Witness ousted from committee hearing

AUSTIN (AP) - A witness before a Texas Senate committee was escorted from a hearing Wednesday after the committee chairman perceived a threat from the man.

Republican Sen. John Carona of Dallas heads the Senate Transportation and Homeland Security Committee. He ordered a state trooper to remove Clay Laird from the committee room. The Texas Department of Public Safety says Laird was then issued a criminal trespass warning, and he left the building.

The Hamilton man appeared at the hearing to testify in support of legislation to require local police to enforce federal immigration laws. The proposal is aimed at "sanctuary cities" like Austin and Houston that tell their police to refrain from determining if those they deal with are in the country legally.

Laird testified that his elderly mother had been raped and killed more than 20 years ago by a former Texas inmate freed by court order because Texas prisons were overcrowded. At the end of his testimony, he said any committee members who didn't vote for the bill would hear from him.

Carona asked where; Laird said at their homes. Carona that sounded like a threat against the committee. Laird said it wasn't a threat, but "a promise written in blood."