BATON ROUGE, La. ( AP ) — Louisiana’s Republican- controlled Senate advanced a bill Monday that would empower state and local law enforcement to arrest and jail people in the state who entered the U. S. illegally, similar to , embattled legislation in Texas.
Louisiana joins a growing list of legislatures attempting to increase state ‘ power over border police as a result of national battles between Republican state and Democrat President Joe Biden over how and who should impose the U.S. Mexico borders.
Proponents of the bill, such as the legislation’s author GOP state Sen. Valarie Hodges, say Louisiana has the “right to defend our nation”. Hodges has alleged that the federal government is failing to carry out immigration laws, a claim that GOP leaders across the nation have made.
Opponents argue the bill is unconstitutional, will not do anything to make the state safer, and will only fuel negative and false rhetoric directed toward migrants.
Legislatively red legislatures across the country have developed more stringent immigration enforcement measures. The Oklahoma House passed a bill that would  , prohibit state revenue , from being used to provide benefits to those living in the state illegally. A bill in Tennessee, which is awaiting the governor’s signature, would  , require law enforcement agencies , in the state to communicate with federal immigration authorities if they discover people who are in the country illegally. Measures that mirror parts of the , Texas law , are awaiting the governor’s signature in , Iowa, while another is pending in Idaho’s statehouse.
Under new conservative leadership, legislation and policies that target migrants suspected of entering the country illegally have been brought to attention over the past four months even though Louisiana does not border Mexico. One bill aims to outlaw sanctuary city laws that permit local law enforcement to refuse to cooperate with federal immigration officials unless otherwise required by law. Another would provide funding for the Texas border crossing of the United States with Louisiana National Guard members. New Republican Gov. Additionally, Jeff Landry has begun directing state agencies to gather and publish information about immigrant populations.
Hodges said during the Monday floor debate that “everyone in this knows that we have a crisis at the border and that our federal government is not helping the states.”
Louisiana’s bill would create the crime of “illegal entry or reentry” into Louisiana. Illegal reentry includes people who were previously “denied admission, excluded, deported, or otherwise removed from the U. S”. After 10 minutes of debate, the bill passed the Senate along party lines, and it is now moving to the House.
Louisiana’s bill would expand the authority of state and local law enforcement, much like the Texas law, which has been halted by a panel of the federal appeals court that is considering whether to continue halting enforcement pending further appeals. In addition, Hodges said it would” start the deportation process”. Currently,  , enforcement of immigration law , regarding illegal entry and deportations has long been the exclusive domain of federal law enforcement.
Under Louisiana’s bill, anyone who violates the proposed law would face up to a year in prison and a$ 4, 000 fine for a first offense, and up to two years in prison and a$ 10, 000 fine for a second offense. Necessary witnesses or victims of certain crimes— such as murder, rape, human trafficking, kidnapping, involuntary servitude and blackmail — would be the exception.
In addition, the bill would grant Landry the right to establish an interstate compact with Texas and other states that would support Texas ‘ state-led border security efforts. By sharing information and” state resources to build surveillance systems and physical barriers to deter illegal activity along the border,” according to supporters.
Opponents of Louisiana’s bill say it is an overreach of state authority, would increase racial profiling and could clog court systems.
” It’s going to create a backlog in our courts, it’s going to drain state resources, and it’s not going to actually reduce crime or make Louisiana any safer”, Huey Fischer García, a staff attorney at the Southern Poverty Law Center, said during a hearing on the bill last month.
If the governor, Hodges claims, approves the bill, it would only become effective if the Supreme Court upholds the Texas law or if the U.S. Constitution is amended to increase local border enforcement authority.
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This story has been updated to correct that Louisiana’s migrant arrest bill was advanced by the state Senate on Monday, April 8, not Tuesday.
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Associated Press writers Hannah Fingerhut in Des Moines, Iowa, Sean Murphy in Oklahoma City, Jonathan Mattise in Nashville, Tennessee, and Rebecca Boone in Boise, Idaho, contributed to this report.
