WEATHERFORD, Texas – A disaster declaration authorized by commissioners in a north-central Texas county sparked a visit by a national organization, and condemnation by several local groups.

The declaration of Parker County state of disaster, signed July 25 after approval by the county judge and all four commissioners, reads that “the health, safety, and welfare of Parker County residents are under imminent threat of disaster from the unprecedented levels of illegal immigration, human trafficking, and drug smuggling coming across the U.S. border from Mexico.”

The League of United Latin American Citizens last week issued a press release calling the claims “anti-Latino” after members of the organization traveled to Weatherford Aug. 13 via the “Power of the Latino Vote” bus. LULAC said the bus carried its national president, Domingo Garcia, and a team of Get Out the Vote-trained LULAC members to encourage Latinos and other people of color to register and vote.

“This tour serves many purposes,” Hilda Duarte, LULAC district director, said in the press release. “Foremost, the goal is to register voters. Also, to let the community’s brown and Black residents know they can count on LULAC for solidarity in civil rights issues. As importantly, we encouraged them to become more involved in what their elected leaders say and do, and to speak up for themselves when they are targeted.”

In a phone call Tuesday, Garcia called the term “invasion” racist and said the declaration was absurd.

“There is no ‘invasion’ to justify a national emergency crisis,” he said. “It’s just senseless pandering to the far right, and it’s incredibly divisive. It doesn’t stand for compassionate conservatism, it’s unChristian, unTexan and unAmerican, and we have to take a stand.”

The county’s declaration cites Article IV, Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution and Article 4, Section 7 of the Texas Constitution, as a reason to declare an “invasion” was happening.

Parker County Judge Pat Deen, reached by phone Friday, insisted there was nothing racist about it.

“I welcome these conversations because we respect all nationalities,” he said. “The people that live here and in Texas, we have all nationalities and we love them all. It’s no reflection on that at all, we just want it to be legal.”

Asked about the impact of illegal immigration on the county, he cited pay and health benefits.

“Then that becomes a detriment to our economy and not what it was intended for,” Deen said.

Taking jobs from those who live in the county, and safety, are two others, he said.

“You want to make sure that the people who come into this country — and I’m not talking about just one nationality — be vetted and comply and be legal U.S. citizens,” he said. “You have terrorism, and those who may not have the best intentions when crossing the border. We want to be sure we’re protected and we have that right to protect our citizens, not only here but in Texas.”

Garcia acknowledged several areas justified calling for a local disaster declaration, particularly those along the border.

“But here is another county using refugees as political pinatas,” he said. “I think the feds need to do more to help the humanitarian crisis, and I think [President] Biden needs to come and visit. If [Deen] were to come and actually see that these ‘invaders’ were 3- and 5-year-olds with their mom and dad that have the same dreams and aspirations, I think it would open his eyes.”

Deen said he was contacted after the meeting and that the response from residents was overwhelmingly supportive to his position.

As to what the declaration actually does, Deen said it simply gives the support and encouragement to Gov. Greg Abbott’s office that “we support your efforts in protecting our border. We have no authority to go any further than that.”

Abbott’s office has thus far stopped short of declaring the border situation an “invasion.”

Members of the Parker County Progressives and the Parker County Peace Coalition issued statements calling the declaration full of lies, falsehoods and inflammatory language.

“It only serves to promote fear and hatred towards Hispanic people in our community. The Parker County Progressives condemn this racist declaration and demand that Judge Deen and commissioners retract it immediately,” according to one of the statements.

Another calls out the mention of fentanyl crossing the border — something brought up initially in the July meeting by Sheriff Russ Authier and questioned by resident Kay Parr — as “fear-mongering at its best” to target people of color. 

Parker County is among at least eight others to issue the declaration, with Wise County Judge J.D. Clark signing his county’s following commissioners court approval on Aug. 8. The counties of Atascosa, Kinney, Goliad, Terrell, Edwards and Presidio have also issued similar declarations, along with the city of Uvalde.

Garcia said his group plans to visit some of those areas, and the organization is considering litigation against the “abuse of power and authority for unconstitutional emergencies,” though nothing has been filed.