JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Some Missouri lawmakers want to increase penalties for immigrants in the country illegally, including adding a hotline to report those without official documentation.
Those two bills caused tensions to rise Monday in the room, from frustration to tears.
“Do not act like you have experienced anything that I have, or my mother, or my grandfather, who was the first free Black person in my family,” one speaker said. “Cause you have not.”
Dozens waited outside a committee room to testify in opposition of legislation aimed at illegal immigration.
“If this bill was to continue further than an idea, it would destroy the safety of anyone who looks different,” another speaker said.
One piece of legislation says it would be an offense to enter the state as an illegal immigrant, and another would allow for bounty hunters to find and detain them.
Law enforcement from southwest Missouri voiced their favor of the legislation.
“We have no intention of sending our deputies out just to look for people who may or may not be illegal immigrants—we’re here to protect all of our citizens,” Lewis County Sheriff David Parrish said.
Sen. David Gregroy said his bounty hunter bill creates an ICE program at the state level, allowing for a tip line. The legislation says anyone who makes a report in which an illegal immigrant is arrested will receive a $1,000 reward.