated according to their assigned gender – ignoring the
personal choices of the transgender community.122 Passion Star, a transgender woman, was placed
in an all-male prison, which left her vulnerable to being threatened, raped, and beaten by her fellow
inmates. When she reported her assaults, her correctional officer ignored her reports and suggested
that she enjoyed these attacks, claiming that “you can’t rape someone who is gay.” 123 Passion Star
was denied her requests to be put in safekeeping but instead was transferred to other state prisons
where the attacks continued.
This narrative is echoed in Roderick Johnson’s case. For 18 months, he was raped and abused as a
sex slave by a prison gang because he was gay. Johnson was only moved to a wing dedicated to
vulnerable prisoners after ACLU intervened on his behalf. ACLU presented evidence showing that
when he voiced his concerns for his safety, prisoner officials would tell him that they were
deliberately denying him protection because it was up to him to find protection by either sexually
submitting or “choos[ing] someone to be with.”124 When he reported his assaults, the court
dismissed his case claiming insufficient evidence.125 Despite ignoring Johnson’s please for
protection, the six officials were found not guilty of violating Johnson’s constitutional right against
cruel and unusual punishment.126
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Many reported sexual assault cases never result in convictions. Only 30% of sexual assaults are
reported on the same day, allowing the court to use the time lapse as an excuse to not issue a rape
kit.127 Time-lapse delay and frequent lack of witnesses lead to most cases being dismissed. The
protection of these victims and accountability for the perpetuators is crucial in ensuring safety in the
Texas prison systems.128
In 2014, the U.N. Committee Against Torture issued a number of recommendations to the United
States regarding their human rights violations due to sexual assault in prisons. “The Committee
recommends the State party to increase its efforts to prevent and combat violence in prisons and
places of detention, including sexual violence by law enforcement and penitentiary personnel and
by other inmates.”129
D. Child Incarceration
The House approved a measure that raised the age of criminal responsibility to 18 in Texas effective
September 1, 2017, overriding years of controversial juvenile jailing.130 While this measure is a
stride in promoting juvenile justice, around 1,000 youth still remain in adult facilities, and will be
held there for the indefinite future.
While teens are naturally more impulsive than adults, they are also more malleable and receptive to
rehabilitation.131 Treatment programs and sealed records, as opposed to incarceration in an adult
prison, create an opportunity to rehabilitate the teenager, promoting active civil participation and
decreasing the probability of future criminal activity. Placing youths in state-run facilities lead to
continuing psychological trauma, exposure to more crime, and leave youths unable to protect
themselves from physical or sexual attack within prison walls.132
In addition, treatment facilities would save the Texas government valuable taxpayer dollars. Under
the new “raise-the-age” law, judges would retain the ability to certify youths as adults, but for the
96% of 17-year-olds that enter the system for nonviolent crimes, their first placement would be in a
treatment or rehabilitation facility. While the initial cost of absorbing 17-year-olds into the juvenile
system would hover around $60 million, many advocates point out that this initial financial burden
will be alleviated by reducing future costs of repeat offenders and re-incarceration.133
On June 18, 2015, Texas decriminalized truancy after Governor Greg Abbott signed legislation
making truancy a civil offence. House Bill 2398 went into effect September 1, 2015, end jailing
students for skipping school, a previous practice that disproportionately affected Black, Latina/o,
and poor students.134 The new measure will require schools to find the root cause of the problem,
rather than placing the child on juvenile probation. Many children who attend truancy court have
mental health problems, experience with bullying, substance abuse, homelessness, pregnancy, and
poverty.135 Under the old truancy law, schools were required to file truancy cases against students
who missed at least three days in a four-week period, with fines reaching up to $500.136
All three human rights treaty bodies on treaties that the U.S. is a party to have made
recommendations on this issue: the U.N. Human Rights Commission (HRC),137 the Committee on
the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD),138 and the U.N. Committee Against
Torture (CAT)139 have issued Concluding Observations to the U.S. recommending that it ensure that
juveniles are not transferred to adult courts and are separated from adults during pre-trial detention
and after sentencing. They have also recommended that it abolish life without parole and solitary
confinement for juveniles.
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III. Immigration
A. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Facilities
The crisis on the southwest Texas border is a humanitarian one. Since 1998, over 5,000 migrants
have died attempting to cross the U.S.-Mexico border in South Texas, with an additional unknown
number of unrecovered bodies remaining in the remote lands of Texas and Mexico.140 Texas State
Law mandates DNA testing to identify recovered bodies. However, this practice has been largely
ignored, leaving family members who have contacted offices in search of loved ones without
answers.141 The increasing number of migrant deaths and unidentified bodies demonstrates the dire
need for more comprehensive search and rescue operations in Texas.142
President Obama has asked Congress for $3.7 billion in emergency funds to help deal with the
crisis, while former Governor Rick Perry asked for National Guard troops to be sent to the
border.143 While one of President Obama’s top campaign promises included passing a
comprehensive immigration reform bill, these efforts have been deadlocked with proposals focusing
on harmful border militarization and Congress rejecting all proposals that did not reflect tougher
immigration policies.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities are growing with detained immigrants due to the
criminalization of immigration. It is important to highlight that unlawfully crossing the border in the
United States has traditionally been treated as a civil offense, resulting in deportation, rather than as
a criminal offense leading to incarceration.144 As a result of this shift in policy, more people entered
the federal system for immigration offenses than did people for violent, weapons, and property
offenses combined in 2009.145
One of these systems that contribute to the record breaking removals is Operation Streamline, a
system implemented in 2005 that requires the federal criminal prosecution and imprisonment of all
persons who cross the United States-Mexico border without permission from the government.146
This removes prosecutorial discretion to decide whether the immigrant should be deported through
the formal removal process in the civil immigration system. Most Operation Streamline defendants
are migrants from Mexico or Central America who have crossed the border to find work, reunite
with family, or flee from danger. Most do not have prior criminal convictions. This has caused a
surge in case loads in 8 of the 11 districts along the border resulting in en masse hearings where as
many as 80 defendants plead guilty at one time, which deprives these individuals of their right to
due process. A full 99% of Operation Streamline defendants plead guilty resulting in 80 new
prosecutions per day in Del Rio, TX, 70 and 20 prosecutions a day in El Paso, TX.147 Many of these
defendants complete the entire criminal proceeding in one day, including meeting with counsel,
making an initial appearance, pleading guilty, and being sentenced. Criminal Justice Act Panel
attorneys serve as counsel for a majority of the defendants and are appointed to represent up to 80
clients in one hearing which virtually prohibits individualized representation.
The U.N. Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) has called
for abolishing “Operation Streamline” and dealing with any breaches of immigration law through
civil, rather than criminal immigration system.148
___________
In Texas, private prisons are filled beyond their capacities, leading to further human rights
violations. 7,935 immigrants are detained daily by the ICE facilities in Texas, indicating the severity
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of the problem in the state. ICE holds the majority of the 400,000 asylum seekers and other
immigrants it detains in jails and jail-like facilities under civil immigration law authority. However,
many of these detainees are not granted access to individual court review of their case. Further, the
conditions in these detention centers are egregious. Just recently, more than 20 women detained in
Texas immigration facility – at the T Don Hutto residential center in Taylor, near Austin - began a
hunger strike in protest. Their “concerns include inedible food, poor medical care, inadequate legal
representation, harsh treatment from officials and a capricious process that sees some cases resolved
far more quickly than others.”149
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees guidelines states that minors seeking asylum
“should not as a general guideline be detained.”150 According to the United States Customs and
Border Protection Agency, there are more than 47,000 unaccompanied minors detained at the
southernmost border.151 In resource drained Texas counties, local governments contract with ICE in
hopes of reviving their economies.
In 2015, Texas, along with 25 other states, issued an unprecedented injunction against President
Obama’s action to provide long-term undocumented immigrants in the United States with 3-year
work permits.152 The action would have also protected young immigrants from deportation if they
were brought to the United States without proper documentation as children, and prevented
deportation of parents of U.S. citizens and permanent residents who have been in the country for an
extended period of time.153 Due to unease and various lawsuits, Pres. Obama’s Deferred Action for
Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA), has been placed on hold since
February.154 The stay on the executive action has placed long-term U.S. residents, like Ehiracenia
Vazquez, a 30-year old mother of two U.S. citizen children, without options for safety. “I have all
my documents ready to apply…I have personal documents, like my birth certificate and my
passport. I have documents that prove I’ve been here for more than 10 years… [my children’s’]
birth certificates and passports, and receipts to prove I paid property taxes on the trailer home.”155
Absent Texas’ lawsuit against the federal government, Vazquez, along with 3.7 million parents like
her, could have applied for deportation relief on May 19, 2015 under Obama’s executive action.156
The militarization of the border in Texas has also lead to human rights violations for the Indigenous
Peoples from that area. The Indigenous Peoples of El Calaboz Rancheria, whose traditional lands
and territories are bifurcated by the Texas-Mexico border and by the U.S.-Mexico border wall, have
called upon the United Nations and the U.S. government to address these actions as violations of
international human rights, including CERD and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples., which the U.S. signed in 2010.157 In 2013, the U.N. Committee on the
Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), Early Warning and Urgent Action Procedures has
expressed “concern regarding the potentially discriminatory impact that the construction of a border
wall might have on the Kikapoo, Ysleta del Sur Pueblo and Lipan Apache indigenous
communities.”158
B. The DREAMers
The Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act is a bill that proposed to
grant legal status to certain immigrants who were educated in United States schools after being
brought to the United States as children. The bill was introduced in Congress in 2001, but never
passed. From the bill, the term “DREAMer” emerged, referring to undocumented immigrants who
came to the United States as children, were educated here, and identify as American.159
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Texas was the first in the nation to offer in-state tuition to undocumented students. Almost 25,000
non-citizen students attended college with in-state tuition in 2013.160 Texas Senator Campbell seeks
to pass a bill under the border security subcommittee, which would end in-state tuition for
undocumented students. Inextricably linked to our national well-being is the ability of
undocumented students to become active and contributing members of society, adding wealth to the
economy and knowledge to the workforce.161 Ending the tuition break would increase barriers to
education and prevent naturalization of the students, thereby preventing active participation in
society.
C. Discrimination
On May 26, 2015, Jennifer Harbury filed a lawsuit against the Texas Department of State Health
Services and a number of its employees.162 The plaintiff’s are undocumented parents who are suing
on behalf of their U.S.-born children, who are being denied birth certificates. The suit was amended
in August 2015 to add more plaintiffs, making a total of 28. The South Texas Civil Rights Project
and La Union del Pueblo Entero (LUPE), the organizations that have taken on the case, are claiming
that the department is violating the law by refusing to recognize the matrícula consular — an ID
card issued by Mexican consulates — as a valid form of identification. Citing security concerns, in
2008 Texas announced that it would reject matrículas, but this policy was widely unenforced until
2013.163 Efren Olivares, an attorney with The South Texas Civil Rights Project, explained that
without birth certificates, children cannot enroll in preschool, get baptized, and are at risk of not
being able to receive medical care.164 The Texas Department of State Health Services not only
ordered this change without making official changes to the Texas Administrative Code, but stepped
beyond its official capacity by violating the Constitutional right of citizenship to American-born
children.
D. Racial Profiling
Residents of Texas are often subject to racial profiling in their everyday lives as well. Residents of
the Lower Rio Grande Valley report numerous incidents of local police stopping vehicles because
the driver, passengers or vehicle looked “suspicious.”165 Human rights violations are numerous
when local law enforcement begins to attempt to enforce federal immigration law. Key concerns
include harassment, broken trust, decreasing cooperation required to ensure public safety, and
draining limited local resources that are dedicated to local public safety unrelated to immigration
policy. In addition, many local law enforcement agencies engage in immigration enforcement
without oversight, instilling fear and mistrust in all local officials.166
One recent story of racial profiling that made national headlines was the arrest of Ahmed Mohamed,
a Muslim teen from Irving, TX.167 Fourteen-year-old Ahmed was arrested at his high school after
his teacher mistook a homemade clock he brought to school for a bomb. His English teacher
reported him to the Principal after he showed her the clock he made out of a pencil case. The clock,
which he was keeping in his backpack, beeped during class, which resulted in him showing it to his
teacher. He was then called out of class and led to a room with four police officers, one of whom
said at the sight of Ahmed, “Yep. That’s who I thought it was.” He was led out of school in
handcuffs, interrogated without his attorney present, and was suspended from school for several
days. Ahmed’s father posited that the school’s reaction to his son’s clock was a prime example of
Islamophobia: “We live in the land of opportunity to grow and help and the people who did this to
my son, they do not see him that way,”168 Due to social media attention and national outcry no
charges were ultimately filed and Ahmed was invited to the White House by President Obama, but
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others in Texas facing racial profiling often have cases under the radar, and are not so lucky to have
similar outcomes.
IV. Women’s Rights
a. Reproductive Rights
Texas has recently created state policies and restrictions that limit women’s rights of freedom of
choice over their own bodies as well as equal access for healthcare. As of July 1, 2014, Texas
introduced new abortion guidelines:
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A woman must receive state-directed counseling that includes information designed to
discourage her from having an abortion. After the counseling session, the woman must
wait 24 hours before the procedure becomes available;
The use of telemedicine for medical abortion is prohibited;
The parent of a minor must consent and be notified before an abortion is provided
Public funding is available for abortion only in cases of life endangerment, rape, or
incest;
A woman must undergo an ultrasound before obtaining an abortion. The provider must
show and describe the image to the woman. If the woman lives within 100 miles of an
abortion provider, she must obtain the ultrasound at least 24 hours before the
abortion.169
These changes not only increase the financial burden of having an abortion by mandating
ultrasounds and doctors visits previously not required, but they also decrease the ability of women
working full-time and students to have an abortion. Requiring increased doctor visits and
ultrasounds require women to take off time from school or work, jeopardizing their livelihood and
education.
On October 14, 2014, the Supreme Court issued a temporary stay on House Bill 2 (HB2), a
sweeping Texas abortion ban. The law was famously passed despite the 11-hour filibuster by State
Senator Wendy Davis.170 It includes several parts: A requirement that all abortion providers have
admitting privileges to hospitals; one forcing doctors to use an outdated protocol for medicationinduced abortion that narrows the window in which it can be used; an unconstitutional ban on
abortion after 20 weeks; and a requirement that abortions only be performed in ambulatory surgical
centers, which cost the state millions of dollars to build.171 Questions on HB2’s constitutional
legality run rampant. Under Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the controlling abortion precedent, a
state may not create an undue burden by placing a “substantial obstacle in the path of a woman
seeking an abortion before viability.”172 Reproductive rights advocates argued in court that the
abortion restrictions are not intended to protect women's health, but to cut off women's access to
safe, legal abortion. About 1 million women in Texas must now drive 300 miles round-trip to get to
the nearest clinic.173 State officials have thus been unsympathetic to the increased burden. Current
Texas Governor Greg Abbott suggested that women go to New Mexico for abortions. Abbot and
other officials declared that the fact that one in six women will have to drive over 150 miles was not
a “large fraction” of the population, and therefore was not a detrimental change in Texas’ abortion
policies.174
With the increased barriers to safe, affordable abortions, women have been taking the matter into
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their own hands. Amy Hagstrom Miller of Whole Woman’s Health reports that her providers are
hearing from an increasing number of women who, due to lack of safer resources, attempt
dangerous at-home, internet-cited abortion tactics.175
Millions of Texas women no longer have access to comprehensive, quality reproductive care,
including affordable contraception and screening for cancer and sexually transmitted diseases.
687,000 women will not be eligible for Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care Act after
former Governor Rick Perry refused to enroll Texas in it.176 Barriers to reproductive health could
result in increases in unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases, and reproductive
systems cancers that could be treated or prevented if screened earlier.177 The changes are especially
devastating for Texas, which had the highest rate of cervical cancer in the nation. 178 In January
2013, Texas launched a full-state funded program, Texas Women’s Health Program, to provide
women’s health services. However, it excluded Planned Parenthood as a provider despite the fact
that 31% of women in family planning programs relied on Planned Parenthood in 2010.179 In
addition, Texas lawmakers recently approved a budget item that bans Planned Parenthood from
participating in reproductive cancer screenings, decreasing already limited resources for lowincome families.180
Immigrant women are more likely to be directly impacted by the rise of reproductive care prices
because of their inability to apply for reduced-rate services due to immigrant status or lack of
documentation.181 House Bill 3994, passed on a 93-46 vote, requires women to show a U.S.
government issued I.D in order to get an abortion in Texas, something many immigrant women
cannot produce.182 An amendment to allow foreign documentation was denied.183
In the Lower Rio Grande Valley, 9 out of 32 family clinics have closed, leaving many women
without transportation to other clinics.184 It is particularly concerning for women living in colonias
who cannot access public transportation. Programs, such as mobile clinics, designed to alleviate the
barriers for these women have either ceased or been reduced due to lack of funding. These changes
in reproductive health care has led to 147,000 low-income women losing access to reproductive
health services and could further lead to women using informal market services that are less
reliable, secure, and safe.185
International human rights law guarantees non-discrimination in access to reproductive health.
During the first U.N. Universal Periodic Review of the United States, recommendations were made
to the U.S. Government to “Review, reform and adequate its federal and state laws, in consultation
with civil society, to comply with the protection of the right to nondiscrimination established by the
Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD), especially in the
areas of employment, housing, health, education and justice.” However, the U.S. Government’s
stated position on this recommendation was: “We disagree with some of the premises embedded in
this recommendation… While we recognize there is always room for improvement, we believe that
our law is consistent with our CERD obligations.”186 The U.N. Human Rights Committee in 2014
came out with strong recommendations on this issue, recommending the U.S. Government:
“facilitate access to adequate health care, including reproductive health-care services, by
undocumented immigrants and immigrants and their families who have been residing lawfully in
the United States for less than five years.”187 Then again in 2014 review the CERD committee noted
that disparities in health care were increasing – a demonstration of U.S. Government’s
noncompliance with its human rights obligations under CERD. The Committee recommended that
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the U.S. Government “[e]laminate racial disparities in the field of sexual and reproductive
health.”188
Yet, the 2015 U.S. Government UPR report largely ignored the existence of these entrenched
discriminatory and restrictive reproductive health policies including the reproductive and general
health needs of immigrant women. The report makes the general statement “We are committed to
eliminating health disparities and promoting health, and we actively enforce federal civil rights laws
to help ensure that all people have equal access to health care and social service programs…. By
law, all persons in the United States, including persons without valid immigration status, are entitled
to emergency health services.”189 Despite the government's claims, women continue to be denied
critical reproductive health services. This is why groups on the ground in Texas continue to fight for
all immigrants to be able to access not just emergency health care, but the basic minimum
preventive reproductive healthcare they deserve and are guaranteed under international human
rights law.
b. Sexual Assault and Gender Motivated Violence
6.3 million Texans have experienced sexual assault in their lifetime, with 413,000 Texans reporting
sexual assault in the past year.190 Noel Busch-Armedariz, lead researcher and Associate Dean for
research at the School of Social Work in Texas says that there are not enough resources for victims
of sexual assault in Texas: “As a state, it’s imperative that we devote adequate resources to
preventing sexual violence and serving survivor needs.”191
In 2015, at a Congressional hearing titled “Taking Sexual Assault Seriously: The Rape Kit Backlog
and Human Rights,” Skylor Hearn, the Assistant Director of the Texas Department of Public Safety
(DPS), informed the committee that Texas had over 15,000 untested rape kits statewide.192 Hearn
cautioned that, after communication with agencies and crime laboratories, the Texas DPS believed
that number could be as high as 20,000, leaving many victims without answers and their
perpetrators free in society.193
Gender motivated violence is also widespread in Texas. In 2014 alone, there were 185,817 reported
incidents of domestic violence. More than 23,000 adults and children reside in domestic violence
shelters, although 39% of adults who attempt to seek shelter are denied admittance due to lack of
space.194 Native American and Alaska Native women are 2.5 times more likely to be raped than
other women in the United States, and perpetrators are typically non-Native men.195 The Texas
Department of Public Safety 2014 report on sexual report found that for victims whose race was
known,196 1% were Native. However it can be assumed that the trends are probably more similar to
the national numbers and are due to none reporting, none identification of Indigenous status, and
other deterrents. Geographic isolation and jurisdictional complexities continue to be the biggest
obstacles in both the prosecution and restitution of these crimes for Indigenous women. For
example, in the Tigua tribe's Ysleta Del Sur Pueblo in El Paso, TX the tribal police could not arrest
non-Indigenous people until 2012. Domestic violence and rape are reportedly the most common
crimes perpetrated by non-natives there, and one police officer stated “Native American women are
raped three times more than any other ethnicity, and the majority of attackers are non-natives who
come on the Ysleta reservation.”197
Some counties and cities in Texas are working to combat the high levels of gender motivated
violence in Texas. Several Texas counties and cities have released resolutions declaring that
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Freedom from Domestic Violence is a human right. Austin, TX and Travis County, TX issued this
resolution in 2014, but Laredo and Webb County, TX issued a joint resolution in early October of
2015.198
V. Healthcare
Texas is the uninsured capital of the United States, with more than 6.3 million Texans, including 1.2
million children, lacking health insurance. Texas' uninsured rates are 1.5 to 2 times the national
average, creating significant problems in financing and delivering healthcare to all Texans.199
Throughout Texas, rates of obesity, high blood pressure, physical inactivity, and death due to
stroke, heart disease, and diabetes are extremely high.200
Families with income levels 200% below the federal poverty line, racial minority groups, young
adults from ages 19 to 34, people in families in which adults work either part-time or part of the
year, or individuals in poor or fair health status are likely to be uninsured for longer periods than
others. Thirty-five of Texas’ 254 counties account for 80% of the uninsured.201 A common
misconception is that most of the uninsured are concentrated in the counties along the TexasMexico border. However, Texas’ 28 largest cities including Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Austin,
Fort Worth, and El Paso had a greater percentage of their population without insurance compared to
rest of the United States.202
The United States Supreme Court ruled in 2012 that states could decide whether they were going to
take the Medicaid expansion or not.203 Despite billions of federal dollars offered, Texas refused to
expand Medicaid. The state would have only had to pay 7% of the total cost of the expansion,204
resulting in 1.5 million Texans gaining insurance.205 Texas opting out of Medicaid Expansion leaves
1.1 million Texans with no coverage due to the Medicaid coverage gap. 206 Without the expansion,
the number of people who rely on hospital care for curative purposes rather than adhering to
preventive screening will increase. This will lead to an increase in number of people who access the
hospital at ineffective and more costly points for their health, further worsening the health gap
between the wealthy and the most vulnerable. This rejection is causing Texas hospitals to lose
approximately $5.5 billion annually for treating uninsured people, while the state rejected $100
billion of federal subsidies.207
A. HIV/AIDS
Over 30 years since the AIDS epidemic, in 2011 Texas rated 3rd among the nation in the number of
HIV diagnoses, and Austin has seen a 40% increase in HIV/AIDS cases over the past 8 years.208
While state officials like Tracy Lunoff, Austin’s Assistant Director of comprehensive health
services, claims that Texas schools teach students how to protect themselves, with abstinence as the
chosen teaching method and few teachers elaborating on “alternative lifestyles” or different types of
sexual relationships, valuable information on disease prevention is lost.209 Many advocates are
urging the de-stigmatization of sexual education, urging teachers to encourage students to seek out
information on their own.210
Even with the numerous AIDS awareness and fundraising groups in Texas, HIV/AIDS infections
are still growing in certain cities; Austin averages one new positive diagnosis each day. 211 In spite
of this, Texas passed a bill to divert $3 million from an HIV screening program into abstinence
education.212 In 2013, 19,000 Texans were not receiving medical care for their HIV diagnosis
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because Texas’ failure to adopt the Medicaid expansion left gaps in insurance coverage for those
who fell below the requirements for private insurance.213 Katy Caldwell, the executive director at
Legacy Community Health Services, commented on the difficulty of advising people who are
uninsured or at the poverty level: “One of the hard things to explain to people is you’re actually too
poor to get help.”214
Failure to provide education on prevention, in addition to failure to provide health resources for
HIV/AIDS patients, is a violation of human rights. HIV/AIDS not only impacts physical health, but
also alters an individual’s personal social identity, causing unneeded personal suffering and loss of
dignity when resources and adequate assistance are not provided. HIV/AIDS infection is
disproportionately high among groups that already suffer from lack of human rights protections,
social and economic discrimination, and marginalization.215 UNAIDS and the Office of the
U.N.High Commissioner for Human Rights outlines:
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States should ensure, through political and financial support, that community
consultation occurs in all phases of HIV/AIDS policy design . . .
States should review and reform public health laws to ensure that they adequately
address public health issues raised by HIV/AIDS. . .
States should . . . provide for the regulation of HIV-related goods, services and
information, so as to ensure widespread availability of qualitative prevention measures
and services, adequate HIV prevention and care information and safe and effective
medication at an affordable price.216
Texas’ failure to provide adequate education on HIV/AIDS infection results in more cases of
HIV/AIDS. The State’s failure to provide adequate health resources to its infected population is a
human rights violation.
VI. Environmental & Climate Justice
Scientists claim that Texas has become a large contributor in greenhouse gas emission and
simultaneously, the state is vulnerable to its consequences217. Texas depends on an energy industry
that relies primarily on extracting fossil fuels. Federal data shows that Texas leads the nation in
greenhouse emission compared to other states.218
The most potent predictors of health are race and zip code. “In 1928, the City of Austin’s Master
Plan designated East Austin as the area where all industries, African Americans, and Mexican
American communities would relocate and reside.”219 For more than 35 years, East Austin residents
lived next to several bulk fuel storage tank facilities often referred to as the ‘Tank Farm,’ a 52 acre
site with above ground fuel storage tanks owned by six major oil companies: Exxon, Mobil,
Chevron, Star Enterprises (Texaco), CITGO and Coastal States. In 1992, PODER (People
Organized in Defense of Earth and her Resources) discovered that the companies had violated air
emissions and had contaminated the groundwater, resulting in numerous health problems in the
community.220
The neighborhoods affected by the consequences of Texas’ greenhouse gas output are often
neighborhoods that are characterized by other vulnerabilities such as a high prevalence of poverty.
Median family income in these neighborhoods is 30% lower compared to other neighborhoods in
the City of Houston, with 25% of the residents falling below the federal poverty level. These
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neighborhoods are also heavily inhabited by minorities: Harrisberg/Manchester is 88% Black,
Clinton Park is over 90% Black, and Denver Harbor/Port Houston is 91% Latina/o. 221
Drilling for oil and gas in the state of Texas has been a common activity. What is alarming,
however, is the recent encroachment of the industry upon residential areas due to the recent
insurgence of fracking. In Wise County, Catherine and Brett Bledsoe report that their drinking
water became contaminated in 2010 soon after hydraulic fracturing began on two natural gas wells
bordering their property. The water stung their eyes during showers and their animals refused to
drink the water. Private water testing found benzene, a known carcinogen, at double the levels
deemed safe by the EPA.222 Over 15 dangerous compounds were detected at a Fort Worth home in
April 2010. Sulfur compounds were above short term and long term screening levels, and carbon
disulfide levels were 300 times higher than the EPA’s normal allowable amount for ambient urban
air. A resident of the tested area suffered severe nosebleeds, nausea and headaches.223
Despite a drought in 2011, a local aquifer in Carrizo Springs was exhausted in the search for oil.
Hugh Fitzsimons, a bison rancher, documented how water production from one well on his ranch
fell by two-thirds as a result of nearby wells pumping water for fracking operations. According to
the Texas Water Development Board and the Railroad Commission of Texas, in 2011, Texas used a
greater number of barrels of water for oil and natural gas fracking (about 632 million) than the
number of barrels of oil it produced (about 441 million).224 Texas’ air monitoring system is so
flawed that the state knows almost nothing about the extent of the pollution, particularly in the
Eagle Ford. Located in southwest Texas, Eagle Ford is one of the most active drilling sites in the
United States with more than 7,000 oil and gas wells drilled since 2008.225 Only five permanent air
monitors are installed in the 20,000-square-mile region, and all are at the fringes of the shale play,
far from the heavy drilling areas where emissions are highest.226 Fracking in Texas has led to
deteriorating health of individuals in fracking communities, as well as general increased health
risks. Many residents were not provided sufficient protection or warning about the impact of being
exposed to fracking chemicals and consequences.
Seeking to override municipal ordinances criminalizing fracking or prohibiting rezoning to
accommodate fracking, the Texas Senate approved House Bill 40, making municipal ordinances
such as Denton, Texas’ fracking ban, unenforceable.227 The authors of the bill, receiving enormous
contributions from oil and gas companies in previous years, specifically began work on HB 40 to
deter other municipalities from taking Denton’s lead. In order to achieve this, the Texas Senate
overstepped 150 years of Texas tradition allowing local communities to have “home rule
authority.”228 After being passed in a flurry in 2015, HB 40 requires municipal ordinances to satisfy
the following:




The proposed ordinance must not apply to subsurface activity;
The proposed action (i.e., fracking) must be considered commercially reasonable by the
industry;
The ordinance must not prevent oil and gas activity from occurring
The ordinance must not already be preempted by state or federal law.229
HB 40 strips municipality power to conduct local zoning, removes the local government’s ability to
protect its citizens from harmful activity from outside business, and depletes its ability to determine
what and how the land in its jurisdiction is utilized.230 Many states recognize the ability of
municipalities to make decisions regarding company production of oil and gas. 231 Failing to allow
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citizens to protect themselves, their families, and their land from unwanted oil and gas industry
productivity severely limits citizens’ right to quiet enjoyment of their property and community. In
addition, many members of the scientific and environmental justice community cite fracking as a
leading cause in increased earthquakes in states such as Oklahoma, where state officials have
acknowledged the detrimental effects of fracking.232 Overriding ordinances banning fracking and
other gas and oil activities, such as the one in Denton, Texas, increases the risk of environmental
damage and human health, as well as denies citizens the right to uphold their municipality’s legal
decisions.
In June 2015, Governor Greg Abbot signed legislation that makes it even more difficult for local
governments to sue large corporate polluters. House Bill 1794, which became law on September 1,
2015, sets a five-year statute of limitations and a payout cap of $2 million when counties sue
companies for polluted water or air.233 Support for the bill was echoed by claims that limiting civil
penalties would secure economic certainty for companies and allow them to refocus resources on
cleaning up their messes, instead of expending money on litigation and payouts. 234 The bill is said
to be largely targeted at protesters in Harris County, who have submitted about 1,500 citizens’
complaints about pollution a year. In the past five years, Harris County has brought 10 cases dealing
with state environmental violations.235
VII.
Education
Under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), education is proclaimed as a universal
human right. The aim of this proclamation was to broaden entitlements.236 Article 26 of the UDHR
sets forth the right of everyone to free and compulsory elementary education.237 The UDHR states
in relevant part:
Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the
strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote
understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and
shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.238
Despite having the nation’s largest public school system, Texas (ranked 39th) falls below the
national average with a failing D on its report card according to the annual Quality Counts report
distributed by Education Week. The report links the state’s economic problems to educational
deficiencies such as school finance (D+), building and supporting capacity (D+), and spending
(F).239 In 2014, the Texas Education Agency reported that 297 educational campuses in the state –
serving almost 148,000 children – have been failing for two or more consecutive years.240 1,199
schools were considered low performing.241 A study by the University of Texas at Austin found that
the makeup of Texas’ schools tends to exacerbate challenges those students face, citing segregation,
poverty, and language status as barriers to succeeding school districts.242
The existence of English language learners (ELLs) has doubled in the past two decades. Many
schools place ELL children in segregated, isolated classes to aid in their studies.Though meant to
help the students, recent research found that this was a detriment to their learning, severely
curtailing their probability of success.243 Of triple segregated schools (schools with high
segregation, low-income students, and ELL students), 48% were less likely to be rated “exemplary”
on Texas’ accountability system.244
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Texas public school systems are suffering as more affluent students are leaving the public school
systems that are underfunded and overburdened. Forty-six per cent of urban schools and 20% of
suburban schools are designated as “intensely segregated” indicating that 90% or more of the
students are Black and Latina/o combined. At every school level and in all of the core subjects,
minority students and low-income students are more likely than their more affluent and white peers
to be taught by teachers who cannot meet the state requirements. 245 Inadequate provision of
education to marginalized populations such as low-income and those in minority communities,
factor into the continuation of exploitation and poverty.
Currently, Texas spends almost $60,000 less per elementary classroom than the national
average and also trails behind the national average for teacher salaries.246 Lack of funding and
failure to increase educational spending has caused the disintegration of programs that helped
disadvantaged students, decreased the number of remedial classes offered, and resulted in less
academic support such as tutoring and mentoring. The external services that used to be provided by
the school for free are now charged to the students, including, but not limited to, bus services.247
The changes in public school system leave the most vulnerable in a broken system and create more
barriers to education, success, and upward mobility.
Aside from access to education and the quality of education, the Texas legislature restricts the
knowledge learned in the public school systems. The State’s social studies guidelines for textbooks
result in history lessons being riddled with religious and conservative biases. Due to the state’s strict
requirements, publishing companies must publish more conservative versions of social science text
books sold solely to Texas.248 Science textbooks that mention climate change fail to mention that
human activity leads to worsening and accelerated environment degradation.249 A Texas law has
created further restrictions that intend to make it more difficult to recall textbooks. Under the law,
school board members are only able to vote to reject textbooks if they have blatant factual errors or
if they fail to meet half of the state’s standards.250 Many of the school board members do not have
any prior experience in the education field, with many lacking an advanced degree or specialization
in the topic area. Some were merely suggested for the position by State politicians.251
Higher education efforts to promote equality are also under fire in Texas. The U.S. Supreme Court
will be deciding the future of affirmative action in the University of Texas case, Fisher v. University
of Texas at Austin, which will be argued on December 9, 2015.252 This is a rare second
consideration of a lawsuit filed in the name of one single potential student who, the University
shows, would not have been admitted even if there was no consideration of race as one among
many factors in admissions, and who now has graduated from another university. This case could
have grave consequences for all universities, including private universities, and for undergraduate,
graduate and professional education. The international human rights law and standards - “a special
measure” and “affirmative step”- support the University of Texas’ argument that their criteria are
closely tailored to furthering a compelling state interest justifying the use of race as part of their
holistic admissions program to meet the strict scrutiny requirement.253
Providing Texas children with the human right to education means it must be available, accessible,
acceptable and adaptable.254 Under CERD the state of Texas is violating the human rights of those
within its education system. As Justice Ginsburg and Breyer’s concurrence in the Supreme Court
case of Grutter v. Bollinger correctly states: “By adopting CERD’s broader definition of racial
discrimination, the federal government would be able to offer a legal remedy for racial minorities to
challenge the disparate impact of state education policies in federal court.”255
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VIII. Worker’s Rights
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 23
Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favorable conditions of
work and to protection against unemployment. Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right
to equal pay for equal work. Everyone who works has the right to just and favorable remuneration
insuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if
necessary, by other means of social protection. Everyone has the right to form and to join trade
unions for the protection of his interests.256
The right to work in the human rights context means that the U.S. government has an obligation to
“respect, protect and fulfill each person’s access to work to earn one’s living and the obligation to
guarantee that this work can be freely chosen or accepted.”257 Unfortunately, in the United States,
the term "right to work" has been usurped by groups seeking to undermine the rights of workers and
in particular the ability of workers to collective bargain for higher wages and better work
conditions. Texas is a “right to work state,” but this does not mean the state is upholding the human
right to work, but rather they are an anti-union state and thus actually denying the human right to
work. In 2010 Texas was one of five “right to work” states in the U.S. Today, it is one of twentyfive “right to work: states that are in violation of obligations in article 22 of the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, by completely prohibiting collective bargaining in the
public sector.258 The minimum wage in Texas is currently $7.25 an hour; this is among the lower
minimum wages of the States, with 29 states and D.C. having minimum wages above the federal
minimum wage of $7.25 per hour.259
Across the country, many companies have implemented a new, unethical method of operation. It is
one in which workers’ rights are sacrificed for reduced costs and increased profit margins.
Misclassification allows employers to deny workers a decent wage or overtime pay, benefits that
would naturally come with the job if they were correctly classified. 260 Though not unique to the
trade of construction, misclassification impacts FedEx drivers,261 exotic dancers,262 newspapers,263
and other areas of employment, construction workers in Texas and provide an excellent case study
of how workers suffer when employers use them as full-time workers but label them as independent
contractors.
Nearly 40% of the construction workforce is misclassified in Texas, resulting in $117 million lost
wages.264 Misclassified workers lose workplace protections, including the right to join a union and
overtime pay, face an increased tax burden, and are often ineligible for unemployment insurance
and disability compensation in the event of an accident. In addition to grueling work conditions,
45% of construction workers surveyed in a 2009 study on Austin’s construction market did not have
enough financial resources to support their families.265
Although construction workers work at least 40 hours of physically demanding labor per week, 22%
of the workers report not being compensated for their labor. As a result, more than half of
construction workers in Texas live in poverty.266 Misclassification increases the danger of
construction work since the employers are not liable for work-related injuries if they are considered
independent contractors, making a dangerous job even more hazardous. One in five construction
workers reported having suffered a work related injury that required medical attention.267 Uninsured
medical costs and inability to pay for said costs because of lack of adequate coverage leads to more
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abject poverty for workers who are supporting their families with a low-income.
Construction workers in Texas face even greater hurdles in receiving federal protections such as the
right to receive minimum wage, the right to a safe worksite, and the right to receive overtime
because of weak state labor laws.268 Workers’ compensation in Texas is not required, allowing
employers to opt out. In addition, while most states allow a 30 minute break after every 5th or 6th
hour worked, workers in Texas are not entitled to rest breaks.269
Farm workers in Texas are also fighting for workers rights, including the right to be paid the federal
minimum wage. Around 50 to 70 percent of the farm workers in the United States are
undocumented citizens, and groups are pushing for immigration reform that would grant farm
workers the ability to obtain citizenship for undocumented workers.270 Threats and fear of
deportation allow for injustice to be perpetrated towards undocumented farm workers.271
Predatory payday loans are another system that threatens the wellbeing of Texas workers. At least
six people have been imprisoned since 2012 for owing money on payday loans. Additionally, the
economic advocacy group, Texas Appleseed, found that more than 1500 debtors have received
criminal charges in spite of the fact that a 2012 law explicitly prohibits payday lenders from using
criminal charges to collect payments.272 For example, a 71-year-old woman took out a $250 loan
from an Austin payday lender after losing her job as a receptionist in March 2012; four months
later, she faced the possibility of jail time if she did not settle her debt of roughly $1000. Criminal
charges in these cases are often substantiated by little more than the lender’s word and a photocopy
of a bounced check.273 This predatory system of lending has endangered the livelihood of people
who are usually already struggling with debt and poverty, and continually penalizes and
criminalizing the poor and often black and Latina/o and immigrant communities.
Across the United States the Fight for 15 campaign, which was started by a 2012 strike by fast food
workers in New York, has started a national movement for income equality.274 As previously
mentioned, Texas has one of the lower minimum wages in the United States. Accordining to the
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics about 400,000 Texans earned the minimum wage or less in 2013.275
Fast food workers in Houston, TX have begun to organize to fight for $15/hr. Despite these efforts,
this past May, the Texas republican controlled house overwhelmingly rejected a proposal to let
Texas voters decide whether the state should increase the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour. 276
Grassroots groups, low wage workers, and community organizations continue to fight for a fair and
decent wage in Texas.277
IX. Housing and Homelessness
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 25
Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and
of his family, including […] housing. 278
According to the most recent report from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
(HUD), 29,615 Texans were homeless in 2013.279 In the Houston area, more than 6,300 people are
without a home on any given night. While circumstances vary, the main reason people experience
homelessness is because they cannot find affordable housing.280
In the 2006 A Dream Denied: The Criminalization of Homelessness in U.S. Cities report by the
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National Coalition for the Homeless and the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty
among their top ’20 Meanest Cities’ in the United States 4 cities were in Texas – Dallas, Houston,
San Antonio, and Austin.281 This designation means that the cities practices or laws have stood out
as more egregious than others in their attempt to criminalize homelessness. Some of the laws and
policies have changed since 2006 due to grassroots movements, utilizing the human rights
framework, and pushing the government to make reforms, which have lead to recent wins such as
the Justice Department telling cities to stop criminalizing homelessness.282
Homeless youth are individuals under the age of 18 who lack parental, foster, or institutional care. It
is not always easy to identify homeless youth, as they are often less likely to spend time in the same
places as the general homeless population due to the stark age difference. They are often less
willing to disclose that they are experiencing homelessness, and they may also work harder to try to
blend in with peers who are not homeless. This leads to inaccurate and/or incomplete statistics,
which in turn affects the effectiveness of intervention programs, leaving a gap in services provided
to the general homeless population and homeless youth.283
Many LGBTQ youth experience abandonment and severe family conflict stemming from their
sexual orientation and gender identity. However, many other factors are also present: physical
abuse, sexual abuse, neglect, substance abuse by parents, and mental health disabilities. Once
homeless, LGBTQ youth experience higher rates of physical and sexual assault, higher instances of
mental health problems, and increased unsafe sexual behaviors than heterosexual homeless youth.
They are also twice as likely to attempt suicide (62%) as their heterosexual homeless peers
(29%).284
In 2014, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, in its Concluding
Observations, expressed concerns at the high number of homeless persons, who are
disproportionately Black, Latina/o, and Indigenous Peoples, and at the criminalization of
homelessness.285 Among the Committee’s recommendations was that the United States
Government abolish laws that make homelessness a crime, offer incentives to decriminalize
homelessness, and work closely with relevant stakeholders to address homelessness in accordance
with human rights standards. The Committee also urged the Government to ensure the availability
of affordable housing for all, strengthen implementation of laws protecting against housing
discrimination, and promptly investigate all discriminatory practices related to housing. 286
a. Gentrification in Austin
In 1928, Austin City Council drafted a resolution that called for the establishment of a "Negro
district" in East Austin.287 This institutionalized racial segregation between West and East Austin
was later enforced by the 1960s construction of present-day I-35 that physically divided the city.288
Segregated black schools had already moved to the area, and by 1930, Rosewood Park became the
first city-provided recreational facility for African Americans. Because of their investment in
establishments like Rosewood Park, residents became deeply invested in the community. In more
recent times, due to East Austin’s geographical nearness to downtown and neighborhood
development, African Americans are being pushed out under the effects of urban gentrification.289
The effects of gentrification in Austin are seen in the changing demographics, as well as
deteriorating quality of life and skyrocketing costs of living. At the end of 2006, rent at 22
apartment buildings considered “affordable” along the East Riverside corridor ranged between $496
and $871. In 2013, rent at those same complexes range between $568 and $1,550, and the latest
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census figures have shown an exodus of minorities from the area. 290 “The majority of properties
affordable to low-income people in the Austin area are apartments that are privately owned, many
of them in poor condition, and state law prohibits local governments from requiring that developers
and landowners participate in affordable housing or tenant relocation assistance programs.”291 The
only part of the East Riverside Corridor Master Plan, a city plan which the City Council adopted in
2010, that addresses affordable housing is the Community Density Bonus program. It stipulates that
the city can mandate that developers offer neighborhood benefits, such as units for low-income
tenants, in exchange for granting a variance from city zoning rules, including greater height or
square footage beyond what the rules allow. Coming into effect in May 2012, the City of Austin has
yet to take advantage of the Community Density Bonus program, resulting in a lack of affordable,
public housing.292 In 2006 the Guadalupe Neighborhood Development Corporation had 250
families waiting for affordable housing; in 2014 that number rose to over 600.293
Racial disparities also occur when individuals are searching for homes. Black renters who contact
agents learn about 11% fewer available units, Asian renters learn about 10% fewer unites, and
Latina/o renters learn about 12% fewer available units.294 In addition to the availability of homes,
minority homebuyers experience other forms of discriminatory treatment in the form of housing
cost and financing, housing quality, and the helpfulness and willingness of the sales agent.295
Austin is among the ten fasted growing cities in the United States, with an increase of almost 20%
annually.296 However, the population is growing unequally; the 2010 Census shows that the number
of African Americans residing in Central East Austin shrank by 27% over the past decade, while the
number of whites living there increased by 40%.297 According to a May report from the University
of Texas at Austin that used Census Bureau data, among large, fast-growing cities, Austin is the
only one with a shrinking African-American population.298 Further, before the arrival of European
settlers, Austin was inhabited by a variety of nomadic Indigenous peoples. Today, the 2010 census
found 0.9% of the Austin population to be part of their category designated “American Indian and
Alaska Native alone.”299 All of Texas has an estimated 100,000 plus Indigenous Peoples, placing it
in the top 14 states for Indigenous populations.300 Additionally, Austin currently ranks 10th for the
fastest growing cities with the greatest income disparity.301 With unequal income and increasing
population, gentrification increases leads to displacement of families in East Austin.302
Displacement, especially for low-income elderly, goes beyond an unfamiliar new address and
moving fees; it destroys their sense of trust and community, breaks invested ties in the familiar
community, and results in feelings of insecurity and resentment.
X. LGBTQ Rights
Texas has been slow to ensure protection of LGBTQ rights for its citizens. According to an
assessment based on the Municipal Equality Index, Texas only scored 28 points compared to a
national average of 59 points.303 The index evaluates state policies and legislation on nondiscrimination, relationship recognition, and employment policies including transgender-inclusive
insurance coverage, contracting non-discrimination requirements, and existence of policies for
equal treatment of LGBT employees, fair law enforcement practices, and leadership on equality
matters.304 The staggering difference between the Texas and National average Municipal Equality
Index score shows the dire need for more state legislation and policies that protect the rights of
LGBTQ citizens.
In Texas alone, 429,000 LGBT workers are vulnerable to employment discrimination, with 79%
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experiencing harassment of mistreatment, 45% claiming they were not hired, and 26% claiming
they were fired because of their gender identity.305 At least 40 out of 51 Fortune 500 companies in
Texas have policies prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation, but only 22 have
policies prohibiting discrimination for gender identity.306 Advocates for a law protecting LGBT
workers advise that protection would not burden the existing system evaluating worker complaints,
adding only 202 additional complaints each year.307 Additionally, the complaints could be absorbed
without need for additional staff or resources.
In addition to workplace vulnerabilities, transgender Texans are now at risk of being labeled
criminals for utilizing public restrooms other than the restroom that was designated for their
biological sex at birth.308 One bill, proposed by Rep. Debbie Riddle, would criminalize entering a
public restroom or locker room not designated for an individual’s biological sex at birth. Another,
proposed by Rep. Gilbert Peña, would allow a bystander to sue a transgender person who used a
prohibited bathroom for up to $2,000.00 plus additional compensation for mental anguish.309
Michael Silverman, executive director of Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund, points
out that transgender people are already targets for “extraordinary levels of violence,” and bills such
as the proposed “bathroom bills” will only increase their vulnerability. 310 Just this past November
2015 election cycle, in Houston, – the nation’s fourth-largest city – a city ordinance protecting
residents from discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity was defeated after a
fierce campaign of transphobic fear-mongering focusing on the bathroom issue.311
It is crucial for Texas to be proactive in creating equal opportunity for LGBTQ people and ensuring
their safety. Currently Texas is failing in its human rights obligation to protect against and prevent
violence. The Texas Department of Safety saw an increase of 16% in hate crimes in 2012 and 31%
of those reported cases were due to sexual orientation.312 Hate crimes, while investigated, are rarely
tried in court and most cases conclude without a conviction. In fact, Texas courts do not recognize
crimes targeting transgendered individuals as hate crimes.313 Of the 22 Transgender women of color
murdered this year in the United States, two lived in Texas - Shade Schuler (22) and Ty Underwood
(26).314 The judiciary and law enforcement in Texas should pay close attention to the LGBTQ
population who are vulnerable to harassment and violent attacks compared to their heterosexual
counterparts.
Prior to the Supreme Court ruling legalizing gay marriage this past June 2015, Texas lawmakers
were hoping to pass a proposal that would legally allow the state to avoid issuing marriage licenses
to same-sex couples. The law would have given the power to issue marriage licenses to the
Governor-appointed Secretary of State.315 The Secretary of State would have been able to withdraw
a clerk’s ability to issue marriage licenses once they approved of a same-sex marriage. Texas also
attempted to pass a bill that would have banned taxpayer funds from being used for licensing samesex couples’ marriages.316 Since the Supreme Court’s ruling on marriage equality, Texas has made a
collection of statements seeking to protect individuals from “act[ing] contrary to his or her religious
beliefs regarding marriage,” and to undermine the legitimacy and binding authority of the highest
court in the land.317 Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton stated that county clerks, judges, and
justices of peace can deny marriage licenses to same-sex couples for religious reasons, stating that
the Supreme Court did not abolish religious liberty.318
Although the bill has not yet passed in Texas, the state is considering passing a “religious freedom”
bill similar to those that raised controversy in other states. 319 LGBTQ communities and their
advocates say that due to the broad language of the bill, it would allow discrimination against their
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communities to be constitutionally legalized.320
In addition to marriage, adoptive and legal parenthood claims by LGBTQ families are often denied
by Texas judges. Lack of clarity in Texas adoption laws often lead to discriminatory practices
against same-sex couples looking to adopt jointly, or individually adopt his or her partner’s child.321
Many times, the discrimination is dependent upon which county the suit is filed in, or which judge
is presiding over the case.322 Jason Hanna and Joe Riggs, who were married in D.C., both fathered
one of their biological children by the same surrogate mother. In June 2014, a judge denied their
petition to be legally recognized as a family.323 At that point, the fathers lacked full parental rights
of each others’ children. The surrogate mother of the boys, CharLynn, was the only person on the
birth certificate despite the fact that she bore no genetic relation to the babies; the embryos were
transferred to her from a donor.324 Without the ability to legally adopt each other’s child, should one
of the men become incapacitated, the babies would be separated and most likely be placed under
state protection, despite the fact that the two men are legally married in D.C.
XI. Police Brutality
Texas has long struggled with police brutality, misconduct, and overreach. In 2012, almost half of
Houstonians arrested during traffic stops were Black, though they make up less than a quarter of
Houston’s population. Many of these stops included “consent searches,” - searches that lack
probable cause - and are conducted at the discretion of the officer and consent of the individual.325
Sparked by the Black Lives Matter national movement, police brutality in particular against Black
people has become an issue at the forefront. Texas law enforcement agencies are 60-75% more
likely to stop and search Blacks and Latina/os than Whites, resulting in inflated arrests, higher
reports of police overreach and force, and increasing distrust between civilians and officers.326 A
handful of states – New Jersey, Minnesota, and Rhode Island included – have outlawed consent
searches, seeking to redirect officer energy away from harmful and unproductive police practices.
Despite the fact that consent searches rarely result in findings of wrongdoing, these searches are still
conducted. In addition to utilizing consent searches, Texas officers are authorized to arrest Texas
drivers for low-level traffic offenses that would only merit a fine. These two unrestricted rights of
law enforcement allow officers to arrest a motorist if a consent search is denied.327
In addition to racial profiling, citizens, community activists, veteran Houston Police Department
(HPD) officers and the president of a local police union admit that the scenario of multiple officers
beating an unarmed suspect happens nearly every day. In the past six years, Houston civilians
reported officers for excessive force 588 times. All but four of those cases were dismissed. 328
Houston police officers reported other police officers 188 times - all but 11 were dismissed.329
The arrest of Sandra Bland is a particularly high-profile example of police brutality, gaining
national attention after she was found dead on July 13, 2015. She died three days after her arrest
following a traffic stop. State Trooper Brian Encinia pulled Bland over for allegedly failing to
signal a lane change. The dashcam video, which captured most of the traffic stop, was released by
the Texas Department of Public Safety.330 It shows that the stop began normally until Encinia told
Bland to put out her cigarette. She replied, “I’m in my car. Why do I have to put out my cigarette?”
Encinia replied by telling her to get out of her vehicle. Bland refused, so Encinia opened the door
and attempted to pull her from the car. Bland got out of the car when Encinia threatened her with a
taser, saying “I will light you up.”331 After she got out of the car, they moved out of view of the
dashboard cam but they could still be heard. Bland took out her phone to try to record the
#AdvancingRights2015 USHRN Texas Report
31
encounter, but Encinia ordered her to put it away. He then placed her in handcuffs, forced her to the
ground, and told her she was under arrest. Three days after her arrest, she was found dead in her jail
cell. Her death was determined to be a suicide. 332 Bland’s mother filed a wrongful death law suit in
early August of 2015.The lawsuit claims that even though Bland reported a previous suicide attempt
and had been crying and refusing meals, jail official placed Bland in a cell “with a variety of
inappropriate items,” including garbage bags and exposed beams.333 Though there are many
concerning facts about Sandra Bland’s arrest and death, the force used by State Trooper Brian
Encinia calls the practices used by Texas law enforcement into serious question.
While the Internal Affairs department of police offices in Houston fail to discipline many officers in
excessive force reports, they tend to find deadly force justified. Between 2007 and 2012, HPD
officers were involved in 550 incidents in which either an individual or an animal was killed.
Internal Affairs found every shooting justified.334 This included the case of Brian Claunch, a
mentally ill, wheelchair-bound man with one leg and one arm that was shot dead after allegedly
threatening an officer with a ball-point pen.
In addition to lack of police accountability, Texas is also battling legislative attempts to decrease an
individual’s ability to record police brutality. Texas Representative Jason Villalba (R) introduced a
bill that would prohibit:


Filming, recording, photographing, or documenting the officer within 25 feet of the
officer; or
Filming, recording, photographing, or documenting the officer within 100 feet of the
officer while carrying a handgun335
The bill seeks to decrease civilian oversight and criminalizes lawful behavior of citizens, severely
curtailing First and Second Amendment rights. There have been several videos documenting police
brutality that have sparked national attention in 2015.
One such video was recorded in McKinney, Texas after law enforcement was called on a pool
party.336 The video was recorded by Brandon Brooks, a teen who lives in the McKinney area. 337 On
June 8, 2015, the video showing a police officer pinning down a Black teenage girl and brandishing
his weapon to other minors went viral.235 The officer, Eric Casebolt, shouted at the young men to
get down and for the girls to leave. He then wrestles the young woman, forcing her face into the
ground and placing both knees on her back. When several bystanders rushed forward as if to assist
the young woman, Casebolt pulled out his gun.338 Casebolt was put on paid administrative leave,
sparking protests from McKinney residents. A few days later, Casebolt resigned. Casebolt will
continue receiving pension and benefits but may face criminal charges, depending on the internal
investigation.339
In its submission to the UPR, the U.S. Government noted that “where there is individual or systemic
officer misconduct, appropriate responses are required. In the past six years, the U.S. Department of
Justice has opened more than 20 civil investigations into police departments that may be engaging
in a pattern or practice of conduct that deprives persons of their rights. These investigations have
focused on excessive force, discrimination, coercive sexual conduct, and unlawful stops, searches,
and arrests.”340 Recommendations on racial profiling and excessive us of force were among the top
UPR recommendations for the United States in May 2015, including 44 mentions of racial profiling
and excessive use of force.341
#AdvancingRights2015 USHRN Texas Report
32
United Nations Treaty bodies have also expressed concern about violence perpetrated by law
enforcement. In April 2014, the U.N. Human Rights Committee in its recommendations regarding
the U.S. Government’s adherence to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
(ICCPR), called upon the U.S. to step up in its efforts to prevent the excessive use of force by law
enforcement officers.342 Then again in November 2014, the U.N. Committee against Torture
detailed their concerns regarding reports of police brutality and excessive use of force by law
enforcement in the United States, against vulnerable populations, including LBGTI individual and
in particular against persons belonging to certain racial and ethnic groups.343 And they called for the
U.S. Government to: “Ensure that all instances of police brutality and excessive use of force by law
enforcement officers are investigated promptly, effectively and impartially by an independent
mechanism with no institutional or hierarchical connection between the investigators and the
alleged perpetrators.”344
Similarly, the U.N. Committee on Racial Discrimination recommended in August 2014 that each
allegation of excessive use of force by law enforcement officials is promptly and effectively
investigated; that the alleged perpetrators are prosecuted and, if convicted, punished with
appropriate sanctions; that investigations are re-opened when new evidence becomes available; and
that victims or their families are provided with adequate compensation. Also, the Committee
recommended that the United States intensify its efforts to prevent the excessive use of force. These
recommendations on excessive use of force were one of four issue areas that the CERD Committee
specifically requested that the U.S. Government provide follow-up information on action taken in
regards to these recommendations within one year of the adoption of the concluding
recommendations in August 2014.
XII.
Conclusion
We hope this report has given the reader a sense of some of the human rights issues in Texas, and
we expect to learn more about the struggles for human rights in Texas at the biannual conference.
Although Texas has some particularly egregious human rights violations and some unique to the
state, they are not alone, and similar rights violations exist throughout the United States. And as Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. said: “Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be
what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality.”345
We look forward to the opportunity for groups and individuals from Texas to share their lived
experiences and place them within the context of a larger human rights movement in the United
States, thus helping build our collective voice and power for advancing justice and the full
spectrum of human rights – Sharpening Our Visions and Reclaiming Our Dreams.
#AdvancingRights2015 USHRN Texas Report
33
ENDNOTES
* This report was prepared by the US Human Rights Network Coordinating Center. Sincere thanks to interns Morgan
Moone and Sarah Fleischauer for their substantial work on this report, and thanks to Evan Gelles for editing and
formatting the endnotes. Thank you also to the US Human Rights Network 2015 biannual conference local Austin
planning committee for their input, learn more at:
www.ushrnetwork.org/events/advancing-human-rights-2015-sharpening-our-vision-reclaiming-our-dreams.
1
For more information on the US Human Rights Network, go to: www.ushrnetwork.org.
2
Pres. Lyndon B. Johnson, 107 – Special Message to Congress: The American Promise, Mar. 15, 2015,
www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=26805&st=&st1=#axzz2foHNK9TC.
3
Welcome, INDIGENOUS CULTURES INSTITUTE, www.indigenouscultures.org.
4
ASAFA JALATA, SOCIAL JUSTICE AND THE UNIVERSITY: GLOBALIZATION, HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE FUTURE OF
DEMOCRACY 59-60 (2014).
5
Quick Facts Beta, UNITED STATES CENSUS BUREAU, http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/48000.html.
6
Indigenous groups, THE TEXAS POLITICS PROJECT,
https://texaspolitics.utexas.edu/archive/html/cult/features/0500_01/slide1.html.
7
For a useful primer on intersectionality, see:
www.ushrnetwork.org/sites/ushrnetwork.org/files/framing_questions_on_intersectionality_1.pdf.
8
YEARBOOK OF THE UNITED NATIONS 1948–1949, p. 535,
https://web.archive.org/web/20130927221000/http://unyearbook.un.org/1948-49YUN/1948-49_P1_CH5.pdf.
9
UN OHCHR, Fact Sheet No.2 (Rev.1), The International Bill of Human Rights,
www.ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/FactSheet2Rev.1en.pdf. The ICCPR and ICESCR will both mark 50 years
since adoption in 2016.
10
UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Human Rights by Country: United States of America,
www.ohchr.org/EN/countries/LACRegion/Pages/USIndex.aspx
11
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (“ICCPR”), opened for signature Dec. 16, 1966, 993 U.N.T.S. 3,
www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/ccpr.aspx.
12
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination ("CERD"), Jan. 4, 1969, 660
U.N.T.S. 195, www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CERD.aspx.
13
Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment ("CAT"), opened for
signature Dec. 10, 1984, 1465 U.N.T.S. 85, www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CAT.aspx.
14
US Human Rights Network, UPR Project Page, www.ushrnetwork.org/our-work/project/upr-universal-periodicreview.
15
U.S. CONST. art. VI, § 2.
16
The United States signed the ICCPR in 1977 (Carter) and ratified in 1992 (Clinton); signed CERD in 1966 (Johnson)
and ratified in 1994 (Clinton); and signed CAT in 1988 (Reagan) and ratified in 1994 (Clinton). The conditions under
which the Senate ratifies treaties under international law are called Reservations, Understandings, and Declarations (or
RUDs). See 136 CONG. REC. 36192 (1990), www1.umn.edu/humanrts/usdocs/tortres.html [hereinafter U.S.
Reservations, CAT]; 140 CONG. REC. S7634 (1994), www1.umn.edu/humanrts/usdocs/racialres.html [hereinafter U.S.
Reservations, CERD]; U.S. reservations, declarations, and understandings, International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights, 138 CONG. REC. 8068 (1992), www1.umn.edu/humanrts/usdocs/civilres.html [hereinafter U.S. Reservations,
ICCPR].
17
See, e.g., Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain, 542 U.S. 692, 734-5 (2004) (stating that although the ICCPR “does bind the
United States as a matter of international law, the United States ratified the Covenant on the express understanding that
it was not self-executing and so did not create obligations enforceable in federal courts.”) Medellin v. Texas, 552 U.S.
491, 506 n. 3 (2008) (“[T]he background presumption is that ‘[i]nternational agreements, even those directly benefiting
private persons, generally do not create private rights or provide for a private cause of action in domestic courts.’”),
www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/07pdf/06-984.pdf.
18
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), G.A. Res. 217 A (III), (1948), www.un.org/en/universaldeclaration-human-rights.
19
Death Penalty Information Center, Facts about the Death Penalty, May 13, 2015,
www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/documents/FactSheet.pdf.
20
Amnesty International USA, Death Sentences and Executions 2014, Mar. 31, 2015,
www.amnestyusa.org/research/reports/death-sentences-and-executions-2014.
21
Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, Texas Death Penalty Facts, http://tcadp.org/get-informed/texas-deathpenalty-facts.
#AdvancingRights2015 USHRN Texas Report
34
22
Tex. Dep’t of Criminal Justice, Death Row Information: Gender and Racial Statistics of Death Row Offenders,
www.tdcj.state.tx.us/death_row/dr_gender_racial_stats.html (last updated Oct. 22, 2015).
23
David R. Dow, Why Texas is So Good at the Death Penalty, POLITICO (May 15, 2014),
www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/05/texas-death-penalty-106736.html#.VQiCGeFvAys.
24
Id.
25
THE TEX. CIVIL RIGHTS PROJECT, THE DEATH PENALTY IN TEXAS: DUE PROCESS AND EQUAL JUSTICE . . . OR RUSH TO
EXECUTION? (2000), www.texascivilrightsproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/2000-the-death-penalty-in-texas.pdf.
26
Id.
27
Id.
28
Id.
29
Id.
30
Richard C. Dieter, Esq, DEATH PENALTY INFORMATION CENTER, www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/sentencing-lifeamericans-embrace-alternatives-death-penalty.
31
Id.
32
Id.
33
PRICEONOMICS, WHY HAS TEXAS EXECUTED SO MANY INMATES?, Jan. 23, 2015
http://priceonomics.com/why-has-texas-executed-so-many-inmates.
34
Ross Ramesey, UT/TT Poll: Texans Stand Behind Death Penalty, TEXAS TRIBUNE (May 24, 2012),
www.texastribune.org/2012/05/24/uttt-poll-life-and-death.
35
THE TEX. CIVIL RIGHTS PROJECT, THE DEATH PENALTY IN TEXAS: DUE PROCESS AND EQUAL JUSTICE . . . OR RUSH TO
EXECUTION? (2000), www.texascivilrightsproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/2000-the-death-penalty-in-texas.pdf.
36
Id.
37
Death Penalty Info. Ctr., Clemency, http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/clemency.
38
Ford v. Wainwright, 106 S.Ct. 2595 (1986).
39
Tom Dart, Sane Enough for Texas: the Lone Star State’s History of Executing Mentally Ill Inmates, THE GUARDIAN
(Dec. 2, 2014), www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014/dec/02/texas-execution-mentally-ill-history-scott-panetti.
40
Id.
41
Lane Florsheim, How Texas Keeps Putting the Intellectually Disabled on Death Row, NEW REPUBLIC (May 14,
2014), https://newrepublic.com/article/117765/death-penalty-mentally-disabled-how-do-states-keep-doing-it.
42
Id.
43
Id.
44
Ford v. Wainwright, 106 S.Ct. 2595, 2606 (1986.); Atkins v. Virginia, 122 S.Ct. 2242, 2249 (2002).
45
Steven Rosenfeld, Sick Rationale Allows Texas to Execute Another Mentally Disabled Man, ALTERNET (Jan. 30,
2015), http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/sick-rationale-allows-texas-execute-another-mentally-disabled-man.
46
Brief for Petitioner, Wilson v. Thaler (2012), No. 12-5349 (Supreme Court of the United States).
http://aaidd.org/docs/default-source/policy/marvin-l-wilson-v-rick-thaler-texas-department-of-criminal-justice%28institutional-division%29.pdf?sfvrsn=0.
47
Steven Rosenfeld, Sick Rationale Allows Texas to Execute Another Mentally Disabled Man, ALTERNET (Jan. 30,
2015), http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/sick-rationale-allows-texas-execute-another-mentally-disabled-man.
48
USHRN, UPR Recommendations by the Numbers, May 2015, www.ushrnetwork.org/resources-media/2015-uprrecommendations-numbers.
49
Amnesty International USA, Death Sentences and Executions 2014, Mar. 31, 2015,
www.amnestyusa.org/research/reports/death-sentences-and-executions-2014.
50
Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, Concluding Observations: United States of
America, U.N. Doc. CERD/C/USA/CO/7-9 (2014),
www.ushrnetwork.org/sites/ushrnetwork.org/files/cerd_concluding_observations2014.pdf.
51
U.N. Committee Against Torture (CAT), Concluding Observations: United States, U.N. Doc CAT/C/USA/CO/3-5
(2014), www.ushrnetwork.org/sites/ushrnetwork.org/files/cat_us_concluding_observations_2014.pdf; UN Human
Rights Committee, Concluding Observations: United States, U.N. Doc. CCPR/C/USA/CO/4 (2014), www.ushrnetwork.
org/sites/ushrnetwork.org/files/iccpr_concludingobservations_usa_uneditedversion_published032714.pdf.
52
Id. CAT 2014 Concluding Observations.
53
Supra note 49, Human Rights Comm. 2014, Concluding Observations.
54
THE TEX. CIVIL RIGHTS PROJECT, THE DEATH PENALTY IN TEXAS: DUE PROCESS AND EQUAL JUSTICE . . . OR RUSH TO
EXECUTION? (2000), www.texascivilrightsproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/2000-the-death-penalty-in-texas.pdf.
55
Mark Reagan, Texas Leads in Exoneration Rates in 2014, SAN ANTONIO CURRENT (Jan. 27, 2015),
www.sacurrent.com/Blogs/archives/2015/01/27/texas-leads-in-exoneration-rates-in-2014.
#AdvancingRights2015 USHRN Texas Report
35
56
Tim Stelloh, Texas Leads U.S. in Exonerated Inmates, BLOOMBERG BUSINESS (Jan. 13, 2013),
www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2013-01-31/texas-leads-u-s-in-executions-payments-to-exonerated-inmates.
57
THE TEX. CIVIL RIGHTS PROJECT, THE DEATH PENALTY IN TEXAS: DUE PROCESS AND EQUAL JUSTICE . . . OR RUSH TO
EXECUTION? (2000), www.texascivilrightsproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/2000-the-death-penalty-in-texas.pdf.
58
Brandi Grissom, Evolving Law Results in Unequal Pay to the Exonerated, THE TEXAS TRIBUNE (Sept. 23, 2011),
www.texastribune.org/2011/09/23/evolving-law-results-unequal-exoneree-pay.
59
Id.
60
Racist Arrests in Tulia, Texas, ACLU, available at https://www.aclu.org/racist-arrests-tulia-texas.
61
Id.
62
Jim Yardley,The Heat is on a Texas Town After the Arrest of 40 Blacks, N.Y. TIMES (Oct. 7, 2000),
www.nytimes.com/2000/10/07/us/the-heat-is-on-a-texas-town-after-the-arrests-of-40-blacks.html?pagewanted=all.
63
Racist Arrests in Tulia, Texas, ACLU, available at https://www.aclu.org/racist-arrests-tulia-texas.
64
Texas Law Enforcement Often Doesn’t Mirror the Communities it Serves, REPORTING TEXAS & THE DALLAS
MORNING NEWS, http://res.dallasnews.com/graphics/2015_05/texas-racial-divide.
65
Id.
66
Teresa Mioli & Corynn Wilson, Analysis Shows East Texas Has Some of the Largest Racial Disparities, REPORTING
TEXAS & THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS, http://res.dallasnews.com/graphics/2015_05/texas-racial-divide/easttexas.html; Daily Mail James Nye, Two White Cops Fired After 'Abominable' Beating Of Black Woman In Police HQ is
Caught On Video (June 4, 2013), www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2335725/Two-white-cops-fired-abominablebeating-black-woman-police-HQ-caught-video.html.
67
ERICA GAMMILL & KATE SPEAR, PRISON JUST. LEAGUE, CRUEL AND UNUSUAL PUNISHMENT: EXCESSIVE USE OF
FORCE AT THE ESTELLE UNIT (2015),
http://s3.amazonaws.com/static.texastribune.org/media/documents/Cruel__Usual_Punishment_-_PJL_Final.pdf.
68
Brandi Grissom, Prison Officials Seek Ways to Recruit, Retain Officers, THE TEXAS Tribune (Nov. 11, 2014),
www.texastribune.org/2014/11/14/prison-officials-seek-ways-recruit-retain-guards.
69
THE HOWARD LEAGUE FOR PENAL REFORM, BREAKING POINT: UNDERSTAFFING AND OVERCROWDING IN PRISONS
(2014), https://d19ylpo4aovc7m.cloudfront.net/fileadmin/howard_league/user/pdf/Publications/Breaking_point_1.pdf.
70
Tom Dart, Texas Prisons Violate International Human Rights Standards, THE GUARDIAN (Apr. 23, 2014),
www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/23/teas-prisons-international-human-rights-standard-violations.
71
Matthew Clarke, Heat Related Deaths in Texas Lead to Law Suits, Reluctant Changes, PRISON LEGAL NEWS (Aug.
2014), www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2014/aug/8/heat-related-deaths-texas-prisons-lead-lawsuits-reluctant-changes.
72
HUMAN RIGHTS CLINIC AT THE UNIV. OF TEX. SCH. OF LAW, DEADLY HEAT IN TEXAS PRISONS (Apr. 2014),
https://law.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2015/05/2014-HRC-USA-DeadlyHeat-Report.pdf.
73
Id.
74
Id.
75
Id.
76
Id.
77
Id. Note this policy is not always followed in practice in Arizona, such as in Arpaio's Prison Camps. See Kyle
Mantyla, The Right’s Sudden concner About Arpario’s Prison Camp, RIGHT WING WATCH (Aug. 7, 2012),
www.rightwingwatch.org/content/rights-sudden-concern-about-arpaios-prison-camps.
78
Id.
79
ERICA GAMMILL & KATE SPEAR, PRISON JUST. LEAGUE, CRUEL AND UNUSUAL PUNISHMENT: EXCESSIVE USE OF
FORCE AT THE ESTELLE UNIT (2015),
http://s3.amazonaws.com/static.texastribune.org/media/documents/Cruel__Usual_Punishment_-_PJL_Final.pdf.
80
Id.
81
Id.
82
Id.
83
Id.
84
UN Human Rights Committee, Concluding Observations: United States, U.N. Doc. CCPR/C/USA/CO/4 para. (2014),
para. 20, www.ushrnetwork.org/sites/ushrnetwork.org/files/iccpr_concludingobservations_usa_uneditedversion_
published032714.pdf.
85
Alexa Garcia-Ditta, Lawmakers, Civil Rights Groups Discuss Better Care for Pregnant Inmates, TEX. OBSERVER
(Apr. 17, 2015), www.texasobserver.org/lawmakers-civil-rights-groups-discuss-better-care-for-pregnant-inmates.
86
Id.
87
Id,
88
Tex. Gov. Code § Sec. 501.066. http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/Docs/GV/htm/GV.501.htm.
#AdvancingRights2015 USHRN Texas Report
36
89
Diane Wilson, Why Being Pregnant in a Texas Lock-up is a Living Hell, ALTERNET (May 4, 2009),
www.alternet.org/story/140451/why_being_pregnant_in_a_texas_lock-up_is_a_living_hell.
90
Id.
91
Burke Butler & Diana Claitor, Pregnant Women in Texas County Jails Deserve Better than This, THE DALLAS
MORNING NEWS (June 26, 2014), www.dallasnews.com/opinion/latest-columns/20140626-pregnant-women-in-texascounty-jails-deserve-better-than-this.ece.
92
Barbara Hotelling, Perinatal Needs of Pregnant, Incarcerated Women, J. PERINATAL EDUC (2008), available at
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2409166.
93
U.N. Comm. Against Torture, Conclusions and Recommendations of the Committee Against Torture: United States
of America, ¶ 33, U.N. Doc. CAT/C/USA/CO/2 (2006) (hereinafter “CAT Conclusions 2006”).
94
U.N. Committee Against Torture (CAT), Concluding Observations: United States of America, U.N. Doc
CAT/C/USA/CO/3-5 (2014), para 21 (j),
www.ushrnetwork.org/sites/ushrnetwork.org/files/cat_us_concluding_observations_2014.pdf
95
BURKE BUTLER, ARTHUR LIMAN FELLOW & MATTHEW SIMPSON, ACLU OF TEX. & TEX. C.R. PROJECT – HOUS., A
SOLITARY FAILURE: THE WASTE, COST AND HARM OF SOLITARY CONFINEMENT IN TEXAS (Rebecca L. Robertson ed.,
Feb. 2015), http://texascivilrightsproject.org/docs/hr/tcrp2015_solitary.pdf.
96
Id.
97
UN GA 69th Sess., Interim report of the Special Rapporteur of the Human Rights Council on torture and other cruel,
inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment , A/66/268, Aug. 5, 2011,
http://solitaryconfinement.org/uploads/SpecRapTortureAug2011.pdf.
98
BURKE BUTLER, ARTHUR LIMAN FELLOW & MATTHEW SIMPSON, ACLU OF TEX. & TEX. C.R. PROJECT – HOUS., A
SOLITARY FAILURE: THE WASTE, COST AND HARM OF SOLITARY CONFINEMENT IN TEXAS (Rebecca L. Robertson ed.,
Feb. 2015), available at http://texascivilrightsproject.org/docs/hr/tcrp2015_solitary.pdf.
99
Use of Solitary in Our County Jails, TEX. JAIL PROJECT (May 24, 2014), http://www.texasjailproject.org/2013/06/useof-solitary-in-our-county-jails/.
100
Supra note 96.
101
Id.
102
Id
103
Id
104
Id
105
Id
106
Id
107
Id
108
Id
109
Use of Solitary in Our County Jails, TEX. JAIL PROJECT (May 24, 2014), www.texasjailproject.org/2013/06/use-ofsolitary-in-our-county-jails.
110
BURKE BUTLER, ARTHUR LIMAN FELLOW & MATTHEW SIMPSON, ACLU OF TEX. & TEX. C.R. PROJECT – HOUS., A
SOLITARY FAILURE: THE WASTE, COST AND HARM OF SOLITARY CONFINEMENT IN TEXAS (Rebecca L. Robertson ed.,
Feb. 2015), available at http://texascivilrightsproject.org/docs/hr/tcrp2015_solitary.pdf.
111
Use of Solitary in Our County Jails, TEX. JAIL PROJECT (May 24, 2014), www.texasjailproject.org/2013/06/use-ofsolitary-in-our-county-jails.
112
BURKE BUTLER, ARTHUR LIMAN FELLOW & MATTHEW SIMPSON, ACLU OF TEX. & TEX. C.R. PROJECT – HOUS., A
SOLITARY FAILURE: THE WASTE, COST AND HARM OF SOLITARY CONFINEMENT IN TEXAS (Rebecca L. Robertson ed.,
Feb. 2015), http://texascivilrightsproject.org/docs/hr/tcrp2015_solitary.pdf.
113
JAMIE FELLNER, HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH, CALLOUS AND CRUEL: USE OF FORCE AGAINST INMATES WITH MENTAL
DISABILITIES IN US JAILS AND PRISONS (Alison Parker, Shantha Rau Barriga & Joe Saunders eds., 2015).
www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/usprisoner0515_ForUpload_1.pdf.
114
Emily DePrang, Harris County Jail Among Worst for Inmate Sexual Assault, TEXAS OBSERVER (July 1, 2013),
www.texasobserver.org/harris-county-jail-among-worst-for-inmate-sexual-assault.
115
Id.
116
Prison Rape Serious Problem for Texas, TEX. C.R. PROJECT (May 22, 2010),
www.texascivilrightsproject.org/2136/prison-rape-serious-problem-for-texas
117
Letter from Office of the Governor, Rick Perry, to Eric H. Holder, Jr., Attorney General, U.S. DOJ (Mar. 28, 2014),
available at http://www.tdcjunion.com/research/rick_perry_letter.pdf.
118
Robert Gavin & Meredith Simons, Texas Leads Nation in Prison Sex Abuse, WASH. BUREAU (Apr. 5, 2010),
www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Texas-leads-nation-in-prison-sex-abuse-1708170.php.
#AdvancingRights2015 USHRN Texas Report
37
119
JFA Institute, Sexual Violence in Texas Prisons (March 2006), www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/215774.pdf.
Scott Medlock, Prison Rape Serious Problem for Texas, TEX. C.R. PROJECT (May 22, 2010),
www.texascivilrightsproject.org/2136/prison-rape-serious-problem-for-texas.
121
Id.
122
Nicole Pasulka, Trans Woman Says Prison Officials Allowed Inmates to Attack Her, TAKEPART (Oct. 24, 2014),
www.takepart.com/article/2014/10/24/terror-texas-trans-woman-rape.
123
Id.
124
ACLU Hails Important Step in Shocking Prison Sex Slave Case, ACLU (Sept. 9, 2004), www.aclu.org/news/legalfirst-appeals-court-says-texas-prison-officials-can-be-sued-discrimination-based-sexual.
125
Associated Press, Former Inmate Who Sued Texas Prisons Back Behind Bars Again, DALLAS VOICE (Aug. 30,
2007), www.dallasvoice.com/former-inmate-who-sued-texas-prisons-back-behind-bars-again-1023040.html.
126
JAMES AUSTIN, TONY FABELO, ANGELA GUNTER & KEN MCGINNIS, JFA INSTITUTE, SEXUAL VIOLENCE IN THE
TEXAS PRISON SYSTEM , www.dallasvoice.com/former-inmate-who-sued-texas-prisons-back-behind-bars-again1023040.html.
127
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128
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129
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www.ushrnetwork.org/sites/ushrnetwork.org/files/cat_us_concluding_observations_2014.pdf.
130
Jerry Madden, Keep Juveniles Out of Adult Criminal Justice System, CHRON (May 28, 2015),
www.chron.com/opinion/outlook/article/Madden-Keep-juveniles-out-of-adult-criminal-6292742.php
131
Id.
132
Patrick Michels, House Hears Broad Support for Bringing 17-Yes-Olds into Juvenile System, TEX. OBSERVER (Apr.
2, 2015), www.texasobserver.org/juvenile-justice-house-support-for-bringing-17-year-olds
133
Id.
134
House Bill 2398, THE TEX. TRIB, http://txlege.texastribune.org/84/bills/HB2398.
135
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www.mysanantonio.com/opinion/editorials/article/New-truancy-law-welcome-in-Texas-6352167.php.
136
Id.
137
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www.ushrnetwork.org/sites/ushrnetwork.org/files/iccpr_concludingobservations_usa_uneditedversion_published03271
4.pdf.
138
Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, Concluding Observations: United States of
America, U.N. Doc. CERD/C/USA/CO/7-9 (2014),
www.ushrnetwork.org/sites/ushrnetwork.org/files/cerd_concluding_observations2014.pdf.
139
U.N. Committee Against Torture (CAT), Concluding Observations: United States of America, U.N. Doc
CAT/C/USA/CO/3-5 (2014), www.ushrnetwork.org/sites/ushrnetwork.org/files/cat_us_concluding_observations
_2014.pdf; UN Human Rights Committee, Concluding Observations: United States of America, U.N. Doc.
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140
CHRISTINE KOVIC, TEX. C.R. PROJECT, SEARCHING FOR THE LIVING, THE DEAD, AND THE NEW DISAPPEARED ON THE
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141
Id.
142
Id.
143
Karla Zabludovsky, Hunting Humans: The Americans Taking Immigration Into Their Own Hands, NEWSWEEK.
(2014).
144
Id.
145
Id.
146
For more information on Operation Streamline, see Joanna Lydgate, Assembly-Line Justice: A Review of Operation
Streamline, Jan. 2010, www.law.berkeley.edu/files/Operation_Streamline_Policy_Brief.pdf; ACLU, Apply DOJ “Smart
on Crime” Principles and Priorities to Border Prosecutions, Sep. 13, 2013.
147
Id.
148
Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, Concluding Observations: United States of
America, U.N. Doc. CERD/C/USA/CO/7-9 (2014),
www.ushrnetwork.org/sites/ushrnetwork.org/files/cerd_concluding_observations2014.pdf.
120
#AdvancingRights2015 USHRN Texas Report
38
149
Tom Dart, More Than 20 Women Detained In Texas Immigration Facility Begin Hunger Strike, THE GUARDIAN
(Oct. 29, 2015), www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/oct/29/texas-immigration-detention-center-women-hunger-strike.
150
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees – Geneva. “UNHCR Revised Guidelines on
Applicable Criteria and Standards Relating to the Detention of Asylum Seekers”(1999).
151
Hannah Fraser-Chanpong, Surge in Unaccompanied Immigrant Children Pushes Texas Border Patrol to its Limits,
CBS NEWS (June 19, 2014), www.cbsnews.com/news/surge-in-unaccompanied-immigrant-children-pushes-texasborder-patrol-to-its-limits.
152
Matt Arco, Christie Supporting Lawsuit Challenging Obama Immigration Reform, NJ.COM (Mar. 25, 2015),
www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/03/christie_immigration_lawsuit.html.
153
Id.
154
Griselda Nevarez, DAPA Natl Day of Action: Groups Protest Blocked Immigration Programs, NBC NEWS LATINO
(May 19, 2015), http://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/groups-protest-blocked-executive-immigration-actions-n361036.
155
Id.
156
Esther Yu-His Lee, Undocumented Parents Could Have Applied for Immigration Relief by Now, if Not for
Republican Lawsuit, THINKPROGRESS (May 19, 2015), http://thinkprogress.org/immigration/2015/05/19/3660176/dapaimplementation-date.
157
Konitsaii Gokiyaa, Texas "Strategic Military Assessment" --A Violation of the UN Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples, Apr. 13, 2013, http://lipanapachecommunitydefense.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/texas-strategicmilitary-assessment.html.
158
Roberto Flotte, Responses Press Release: CERD and the Impact of the Texas-Mexico Border Wall on Indigenous
Communities of the Border Region, LIPAN APACHE WOMEN DEFENSE, Mar. 15, 2013,
https://lipancommunitydefense.wordpress.com/2013/03/25/responses-press-release-cerd-and-the-impact-of-the-texasmexico-border-wall-on-indigenous-communities-of-the-border-region.
159
What is the Dream Act and Who Are the Dreamers? ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE (2014), available at
http://www.adl.org/assets/pdf/education-outreach/what-is-the-dream-act-and-who-are-the-dreamers.pdf.
160
Ellise Foley, Dreamers Plead with Texas Lawmakers: Don’t Take Away In-State Tuition, HUFFINGTON POST (Apr. 7,
2015), www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/06/texas-in-state-tuition-dreamers_n_7012572.html.
161
Id.
162
Complaint, Serna v. Tex. Dep’t of State Health Serv., No. 1:15-cv-00446 (W.D. Tex. 2015).
163
Marisa Taylor & Heidi Zhou-Castro, Growing Suit Says Texas Denying Birth Certificates to U.S. Born Children,
ALJAZEERA AM. (Aug. 19, 2015), http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/8/19/migrants-sue-texas-for-denying-birthcertificates.html. See more at: http://lupenet.org.
164
Id.
165
REBECCA BERHNHARDT, KATHRYN BRIMACOMBE, DOTTY GRIFFITH, JOSE ROMERO & EMILY CAREY, ACLU OF TEX.,
MISSING THE MARK: HOW NATIONAL SECURITY STRATEGIES IN THE RIO GRANDE VALLEY BORDER COMMUNITIES
SACRIFICE BASIC HUMAN RIGHTS AND FAIL TO MAKE TEXANS SAFE (Dec. 2009), www.aclutx.org/strategiccampaigns/immigrants%E2%80%99-rights-campaign.
166
Id.
167
Avi Selk, Ahmed Mohamed Swept Up, 'Hoax Bomb' Charges Swept Away As Irving Teen's Story Floods Social
Media, THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS (Sep. 17, 2015), www.dallasnews.com/news/community-news/northwest-dallascounty/headlines/20150915-irving-ninth-grader-arrested-after-taking-homemade-clock-to-school.ece.
168
Ashley Fantz, Muslim Teen Ahmed Mohamed Creates Clock, Shows Teachers, Gets Arrested. CNN (Sept. 16, 2015),
http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/16/us/texas-student-ahmed-muslim-clock-bomb.
169
Irin Carmon, What You Need to Know about the Texas Abortion Case, MSNBC (Oct. 15, 2014),
http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/what-you-need-know-about-the-texas-abortion-case-scotus.
170
Dan Soloman, Where Does HB2 Stand Now?, TEX. MONTHLY (Jan. 8, 2015), http://www.texasmonthly.com/dailypost/where-does-hb2-stand-now.
171
Irin Carmon, What You Need to Know about the Texas Abortion Case, MSNBC (Oct. 15, 2014),
http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/what-you-need-know-about-the-texas-abortion-case-scotus.
172
Id.
173
Supreme Court Stops Parts Of Texas Abortion Law, HUFFINGTON POST (Oct. 14, 2014),
www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/14/supreme-court-texas_n_5986244.html.
174
Andrea Grimes, Overnight, Majority of Legal Abortion Facilities in Texas to Close Following Fifth Circuit Ruling,
RH REALITY CHECK (Oct., 2014), http://rhrealitycheck.org/article/2014/10/02/overnight-majority-texas-legal-abortionfacilities-close-following-fifth-circuit-ruling.
#AdvancingRights2015 USHRN Texas Report
39
175
Laura Basett, The Return of The Back-Alley Abortion, HUFFINGTON POST (Mar. 4, 2014),
www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/03/back-alley-abortions_n_5065301.html.
176
Mind the Gap: Low-Income Women in Dire Need of Health Insurance Report Summary, NAT’L WOMEN’S LAW
CENTER (Jan. 22, 2014), http://www.nwlc.org/resource/mind-gap-low-income-women-dire-need-health-insurancereport-summary.
177
Julliana Britto Schwartz, Report Finds Latinas Face Human Rights Violations in Texas, FEMINISTING (2014),
http://feministing.com/2013/11/15/report-finds-latinas-face-human-rights-violations-in-texas.
178
More Questions Than Answers on Women’s Health Budget, PLANNED PARENTHOOD OF GREATER TEX. (Jan. 30,
2014), http://www.plannedparenthood.org/planned-parenthood-greater-texas/newsroom/press-releases/more-questionsanswers-womens-health-budget.
179
Id.
180
Amanda Grimes, ‘People’s Veto’ Emerges as Texas GOP Slashes Cancer Screenings, RH REALITY CHECK (June 15,
2015), http://rhrealitycheck.org/article/2015/06/15/peoples-veto-emerges-texas-gop-slashes-cancer-screenings/.
181
CTR. FOR REPROD. RTS. & NAT’L LATINA INST. FOR REPRO. HEATLH, NUESTRA VOZ, NUESTRA SALUD, NUESTRO
TEXAS: THE FIGHT FOR WOMEN’S REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH IN THE RIO GRANDE VALLEY (Nov. 2013),
http://www.nuestrotexas.org/pdf/NT-spread.pdf.
182
Alexa Ura, Senator: Abortion Bill Could Prompt Lawsuit Against State, THE TEX. TRIB. (May 18, 2015),
https://www.texastribune.org/2015/05/18/abortion-restrictions-minors-met-legal-concerns.
183
Alexa Garcia-Ditta, Texas House Gives Preliminary OK to Abortion Restrictions for Minors, TEX. OBSERVER (May
14, 2015), www.texasobserver.org/texas-house-gives-preliminary-ok-to-abortion-restrictions-for-minors.
184
CTR. FOR REPROD. RTS. & NAT’L LATINA INST. FOR REPRO. HEATLH, NUESTRA VOZ, NUESTRA SALUD, NUESTRO
TEXAS: THE FIGHT FOR WOMEN’S REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH IN THE RIO GRANDE VALLEY (Nov. 2013),
www.nuestrotexas.org/pdf/NT-spread.pdf.
185
Id.
186
UPR Recommendations Supported by the U.S. Government, March 2011, Rec. 62.
187
ICCPR Concluding Observations 2014, supra note 49, at ¶ 15.
188
Id.
189
U.S. Government, Report of the United States of America Submitted to the U.N. High Commissioner for Human
Rights In Conjunction with the Universal Periodic Review, Feb. 2, 2015,
www.ushrnetwork.org/sites/ushrnetwork.org/files/usg_upr_report_2_2_15.pdf.
190
NOEL BUSCH-ARMENDARIZ, DEIDI OLAYA, MATT KERWICK, KARIN WACHTER & CAITLIN SULLEY, THE UNIV. OF
TEX. AT AUSTIN, INST. ON DOMESTIC VIOLENCE & SEXUAL ASSAULT, HEALTH AND WELL-BEING: TEXAS STATEWIDE
SEXUAL ASSAULT PREVALENCE (2015), http://taasa.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Sexual-Assault-Prevalence-inTexas.pdf.
191
Alexa Garcia-Ditta, New Analysis Highlights Prevalence of Sexual Assault in Texas, TEX. OBSERVER (Apr. 28,
2015), www.texasobserver.org/new-analysis-highlights-prevalence-of-sexual-assault-in-texas/; Alex Hannaford, Hope
After Violence, TEX. OBSERVER (June 4, 2014), www.texasobserver.org/hope-violence-ptsd-women.
192
Skylor Hearn, Committee on the Judiciary – Subcommittee on The Constitution; Taking Sexual Assault Seriously:
The Rape Kit Backlog and Human Rights, May 20, 2015, www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/05-2015%20Hearn%20Testimony.pdf.
193
Id.
194
Facts and Statistics, TEX. COUNCIL ON FAMILY VIOLENCE (2015), www.tcfv.org/resources/facts-and-statistics.
195
Indian Law Resource Center, Submission to UN Working Group on Discirmination Against Women in Law and in
Practice (Nov. 23, 2015), http://www.ushrnetwork.org/sites/ushrnetwork.org/files/un_wgdaw_visit_to_u_s__indian_law_resource_center_submission_11-23-15_shadow_report.pdf.
196
TxDPS, Crime in Texas Reports2014: Sexual Assaults, http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/crimereports/14/citCh7.pdf.
197
Ashlie Rodriquez, Tigua Tribal Police Granted Enforcement Power to Arrest Non-Native Americans, (Oct. 5, 2012),
www.kvia.com/news/Tigua-Tribal-Police-granted-enforcement-power-to-arrest-non-Native-Americans/17135882.
198
Freedom from Domestic Violence as a Fundamental Human Rights Resolution, Presidential Proclamations, and
Other Statements of Principle, CORNELL LAW SCH. (2015), www.lawschool.cornell.edu/womenandjustice/DVResolutions.cfm.
199
TEX. MED. ASSOC., THE UNINSURED IN TEXAS, http://www.texmed.org/uninsured_in_texas/.
200 CTR. FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION, CDC HEALTH DISPARITIES AND INEQUALITIES REPORT – UNITED
STATES, 2011(2011), http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/pdf/other/su6001.pdf.
201
TEX. MED. ASSOC., THE UNINSURED IN TEXAS, http://www.texmed.org/uninsured_in_texas/.
202
Id.
#AdvancingRights2015 USHRN Texas Report
40
203
Nat’l Fed’n of Indep. Bus. V.. Sebelius, 132 S. Ct. 2566 (2012).
Chris Morran , Texas Governor Says No To Medicaid Expansion, CONSUMERIST, July 9, 2012
http://consumerist.com/2012/07/09/texas-governor-says-no-to-medicaid-expansion.
205
Melissa Del Bosque, Rick Perry’s Refusal to Expand Texas’ Medicaid Program Could Result in Thousands of
Deaths, TEXAS OBSERVER, Jan. 2, 2013, www.texasobserver.org/rick-perrys-refusal-to-expand-texas-medicaidprogram-could-result-in-thousands-of-deaths.
206
ObamaCare Facts, ObamaCare Medicaid Expansion, Mar. 2015, http://obamacarefacts.com/obamacares-medicaidexpansion.
207
Dan Mangan, Don’t Mess with Medicaid Expansion? A Lesson from Texas, CNBC, May 29, 2015,
www.cnbc.com/2015/05/29/texas-pays-a-big-price-for-saying-no-to-medicaid-expansion.html.
208
Ashley Womble, The Face of Aids in Austin, AUSTIN MONTHLY, Sep. 2 2014,
www.austinmonthly.com/AM/September-2014/The-Face-of-Aids-in-Austin.
209
Id.
210
Id.
211
Id.
212
Andrea Grimes, Texas GOP Lawmakers Divert HIV Funds to Abstinence Education Program, RH REALITY CHECK,
Mar. 1, 2015, http://rhrealitycheck.org/article/2015/04/01/texas-gop-lawmakers-divert-hiv-funds-abstinence-educationprogram.
213
Edgar Walters, Many HIV Patients Unable to Enjoy Expanded Coverage, TEX. TRIB (Dec. 8, 2013),
www.texastribune.org/2013/12/08/medicaid-gap-includes-many-hiv.
214
Id.
215
UNAIDS, HIV/AIDS AND HUMAN RIGHTS: YOUNG PEOPLE IN ACTION (2001),
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216
Id.
217
Energy-Related Carbon Dioxide Emissions at the State Level, 2000-2013, U.S. ENERGY INFO. ADMIN (Oct. 26,
2015), www.eia.gov/environment/emissions/state/analysis.
218
Heidi L. Bethel et al., A Closer Look at Air Pollution in Houston: Identifying Priority Health Risks, INST. FOR
HEALTH POLICY AT THE UNIV. OF TEX. SCH. OF PUB. HEALTH,
www.epa.gov/ttnchie1/conference/ei16/session6/bethel.pdf.
219
History of East Austin, PODER – PEOPLE ORGANIZED IN THE DEFENSE OF EARTH AND HER RESOURCES, www.podertexas.org/victories.html.
220
Id.
221
HOUS. DEP’T OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERV., COMMUNITY HEALTH PROFILE (2014),
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222
Brandon Evans, Unwell Water: Drilling Leaves a Bad Taste for Some, WISE COUNTY MESSENGER (Oct. 3, 2010),
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223
TEX. OIL & GAS ACCOUNTABILITY PROJECT & EARTHWORKS, NATURAL GAS FLOWBACK: HOW THE TEXAS NATURAL
GAS BOOM AFFECTS HEALTH AND SAFETY (Apr. 2011),
http://www.earthworksaction.org/files/publications/FLOWBACK-TXOGAP-HealthReport-lowres.pdf.
224
Kate Galbraith, In Texas, Water Use for Fracking Stirs Concerns, THE TEX. TRIB. (Marc. 8, 2013),
http://www.texastribune.org/2013/03/08/texas-water-use-fracking-stirs-concerns/.
225
DAVID HASEMYER, JIM MORRIS & LISA SONG, CTR. FOR PUB. INTEGRITY, BAD OIL, BAD AIR: FRACKING THE EAGLE
FORD SHALE OF SOUTH TEXAS (Feb. 18, 2014), http://eagleford.publicintegrity.org.
226
Morris, Jim. “As Drilling Ravages Texas’ Eagle Ford Shale, Residents ‘Living in a Petri Dish.’” The Center for
Public Integrity. 02/18/2014, Updated 12/17/2014. http://www.publicintegrity.org/2014/02/18/14235/drilling-ravagestexas-eagle-ford-shale-residents-living-petri-dish
227
Candice Bernd, Republicans Aim to Preempt Local Democracy, Target Fracking Bans, TRUTHOU (May 8, 2015),
www.truth-out.org/news/item/30670-republicans-aim-to-preempt-local-democracy-targeting-fracking-bans.
228
Id.
229
Texas House Bill 40, May 18, 2015, http://txlege.texastribune.org/84/bills/HB40.
230
Candice Bernd, Republicans Aim to Preempt Local Democracy, Target Fracking Bans, TRUTHOU (May 8, 2015),
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/30670-republicans-aim-to-preempt-local-democracy-targeting-fracking-bans.
231
Id.
232
How Oil and Gas Disposal Cause Earthquakes, STATEIMPACT, http://stateimpact.npr.org/texas/tag/earthquake.
204
#AdvancingRights2015 USHRN Texas Report
41
233
Jim Malewitz, Abbott Signs Bill to Limit Pollution Lawsuits, THE TEX. TRIB. (June 16, 2015),
www.texastribune.org/2015/06/16/abbott-signs-bill-limit-pollution-lawsuits.
234
Id.
235
Id,
236
Katarina Tomasevski, The State of the Right to Education Worldwide: Free or Fee: 2006 Global Report, August
2006, at xxiv, http://www.katarinatomasevski.com/images/Global_Report.pdf.
237
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, G.A. Res. 217 A (III), at art. 26 (1948).
238
Id.
239
Education Week, Quality Counts Introduces New State Report Card, Jan. 8, 2015,
www.edweek.org/media/qualitycounts2015_release.pdf.
240
Julie Linn, 2015: An Agenda for Education Reform, TRIBTALK (Jan. 15, 2015),
http://www.tribtalk.org/2015/01/15/2015-an-agenda-for-education-reform/ (citing TEX. EDUC. AGENCY, DEP’T OF
ASSESSMENT AND ACCOUNTABILITY, DIV. OF PERFORMANCE REPORTING FINAL 2014 ACCOUNTABILITY RATINGS (Dec.
3, 2014)), http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/perfreport/account/2014/multiyearau.pdf.
241
Merrill Hope, Increase in Number of Failing Texas Public Schools, BREITBART (Dec. 23, 2014),
www.breitbart.com/texas/2014/12/23/increase-in-number-of-failing-texas-public-schools/.
242
Caitlin Perrone, Researchers: ‘Triple Segregation’ More Likely in Low-Scoring Texas Schools, TEX. OBSERVER
(Aug. 22, 2013), www.texasobserver.org/researchers-triple-segregation-more-likely-in-low-scoring-texas-schools.
243
Id.
244
Id.
245
Id.
246
Terrence Stutz, Texas Improves School Funding but Still Trails Most States, DALLAS MORNING NEWS (Mar. 25,
2014), http://www.dallasnews.com/news/education/headlines/20140325-texas-improves-school-funding-but-still-trailsmost-states.ece.
247
Caitlin Perrone, Texas Leaders, Educators and Courts Grapple with Segregated Public Schools, DALLAS MORNING
NEWS (May 3, 2013), www.dallasnews.com/news/education/headlines/20130503-texas-leaders-educators-and-courtsgrapple-with-segregated-public-schools.ece.
248
Mariah Blake, Texas’ New Public School Textbooks Promote Climate Change Denial and Downplay Segregation,
MOYERS AND CO. (Sept. 18, 2014), http://billmoyers.com/2014/09/18/texas-new-public-school-textbooks-promoteclimate-change-denial-and-downplay-segregation.
249
Id.
250
Id.
251
Id.
252
SCOTUS Blog, Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/fisher-v-university-oftexas-at-austin.
253
Amicus Brief, Supreme Court of the United States, Human Rights Advocates, 2012,
www.utexas.edu/vp/irla/Documents/ACR%20Human%20Rights%20Advocates.pdf.
254
Right to Education project, Education and the 4 As, http://r2e.gn.apc.org/node/226. (The concept of these 4 As was
developed by the former UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education, Katarina Tomasevski).
255
Grutter v. Bollinger, 539 U.S. 306, 344 (2003).
256
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), G.A. Res. 217 A (III), at art. 23 (1948), www.un.org/en/universaldeclaration-human-rights.
257
University of Minnesota, Circle of Rights, Economic, Social & Cultural Rights Activism: Training Resource,
www1.umn.edu/humanrts/edumat/IHRIP/circle/modules/module10.htm. This is not to be confused with what is called a
“right to work” state, which are states with anti-union policies; Texas is one of these states. See more at National Right
to Work, Legal Defense Foundation, www.nrtw.org/c/txrtwlaw.htm.
258
United States of America Civil Scoiety Submission to the UN Universal Periodic Review, April 2010,
http://nelp.3cdn.net/c2fbd7c9826dbe0b35_95m6b5uvx.pdf.
259
National Conference of State Legislators, State Minimum Wages: 2015 Minimum Wage By State (Nov. 20, 2015),
www.ncsl.org/research/labor-and-employment/state-minimum-wage-chart.aspx.
260
LESLIE HELMCAMP, CTR. FOR PUB. POLICY PRIORITIES, PREVENTING WAGE THEFT IN TEXAS (Aug. 27, 2013),
http://forabettertexas.org/images/EO_2013_08_PP_wagetheft.pdf.
261
Alan Pyke, FedEx Illegally Labeled Employees As Independent Contractors To Cut Costs, Kansas Court Finds,
THINKPROGRESS (Oct. 7, 2014), http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2014/10/07/3576714/fedex-driver-misclassificationkansas.
#AdvancingRights2015 USHRN Texas Report
42
262
Sammy Fretwell, Exotic Dancers Say They Are Employees, Not Independent Contractors, THE STATE (Sept. 7,
2014), http://www.thestate.com/news/local/article13881011.html.
263
Kathy Robertson, Court Finds Sacramento Bee Misclassified Employees as Independent Contractors, SACRAMENTO
BUS. J. (Sept. 26, 2014), www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/news/2014/09/26/court-finds-sacramento-bee-misclassifiedemployees.html?page=all.
264
LESLIE HELMCAMP, CTR. FOR PUB. POLICY PRIORITIES, PREVENTING WAGE THEFT IN TEXAS (Aug. 27, 2013),
http://forabettertexas.org/images/EO_2013_08_PP_wagetheft.pdf.
265
WORKERS DEF. PROJECT, BUILDING AUSTIN, BUILDING INJUSTICE: WORKING CONDITIONS IN AUSTIN’S
CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY (June 2009), http://www.workersdefense.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Building_Austn_Report-2.pdf.
266
Equal Voice News, Texas Construction Workers: 40 Hours a Week, Living in Poverty, INST. FOR S. STUD. (Jan. 28,
2013), http://www.southernstudies.org/2013/01/texas-construction-workers-40-hours-a-week-living-in-poverty.html.
267
Id.
268
WORKERS DEF. PROJECT, BUILDING AUSTIN, BUILDING INJUSTICE: WORKING CONDITIONS IN AUSTIN’S
CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY (June 2009), http://www.workersdefense.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Building_Austn_Report-2.pdf.
269
Id.
270
Jessica Felix-Romero, Farmworkers, Wages, and Immigration Reform: Farmworker Justice President on Action 4
News (Texas), FARMWORKER JUST. (Apr. 4, 2014), www.farmworkerjustice.org/press/farmworkers-wages-andimmigration-reform-farmworker-justice-president-action-4-news-texas.
271
Emily Fox, What Happens When More Than Half of Migrant Workers are Undocumented, MICH. RADIO (Oct. 9,
2013), http://michiganradio.org/post/what-happens-when-more-half-migrant-workers-are-undocumented.
272
Ben Walsh, Texas is Throwing People In Jail For Failing to Pay Back Predatory Loans, HUFFINGTON POST (Dec.
29, 2014), www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/29/texas-payday-lending_n_6355602.html.
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Id.
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For more information, Fight for $15, http://fightfor15.org/november10/about-us.
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Tom Benning, Bill to Boost Minimum Wage Rejected by Texas House, DALLAS MORNING NEWS (May 14, 2015),
www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/state-politics/20150514-bill-to-boost-minimum-wage-rejected-by-texas-house.ece.
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Id.
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See Texas Organizing Project, https://organizetexas.org/campaigns-page/jobs and Fight for 15 Texas,
https://www.facebook.com/Fightfor15Houston/info/?tab=page_info.
278
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), G.A. Res. 217 A (III), at art. 25 (1948), www.un.org/en/universaldeclaration-human-rights.
279
ALVARO CORTES, MEGHAN HENRY & SEAN MORRIS, U.S. DEP’T OF HOUS. AND URBAN DEV., THE 2013 ANNUAL
HOMELESS ASSESSMENT REPORT (AHAR) TO CONGRESS (2013), www.hudexchange.info/resources/documents/ahar2013-part1.pdf.
280
Homelessness 101, COAL. FOR THE HOMELESS (2014), www.homelesshouston.org/homelessness-101.
281
The National Coalition for the Homeless and the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty, Dream Denied:
The Criminalization of Homelessness in U.S. Cities (2006), http://nationalhomeless.org/wpcontent/uploads/2014/06/CrimzReport2006.pdf.
282
For example see, Hiding the Homeless, VICE NEWS (Nov. 23, 2015), https://news.vice.com/video/hiding-thehomeless-full-length; National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty, Human Rights Resources,
www.nlchp.org/human_rights_resources; See also Mark Joseph Stern, Justice Department Tells Cities to Stop
Criminalizing Homelessness, SLATE (Aug. 14, 2015),
www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2015/08/14/criminalizing_homelessness_justice_department_tells_cities_to_stop.html.
283
Youth, NAT’L ALLIANCE TO END HOMELESSNESS (2015), www.endhomelessness.org/pages/youth.
284
LGBTQ Youth, NAT’L ALLIANCE TO END HOMELESSNESS (2015), www.endhomelessness.org/pages/lgbtq-youth.
285
USHRN, A Guide to the 2014 CERD Concluding Observations to the United States,
www.ushrnetwork.org/sites/ushrnetwork.org/files/cerd_2014_concluding_observations_overview_-_final.pdf.
286
Id.
287
Katherine Gregor, Austin Comp Planning: A Brief History, AUSTIN CHRON. (Feb. 5, 2010),
www.austinchronicle.com/news/2010-02-05/953471.
288
Luke Winkie, Austin Was Built to Be Segregated, VICE, June 16, 2014,
www.vice.com/read/austin-was-built-to-be-segregated.
289
Katherine Gregor, Austin Comp Planning: A Brief History, AUSTIN CHRON. (Feb. 5, 2010),
www.austinchronicle.com/news/2010-02-05/953471.
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Id.
Jazmine Ulloa, On Fast-Changing East Riverside, Some are Squeezed Out, MYSTATESMAN (Dec. 14, 2013),
www.mystatesman.com/news/news/on-fast-changing-east-riverside-some-are-squeezed-/ncLK9.
292
Id.
293
Id.
294
George Gonzalez, Racial and Ethnic Minorities Face More Subtle Housing Discrimination, U.S. DEP’T OF HOUS.
AND URBAN DEV. (June 11, 2013),
http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/press/press_releases_media_advisories/2013/HUDNo.13-091.
295
U.S. DEP’T OF HOUS. AND URBAN DEV. | OFFICE OF POLICY DEV. AND RES., HOUSING DISCRIMINATION AGAINST
RACIAL AND ETHNIC MINORITIES 2012 (June 2013), http://www.huduser.org/portal/Publications/pdf/HUD514_HDS2012.pdf.
296
UT Austin Policy Report Shows Austin’s the Only Fast-Growing City Losing African-Americans, NEWSWISE (June 2,
2014), www.newswise.com/articles/ut-austin-policy-report-shows-austin-s-the-only-fast-growing-city-losing-africanamericans.
297
Juan Castillo, Census Data Depict Sweeping Change in East Austin, MYSTATESMAN (Apr. 23, 2011),
www.statesman.com/news/news/local/census-data-depict-sweeping-change-in-east-austi-1/nRZJD.
298
Corrie MacLaggan, Feeling "Invisible," Black Residents Leave Austin, THE TEXAS TRIBUNE (Jul 18, 2014),
www.texastribune.org/2014/07/18/african-american-austin.
299
United State Census Bureau, State & County QuickFacts, Austin (city), Texas,
http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/48/4805000.html
300
The American Indian and Alaska Native Population: 2010, 2010 Census Brief (Jan. 2012),
www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-10.pdf.
301
Richard Florida, The U.S. Cities with the Highest Levels of Income Segregation, THE ATLANTIC (Mar. 18, 2014),
www.citylab.com/work/2014/03/us-cities-highest-levels-income-segregation/8632.
302
Will Livesley-O’Neil, No Surprise: National Gentrification Report Lists Austin Near the Top, TEX. HOUSERS: TEX.
LOW INCOME HOUS INFO. SERV. (Feb. 11, 2015), http://texashousers.net/2015/02/11/no-surprise-national-gentrificationreport-lists-austin-near-the-top.
303
James Russell, LGBT Protections Still Lacking in Texas, DALLAS VOICE (Nov. 14, 2014),
www.dallasvoice.com/lgbt-protections-lacking-texas-10184501.html.
304
Id.
305
Lauren Jow, 429,000 LGBT Workers in Texas Lack Statewide Protections against Ongoing Employment
Discrimination, THE WILLIAMS INST. (May 7, 2015), http://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/press/press-releases/429000lgbt-workers-in-texas-lack-statewide-protections-against-ongoing-employment-discrimination.
306
Id.
307
Id.
308
Edgar Walters, ‘Bathroom Bills’ Pit Transgender Texans Against GOP, TEX. TRIB. (Mar. 4, 2015),
www.texastribune.org/2015/04/04/bathroom-bills-pit-transgender-community-against-g.
309
Id.
310
Id.
311
Russell Berman, How Bathroom Fears Conquered Transgender Rights in Houston,
THE ATLANTIC (Nov. 3, 2015), www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/11/how-bathroom-fears-conqueredtransgender-rights-in-houston/414016.
312
John Wright, Exclusive: Anti-Gay Hate Crimes Hit 5-Year High in TX, LONE STAR Q, (Nov 26, 2013),
www.lonestarq.com/anti-gay-hate-crimes-hit-5-year-high-in-texas.
313
Hannah Smothers, In Texas, There’s No Such Thing as a Transgender Hate Crime, TEX. MONTHLY (Feb. 3, 2015),
www.texasmonthly.com/daily-post/texas-theres-no-such-thing-transgender-hate-crime.
314
Deron Dalton, The 22 trans women murdered in 2015, THE DAILY DOT (Oct. 15, 2015),
www.dailydot.com/politics/trans-women-of-color-murdered.
315
Brittney Martin, State and Local Costs Could be Downfall of Anti-Gay Marriage Bill, DALLAS MORNING NEWS
(Mar. 26, 2015), http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/2015/03/state-and-local-costs-could-be-downfall-of-anti-gaymarriage-bill.html,
316
Zach Ford, The Assault on LGNT Rights in the Texas Legislature Failed, THINKPROGRESS (May 28, 2015),
http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2015/05/28/3663457/texas-anti-lgbt-resolution.
317
Ross Ramsey, Analysis: A Distinction Between Law and Sacrament, TEX. TRIB. (June 26, 2015),
www.texastribune.org/2015/06/26/analysis-distinction-between-law-and-sacrament.
291
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318
Hanna Trudo, Texas AG: State Workers can Deny Marriage Licenses to Gay Couples, POLITICO (June 28, 2015),
www.politico.com/story/2015/06/texas-attorney-general-gay-marriage-119518.html.
319
Id.
320
Lauren McGaughy, Senator Delays Texas ‘Religious Freedom’ Bill Amid Controversy, CHRON (Apr. 30, 2015),
www.chron.com/news/politics/article/Senator-delays-Texas-religious-freedom-bill-6233125.php.
321
Michael J. Ritter, Note: Adoption by Same-Sex Couples: Public Policy Issues in Texas Law and Practice, 15 TEX. J.
C.L & C.R 235 (2010).
322
Id.
323
James Rose, N. Texas Gay Couple Facing Adoption Battle, FOX 4 NEWS (June 13, 2014),
www.fox4news.com/story/25774911/n-texas-gay-couple-facing-adoption-battle.
324
Michelangelo Signorile, Jason Hanna and Joe Riggs, Texas Gay Fathers, Denied Legal Parenthood of Twin Sons,
HUFFINGTON POST (June 18, 2014), www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/18/jason-hanna-and-joe-riggs_n_5506720.html.
325
Emily DePrang, The Horror Every Day: Police Brutality in Houston Goes Unpunished, TEX. OBSERVER (Sept. 3,
2013), www.texasobserver.org/horror-every-day-police-brutality-houston-goes-unpunished.
326
DWIGHT STEWARD & MOLLY TOTMAN, ACLU OF TEX., NAACP TEX., LULAC TEX. & TCJC, RACIAL PROFILING:
DON’T MIND IF I TAKE A LOOK, DO YA?: AN EXAMINATION OF CONSENT SEARCHES AND CONTRABAND HIT RATES AT
TEXAS TRAFFIC STOPS (Feb. 2005), www.prisonpolicy.org/scans/racial_profiling_report_full.pdf.
327
DWIGHT STEWARD & MOLLY TOTMAN, ACLU OF TEX., NAACP TEX., LULAC TEX. & TCJC, SEARCHING FOR
CONSENT: AN ANALYSIS OF RACIAL PROFILING DATA IN TEXAS (Jeannie Elliott, Scott Henson &Amy Raub eds. 2006),
www.aclutx.org/reports/2006racialprofilingreport.pdf.
328
Emily DePrang, The Horror Every Day: Police Brutality in Houston Goes Unpunished, TEX. OBSERVER (Sept. 3,
2013), www.texasobserver.org/horror-every-day-police-brutality-houston-goes-unpunished.
329
Id.
330
Jon Schuppe, The Death of Sandra Bland: What We Know So Far, NBC NEWS (July 23, 2015),
www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/death-sandra-bland-what-we-know-so-far-n396036.
331
Id.
332
Ray Sanchez, Who Was Sandra Bland?, CNN (July 22, 2015), www.cnn.com/2015/07/22/us/sandra-bland.
333
Mitch Smith, Sandra Bland’s Mother Files Wrongful-Death Lawsuit, N.Y. TIMES (Aug. 5, 2015),
www.nytimes.com/2015/08/05/us/sandra-bland-family-lawsuit.html?_r=0.
334
Emily DePrang, The Horror Every Day: Police Brutality in Houston Goes Unpunished, TEX. OBSERVER (Sept. 3,
2013), www.texasobserver.org/horror-every-day-police-brutality-houston-goes-unpunished.
335
James Franklin, James, Is This Texas Republican Enabling Police Brutality?, W.J. (Mar. 24, 2015),
www.westernjournalism.com/is-this-texas-republican-enabling-police-brutality.
336
Carole Cole-Frowe & Richard Fausset, Jarring Image of Police’s Use of Force at Texas Pool Party, N.Y. TIMES
(June 8, 2015), www.nytimes.com/2015/06/09/us/mckinney-tex-pool-party-dispute-leads-to-police-officersuspension.html.
337
Stephen Crockett, Here’s Everything We Know about the Pool Party in Texas, THE ROOT (June 8, 2015),
www.theroot.com/articles/news/2015/06/here_s_everything_we_know_about_the_pool_party_in_texas.html.
338
Yoni Appelbaum, McKinney, Texas, and the Racial History of American Swimming Pools, THE ATLANTIC (June 8,
2015), www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/06/troubled-waters-in-mckinney-texas/395150.
339
Sarah Mervosh, McKinney Officer Eric Casebolt Resigns; Police Chief Calls Actions at Pool Party ‘Indefensible’,
DALLAS MORNING NEWS (June 8, 2015), crimeblog.dallasnews.com/2015/06/teen-who-mckinney-officer-pulled-gunon-questions-why-he-was-arrested.html.
340
2015 U.S. Government report to the Universal Periodic Review,
www.ushrnetwork.org/sites/ushrnetwork.org/files/us_government_upr_report.pdf.
341
USHRN, UPR Recommendations by the Numbers, May 2015, www.ushrnetwork.org/resources-media/2015-uprrecommendations-numbers.
342
ICCPR Concluding Observations on the Fourth Periodic report of the United States of America, CCR/C/USA/CO/4,
23 April 2014, www.ushrnetwork.org/sites/ushrnetwork.org/files/iccpr_ concluding_obs_2014.pdf.
343
UN Comm. Against Torture (CAT), 53rd Sess., 3-28 Nov. 2014, Concluding Observations on the Third to Fifth
Periodic Reports of the United States of America, ¶26(a), U.N. Doc. CAT/C/USA/CO/3-5, Nov. 20, 2014,
http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CAT/Shared%20Documents/USA/INT_CAT_COC_USA_18893_E.pdf.
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Id.
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Brainy Quote, Martin Luther King, Jr. Quotes, www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/m/martinluth403521.html.
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