On Monday, a pair of western states took diverging paths on the migrant question, as Idaho Republicans voted for border enforcement, while Wyoming Republicans voted to protect migrants.
On Monday, the Republican majority in the Idaho House passed an immigration bill based on a bill in Texas (Texas SB4) that would make it a crime to enter the state illegally and give state authorities the power to deport aliens.
House Bill 83 easily passed on February 10 in a 61-9 vote, according to KTVB-TV.
The bill makes the first illegal entry offense a misdemeanor. But the second would be a felony and is grounds for deportation if after a drug offense conviction. After arrest, an illegal could be remanded to a magistrate judge to issue a deportation order. The Idaho bill will advance to the state Senate for more deliberation.
But in nearby Wyoming, the state’s Senate torpedoed a similar bill that would also detain and deport illegal aliens in the Cowboy State, WyoFile reported.
On Monday, the state’s upper chamber voted 20-10 to kill Sen. Cheri Steinmetz’s “Illegal Immigration-Identify, Report, Detain and Deport Act” (Senate File 124). The bill was likely ultimately killed when Senate president Republican Bo Biteman spoke against the bill at 8:00 p.m. during the late session.
“My concern here at 8 o’clock at night is the kind of quality we are putting out,” Biteman exclaimed. “Trying to drag bills across the finish line that are so heavily amended and so in need of a lot of work, I don’t think does this chamber justice.”
Pro-migrant critics of the bill lodged familiar claims against it, saying that it would “criminalize” illegal migrants and lead to police raids on migrants. Of course illegal immigration is already a crime.
The bill had gone through a number of re-writes and amendments, including striking a clause that would require police officers to ascertain a person’s immigration status during a traffic stop.
Other senators objected to the costs the bill would impose on the state after illegals were taken into custody and deported. The bill has also been accused of attacking employers for hiring illegals for low wage jobs.
American Civil Liberties Union of Wyoming Advocacy Director Antonio Serrano, for instance, insisted that the bill was a danger to the “growth” the state is experiencing.
“Wyoming is finally starting to grow,” he said. “There’s a lot of construction, there’s a lot of stuff going up and immigrants are building that. They’re helping Wyoming grow. In the Wyoming I grew up in, we respected people who wanted to work and work hard.”
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