Mississippi lawmakers could put a price on the heads of undocumented migrants and authorize certified bounty hunters to locate and detain them under a new proposal in the Legislature.
But immigration attorneys, advocacy groups and community leaders tell the Mississippi Free Press that the measure is unlikely to gain traction, amounting to a political stunt designed to stoke fear and generate news coverage.
Mississippi House Bill 1484 has garnered local and national headlines since its filing on Jan. 22. Drafted by Mississippi House Rep. Justin Keen, R-Byhalia, and backed by DeSoto County District attorney Matthew Barton, the legislation would award residents $1,000 for information leading to the arrest and eventual deportation of people living in the state without authorization. It also directs the Mississippi Department of Public Safety to establish a “bounty hunter” certification program in the state, empowering eligible residents to find and detain undocumented migrants for a $1,000 reward.
The bill’s supporters have framed the bounty hunter program as an extension of the new presidential administration’s immigration agenda. By deputizing private citizens to track down undocumented migrants, Mississippi would advance President Donald Trump’s objective of deporting “as many people who are here illegally as possible,” Barton told the Mississippi Free Press on Jan. 13, ahead of the bill’s release.
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After reviewing H.B. 1484, however, independent legal experts have indicated that its backers may have had other motives for introducing the legislation. Even some observers wary of oncoming legislative assaults on undocumented migrants said the bill contains so many legal pitfalls and unworkable provisions that it faces slim odds of approval in the Republican-dominated Legislature.
“It just doesn’t pass muster,” Patricia Ice, director of the legal project at the Mississippi Immigrants Rights Alliance, told the Mississippi Free Press on Jan. 23. “There are so many things wrong with it.”
Key stakeholders in H.B. 1484 say they were not aware of the bill’s existence until the day of its release. The legislation is also a copycat version of a bill filed in Missouri
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