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A Missouri Senate committee heard hours of testimony Monday on illegal immigration legislation that includes life imprisonment for those found guilty and a bounty of $1,000 for reporting people without legal status in the U.S.
Through one of the pieces of legislation, someone who is in the country without legal status who enters Missouri and remains would be guilty of a new felony trespassing charge.
The penalty would be life imprisonment without parole, probation or conditional release except by action of the governor.
Those penalties would not apply if the federal government enters into a written agreement with the Missouri Department of Public Safety to take into custody and deport the person.
Sen. David Gregory, R-Chesterfield, sponsor of the legislation, said the bill’s goal is to create an equivalent of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“Much like ICE, we have to actually do an effective investigation and have enough probable cause to initiate a warrant for someone’s arrest before they can be tracked and arrested,” Gregory said.
Gregory said through his bill it would be illegal to conduct warrantless arrests, even though that is not specified in the measure.
“It is not allowed per constitutional law, which means we cannot change it here, nor can the federal government change it,” Gregory said.
Sen. Barbara Washington, D-Kansas City, asked Gregory for specifics on how this issue is affecting Missourians today.
“I am so sick of folks coming in here and telling me about what’s going on here, there and everywhere and not talking about the issues we have in our own state,” Washington said.
Gregory did not give specific examples in response to Washington’s question.
Gregory also referenced a substitute of his original bill that he’s building. That version has not been posted online.
A $1,000 bounty
The first version of the bill would require the state Department of Public Safety to create a system in which anyone can contact authorities and accuse someone of being here without legal documentation.
The system must include a telephone number, an email address and an online portal people can use.
People who would use it to report someone could remain anonymous. Within the bill language, there are no penalties if someone were to report on a person who has proper legal status.
If the accused person is in Missouri without legal status, the person who reported them would receive $1,000.
Sen. Stephen Webber, D-Columbia, asked Gregory if there were courses of action someone could take if they were incorrectly accused.
“If somebody tries to call in a tip and says, ‘I think my neighbor is undocumented’ and there’s an investigation, that person was not undocumented, do they have any kind of recourse for their troubles?” Webber said.
Gregory said it is currently against the law to harass or give false reports to hotlines.
The legislation also expands who can become a bounty hunter in the state in relation to the issue. It allows anyone with an unexpired valid license as a bail bond agent, general bond agent or surety recovery agent to apply to the program.
The bill also creates a fund that would provide money to implement the proposed act. The legislature would be responsible for coming up with the funding.
The committee briefly discussed a fiscal note on the cost of the bill, which amounts to roughly $4.5 million.
Only one person spoke in favor of the legislation, while over 30 spoke against it.
Tori Schafer with the ACLU of Missouri said the ACLU has already sued over similar laws in Iowa, Oklahoma and Texas.
“We’ve been successful in those cases because judges have agreed that we’re likely to succeed on the merits, because the federal government has an invested interest in carrying out federal law, which is exactly what we’re talking about,” Schaefer said.
Yazmin Bruno-Valdez, a recipient of the federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy, also spoke against the legislation. She said it would pit neighbors against one another.
“It would incentivize discrimination, foster xenophobia and perpetuate division by placing a price tag of a mere $1,000,” Bruno-Valdez said.
Hours earlier on Monday, senators heard similar legislation from Sen. Jill Carter, R-Granby.
The legislation makes it illegal for someone to enter Missouri if they do not have legal status in the United States.
They would be fined $10,000 and deported on the first offence. On subsequent offenses, the punishment would include prison time of one to seven years.
“It’s morally imperative to strike a balance between the unresponsive federal government and the plight of our communities and law enforcement,” Carter said.
Three people spoke in favor of the legislation, including David Parrish, a sheriff in Lewis County.
“We feel that this legislation will simply give law enforcement another tool in the tool box to help us assist any of our federal partners,” Parrish said.
Aura Velasquez was among the over 20 people who spoke against Carter’s legislation. Velasquez was born in Nicaragua and came to the U.S. when she was 5.
“My mom left Nicaragua to set out to find a place she was told was built by immigrants and welcomed them: the United States of America. And now, if this bill was to continue further than an idea, it would destroy the safety of anyone that looks different, my friends, my family and children could be labeled as not human enough to live in peace,” Velasquez said.
The hearings on these bills come a week into President Donald Trump’s second administration. Trump ran on a promise to enact mass deportations.
On Saturday, over 100 protesters gathered in Overland to decry the Trump administration’s immigration policy changes and deportations.
