Rep. Jaron Crane, R-Nampa, introduced a bill on Tuesday to the Idaho House State Affairs Committee that replicates a 2023 Texas law creating a new crime called illegal entry.

According to the bill, “a person who is an alien commits an offense if the person enters or attempts to enter this state directly from a foreign national at any location other than a lawful port of entry.”

The bill would allow local law enforcement officers to check the documentation status of individuals.

“This will allow law enforcement to go ahead and take fingerprints, do mug shots, and do all of the things that we would do to document the person,” Crane said. 

The first instance of being discovered as unauthorized by law enforcement would result in a misdemeanor charge, and a second occurrence would lead to a felony charge and deportation, according to the bill. 

The bill is a replica of a controversial Texas law — Senate Bill 4 — that Texas lawmakers approved in 2023. However, the Texas law is not currently being enforced. Legal challenges from the U.S. Department of Justice and immigration advocacy organizations have repeatedly prevented its enforcement, the Texas Tribune reported. 

Crane said the only difference is that the Idaho bill includes a severability clause, which means that if a portion of the law is found unconstitutional, the rest of the law can still stand and be enforced. The bill also declares an existing emergency, so it would take effect immediately after receiving a signature from the governor.

Last year, Crane introduced the same bill. The bill passed the House floor, but the legislative session ended before it could reach the Senate floor.

Rep. Todd Achilles, D-Boise, said the bill “clearly violates” the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which grants the federal government authority to establish laws that supersede state laws, including those related to immigration.

Achilles said he also is concerned about the civil immunity clause in the bill, which he said weakens accountability for law enforcement. Additionally, he said he was concerned about the bill’s fiscal note. It proposes a $250,000 appropriation along with a $1 million general fund allocation, raising concerns about the potential costs associated with training, jail operations and court proceedings.

The committee voted to move the bill forward, clearing the way for a full hearing at a later date.

This column was first published on Rocky Barker’s “Letters from the West” blog on Dec. 30, 2024.

The most significant land conservation act in American history started on a raft trip down the Middle Fork of the Salmon River.

Carter joined Andrus in Boise and flew into Indian Creek by helicopter in late August of 1978. Legendary outfitter Norm Guth guided them and their wives, Rosalynn and Carol, for four days through the heart of Idaho wilderness. Sitting around the campfire, Andrus told Carter he had the power to preserve the Alaska lands using the Antiquities Act, said the late Chris Carlson, Andrus’s longtime aide in his book, “Eye on the Caribou.”

“Let’s do it,” Carter said.

After Congress reached a deadlock on legislation that would protect the Alaska lands, Carter acted. He declared 56 million acres as a national monument. He set aside another 36 million acres he could add later.

Carter had forced the Alaska congressional delegations’ hand. They returned to the table and passed the bill with 106 million acres of protected lands. The law almost doubled the sizes of the national park and wildlife refuge systems and tripled the size of the National Wilderness Preservation System.

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“Jimmy Carter was, with Theodore Roosevelt, one of the two most committed conservationists ever to occupy the Oval Office,” said Andrus, who died in 2017.

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