Feeling emboldened by the Trump administration’s strong approach, Republican-led states are doing their own part to deport illegal immigrants.
States have taken measures ranging from floating bounty hunters for immigrants to establishing checkpoints. The most ambitious are states that have frequently been the most vocal on immigration, with Texas and Florida leading the way.
Texas legislators have introduced bills that would require the fingerprinting of illegal immigrant children, bar illegal immigrants from receiving state legal aid, create a new Texas Border Protection Unit, and empower local law enforcement to deport illegal immigrants apprehended near the border, the Washington Post reported.
In Florida, lawmakers are looking to outdo each other on immigration. A group of Republican lawmakers unveiled the Tackling and Reforming Unlawful Migration Policy, or TRUMP Act, which would create a Florida immigration czar, replete with an office of 150 staff members and $500 million in funding.
The legislation would also boost punishments for crimes committed by illegal immigrants, give bonuses to police that participate in raids catching illegal immigrants, compel law enforcement agencies to participate in detention efforts, and block in-state tuition rates for illegal immigrant students, the outlet reported.
Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) declared that the bill wasn’t enough.
“The same Florida legislators who campaigned on stopping illegal immigration and deporting illegal aliens first rejected my call for a special session and then passed watered-down legislation that would—incredibly—weaken our current laws. The people of Florida deserve better than this deceptive, backdoor attempt to make Florida a sanctuary state,” he said in a post on X.
DeSantis pledged to push for a stricter immigration bill. The sponsors of the bill insisted that they cooperated with President Donald Trump and his administration in crafting the legislation.
Missouri and Mississippi have taken some of the most controversial moves, by proposing legislation that would effectively create bounty hunters. The bills would embolden private citizens to detain illegal immigrants, award $1,000 for tips that lead to arrests, and, in Missouri’s case, fund certified bail bondsmen to detain illegal immigrants.
Some Republican lawmakers pushed back on the measure, arguing it was too far, concerns dismissed by the bills’ proponents.
“You’re not going to just sit back and hope things change,” bill sponsor Missouri Sen. David Gregory said last week. “Trump’s going to do an outstanding job, but do you think waiting until we have another Biden administration to get ahead of this works? I don’t.”
Iowa and South Dakota have introduced bills that would require driver’s licenses to indicate citizenship. A Montana bill would make checks on one’s immigration status a mandated part of traffic stops.
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Tennessee introduced the Tennessee Reduction of Unlawful Migrant Placement, also called the TRUMP Act, to charge parents for enrolling illegal immigrant children into the school system.
Other states look to be laying the groundwork for further action down the road. Gov. Jeff Landry (R-LA) ordered state officials to track the financial costs of illegal immigrants “to determine the financial burden our citizens are being forced to carry because of those who do not follow the law.”