COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Missouri officials stand ready to use state resources to help President Donald Trump enforce immigration law as he takes office.
A newly inaugurated Trump begins his next four years with a focus on taxes, foreign policy and immigration. Gov. Mike Kehoe last week signed two executive orders — 25-04 and 25-05 — that will have state and local law enforcement assisting in immigration law enforcement.
Order 25-04 will have designated members of the Missouri State Highway Patrol be trained in enforcing federal immigration laws to help with investigating, arresting and detaining illegal immigrants in partnership with the Department of Homeland Security.
Executive order 25-05 will add immigration status data to the state’s crime reporting system and have the MSHP continue to collect and maintain the information.
“These executive orders will equip law enforcement with much-needed resources and support to effectively address crime,” Missouri Department of Public Safety Director Mark James said in a news release last Monday, when Kehoe was sworn in.
According to a 2022 Pew Research study, unauthorized immigrants made up 3.3% of the total U.S. population and 23% of the US foreign-born population.
The American Immigration Council found that in 2022 there were 59,000 undocumented immigrants, making up 1% of Missouri’s population.
“I got an awful lot of phone calls right after the [presidential] election,” St. Louis-based immigration attorney David Cox said. “I’ve continued to get a steady stream of interested phone calls and people just saying, ‘Hey, is there a change in the law? Is there something I should be concerned about or worried about?’”
While Cox hasn’t seen major updates yet, he and other immigration practitioners plan to stay alert for changes to immigration enforcement.
“Some of the benefits that we seek that I help people apply for are for people who are out of status but have a path to become legal,” Cox said. “They’re on that path, but they’re not yet at the finish line, so a lot of those people have called me and are worried.”
Cox said he is worried about the Laken Riley Act being considered by the Senate after being passed by the House. The bill would require the detention of undocumented immigrants charged with theft or burglary. Cox adds that while minor offenses may have been a cause for deportation, it wasn’t commonly enforced.
“U.S. policy was not to waste its time and effort trying to enforce, for example, a shoplifter who stole,” Cox said.
Additionally, according to a study from the National Institute of Justice of Texas arrest records, undocumented immigrants have the lowest arrest rates, adding that there has been no increase in undocumented immigrant crime.
Cox is expecting that the increased focus on immigration enforcement will slow down the deportation process across the nation.
“It’s really a whole different question and one that might well throw a wrench into the effort because it could involve so many people that it’ll just bog down law enforcement and the courts, both the local courts who have to deal with it and the immigration courts,” Cox said.
Trump is expected to get rolling on his immigration agenda quickly. A Fox News affiliate in El Paso reported that federal agents had closed the point of entry in that border city Monday.
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey shared video of the closed crossing on social media platform X saying “It’s begun.”
Gov. Mike Kehoe posted that he looks forward to working with Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance “to make our state and nation stronger, safer, and more prosperous.”
