A Republican state legislator in Texas warned in a Facebook post Monday that he would use a firearm “in self defense” should his Democratic colleague continue to threaten him.
“Today, Representative Poncho Nevarez threatened my life on the House floor after I called [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] on several illegal immigrants who held signs in the gallery which said, ‘I am illegal and here to stay,'” Texas state Rep. Matt Rinaldi wrote in a Facebook post Monday afternoon.
Rinaldi said when he called ICE, Democratic state Rep. Ramon Romero “physically assaulted me.”
“During that time, Poncho told me that he would ‘get me on the way to my car,'” Rinaldi added. “I made it clear that if he attempted to, in his words, ‘get me,’ I would shoot him in self defense. I am currently under DPS [Texas Department of Public Safety] protection.”
Protesters stormed the Texas Capitol on Monday angry about the recently passed S.B. 4, which mandates local entities must cooperate with federal immigration policies. People turned out at the state House to decry the law on the final day of the legislature’s regular session.
Rinaldi told Democratic lawmakers he called immigration officers because he was reporting people who had taunted him that they were illegal immigrants and not leaving the country.
