Since Donald Trump's re-election to the Presidency last November, immigrants and their loved ones in Mississippi have been anxiously waiting for mass deportations or other immigration crackdowns promised by Trump during last year’s campaign.
Within a week of assuming office, those efforts began in force across the country, and appear to be ramping up in major cities in the second week.
Immigration raids have also reached Mississippi, where at least 20 undocumented immigrants were arrested in multiple locations and later detained in Madison County.
Border czar Tom Homan, appointed by Trump to lead all deportation and security efforts at the Southern border, has said that initial immigration enforcement will target those with criminal convictions, but has also acknowledged that those without criminal records will likely continue to be detained as well.
But families, advocates and immigrants themselves in Mississippi are also alarmed by three bills filed early this session in the state legislature that would increase the state's role in – and encouragement of – immigration enforcement.
“It’s been very hard for me. Truthfully, in 20+ years I never thought I would see some of this,” said L. Patricia Ice, director of the legal project at the Mississippi Immigrants Rights Alliance.
Of particular concern is House Bill 1484, authored by first year Republican Representative Justin Keen of Byhalia, in DeSoto County.
Sponsored by DeSoto District Attorney Matthew Barton, the bill would primarily create a state funded bounty hunter program providing a $1,000 reward for each undocumented person reported and later apprehended.
To support that system, the legislation calls for establishing a state-run phone hotline, email address and online portal where anyone can share anonymous tips on those they suspect of being in the U.S. without status.
From there, staffers employed by the state would contact one of several ‘bounty hunters’, certified through an ad hoc course prepared by Mississippi’s Department of Public Safety, to locate and apprehend those suspected in each report.
But after apprehension by bounty hunters, which itself faces its own legal questions, HB 1484 also calls for amending state law to directly contradict with established federal immigration practice.
Firstly, those apprehended through the program and later confirmed to be undocumented would be charged with a state felony triggering a lifelong prison sentence. Current federal immigration law only considers being in the United States while undocumented a criminal offense when a person has re-entered after previously being deported.
Further, HB 1484 stipulates that federal immigration officials could assume custody of each person apprehended through the program if they sign an agreement pledging to deport them within 24 hours.
Under federal law, a person can only be deported after an order is issued by a judge, which often takes much longer than 24 hours.
Those points, and the bill being sent to separate house committees for consideration – often the death knell for legislation in the Mississippi legislature – leaves some wondering if it will even have a chance of passing.
But for L. Patricia Ice, who helped to co-establish MIRA in 2000, the message of the legislation is clear enough.
“I think some in Mississippi see it as a betrayal. People are scared,” said Ice, speaking in the state Capitol’s rotunda as part of MIRA’s annual civic engagement day.
“That's one reason why we have a small crowd today. Most of the time, we have 60-plus people, and we've had over a hundred at times. But people expressed fear about coming here. People who are currently undocumented here have expressed concern, and some of the other people who are in the middle of their process of becoming permanent residents and or citizens are very, very afraid. I've gotten lots of phone calls regarding that.”
House Bill 47, filed by Republican Representative Becky Currie of Brookhaven, would require residents who help or employ undocumented immigrants in various ways, including transportation, to be charged with a felony.
The measure would also penalize businesses in the state who hire or employ undocumented immigrants without proper vetting of their status.
Three elected state offices are already required to enforce federal E-Verify employment laws in Mississippi – those of Gov. Tate Reeves, Secretary of State Michael Watson and Attorney General Lynn Fitch – but even in the state’s largest industry, poultry, violations frequently occur.
Nataly Camacho, an organizer with MIRA, says that both federal and possible state immigration action has developed a palpable sense of fear and mounting pressure.
But many in the group and its vast social network across the state were present for the 2019 mass worksite raids in Central Mississippi, still the largest single-day immigration raid in U.S. history, and have a plan for what kind of work is required this time around.
“What MIRA is doing today is helping these families. We're helping them undergo power of attorney, where someone is allowed to come and pick up their kids from school, or able to pick up their last check, in case of deportation. We're also doing 'know your rights' sessions in various communities, mostly the ones that we know will be raided,” said Camacho.
“We're targeting those communities to let them know about their rights, educating them and organizing them to know what's going on.”