by Jack Suntrup in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch
A St. Louis County lawmaker’s illegal immigration legislation would encourage racial profiling and create fear, opponents told a Missouri Senate committee on Monday.
The proposal, by state Sen. David Gregory of Chesterfield, calls for a bounty hunter program in which people will apply to find and detain undocumented immigrants, and a hotline for Missourians to turn in undocumented immigrants for a $1,000 payout.
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One person, Rabbi Ze’ev Smason, chairman of the Coalition for Jewish Values of Missouri, spoke in favor of the bill.
“The principles of justice, law and order are foundational to a thriving society,” he said, arguing the bill “aligns with our moral values.”
Neither Gregory’s plan nor a separate piece of legislation by state Sen. Jill Carter, R-Granby, received a vote Monday in the committee.
Carter’s plan would create an interstate compact for border security, giving the governor the power to “negotiate and assist any state in an interstate compact for border security.”
Her plan also creates the crime of “improper entry by an alien” and the offense of “aggravated illegal presence” if the person violates any Missouri law while in the country illegally.
Read the full article on the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Photo credit: Caravan of migrants by Martin Leveneur, with CC BY-SA 2.0 license.