Mississippi Immigration Bill Passes House

By Robbie Ward

Mississippi lawmakers moved closer to enacting legislation to crack down on undocumented immigrants in the state, though the proposal does not go as far as neighboring Alabama's law, widely seen as the toughest in the nation and now the focus of a court challenge by the Obama administration.

The Mississippi House of Representatives voted early on Thursday to pass the Mississippi Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act by a vote of 68-49.

The measure, the latest of several efforts by states in the South and West to enact stringent restrictions on undocumented immigrants, now goes to the state Senate, where it is expected to pass the Republican-controlled upper house. Governor Phil Bryant, also a Republican, has spoken publicly in support of the legislation.

The Mississippi bill would require police to check the immigration status of individuals who are arrested. Unlike neighboring Alabama, it does not require police to check the immigration status of anyone they detain and suspect of being in the country illegally.

The approved version of the bill did not include earlier provisions that would have allowed police to check the immigration status of people pulled over in traffic and public schools to check the legal status of students.

Last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, based in Atlanta, issued a brief order expanding its initial injunction against the Alabama law. It blocked enforcement of provisions that barred undocumented immigrants from obtaining a driver's license and barred courts from enforcing contracts that involved undocumented immigrants.

The appeals court in October blocked the state from enforcing another key provision of the law that required schools to check the immigration status of children upon enrollment.

Supporters of the Mississippi bill say it was crafted to survive court challenges.

The Obama administration has argued that regulation of immigration should be handled by the federal government and not the states.

In April the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in a challenge to Arizona's immigration law, enacted in 2010.

(Reporting By Robbie Ward)

Comments

[skippy42]

08:22 AM on 03/22/2012

Does anyone else find it offensive that the NON-qualifying kids of illegal aliens can get FREE money from taxpayers? They just use their temporary identification number - legally they should have a social security number - in order to claim the Child Tax Credit and file an income tax report. The amount of free money they get is a mere FOUR BILLION DOLLARS a year. Americans are having trouble putting food on OUR table and yet the illegal aliens can just STEAL this money from us? Ask your government representative to stop this giveaway.

[rehaha]

09:06 AM on 03/22/2012

Unfortunately our gutless Politicians allow this to happen until we vote them out.

[skippy42]

08:14 AM on 03/22/2012

Is it possible that Mexico is better off than America?

Reports show that more and more families in Mexico are enjoying a status of "middle class", while Americans continue in poverty in order to provide ENTITLEMENTS to illegal aliens....

Mexico Unemployment Rate
The unemployment rate in Mexico was last reported at 4.8 percent in January of 2012. From 2000 until 2010, Mexico's Unemployment Rate averaged 3.45 percent reaching an historical high of 5.93 percent in May of 2009 and a record low of 2.22 percent in November of 2002.

It is time to stop the free ride in America and send the illegal aliens home - they have a better opportunity in THEIR own country.

[jweider]

07:12 PM on 03/26/2012

The reason that Mexico's economy is doing so well is that they have been able to dump their undesirables into the US. Plus the $29 billion in remittances that the illegals in the US suck out of our economy and send to Mexico each year does a lot to boost their economy also.
It's all part of Obama's foreign policy with Mexico.

[skippy42]

07:20 PM on 03/26/2012

EXACTLY! And they keep coming here for more, more and more FREEBIES>
Please have everyone you know join The Dustin Inman Society and ALIPAC - groups formed to combat illegal immigration.

[Texas rebel]

03:46 PM on 03/19/2012

I wish Texas would pass an anti illegal immigrant law soon.

[skippy42]

08:15 AM on 03/22/2012

So do I and the sooner the better. We have 1.7 million illegal aliens on welfare.

Please ask Rick Perry to do SOMETHING.

[jweider]

07:17 PM on 03/26/2012

There is no chance that that will ever happen. The Dems need the Hispanic vote to replace the votes of voters like me that they have permanently alienated.

[Todd Landfried]

11:27 AM on 03/19/2012

There is not a single jurisdiction in the United States where these types of laws have been passed where any of the economic or jobs promises made by the proponents have come true. No where. This law will damage Mississippi's economy just like it has everywhere else.

[spytheweb]

05:31 AM on 04/04/2012

Keep dreaming!

[chevyliddle]

06:22 AM on 04/23/2012

Your group is made up of people and businesses that are addicted to the cheap labor coming across the border illegally and you fool no one.Take a good look at Alabama's economy and unemployment rate and compare it to the national average and then get back to us.

[inthedesert]

10:19 AM on 03/19/2012

Unfortunately for illegals, these laws are the "wave of the future". It will be interesting to see what the SCOTUS has to say in a few months about all of this. If they uphold these laws, there will be another giant sucking sound as illegals flee back to Mexico. Some of us are hoping!!!

[cree1997]

09:15 AM on 04/23/2012

Every red state should pass laws like Alabama, Mississippi and Arizona, sooner or later the illegals will have to move to blue states and THEN they will realize the problem.

[l78lancer]

11:43 PM on 03/17/2012

Georgia implemented an immigration bill. It failed because it was poorly conceived and implemented, resulting in economic, political and social problems. Alabama took no lessons from the Georgia debacle and charged in implementing their own law and committed the identical failure. So now Mississippi has decided that if it was good enough for Georgia and Alabama, it's good enough for them.

Conservative is defined as follows:

--------------------------->
con·serv·a·tive/kənˈsərvətiv/

Adjective:
Holding to traditional attitudes and values and cautious about change or innovation, typically in politics or religion.

Noun:
A person who is averse to change and holds to traditional values and attitudes, typically in politics.
--------------------------->

Based on that definition the legislatures of Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and other states across the south and southwest are truly conservative and reticent to change even when they have already demonstrated failure.

[spytheweb]

05:32 AM on 04/04/2012

What you are saying is enforcing the law does not work. Why don't we do like Mexico and just allow people to run wild, that should fix everything.

[GEOscout]

04:52 PM on 03/16/2012

Speaking of immigration, I wonder how our 3 billion dollar border fence is doing. Here is a video showing drug runners getting past in 0.3 seconds http://www.zpatriot.com/zpatriot/articles/79/another-priceless#comment-642

[Epilef2000]

01:13 PM on 03/16/2012

Hopefullu more ofmthese Dixie states continue this pathway....it will strengthen Floridas agricultural sector..as georgia and has proven there are jobs some people just wont do and then they say they want a minimum wage that excedes the national minimum wage or else they wont work in the fields

[Jorgelzorro]

12:51 PM on 03/16/2012

America america,im tired of hearing."this is a country of laws",but are they human and civil?,no.It doesnt matter how many "laws" you put on the table,a human being its gonna do whatever it takes to feed their families,thats over any"laws".

[sibyl9]

01:07 PM on 03/16/2012

Yet, they do not take this initiative in Mexico. I am trying to feed my children too. And I will do everything I can to make sure illegals go back home.

[TheBluesGuy]

03:02 AM on 03/20/2012

You and the kids been working the fields, have you?

[Kurfco]

08:04 PM on 03/16/2012

That's how people justify robbing a 7-11 too, and that's why we have laws and law enforcement.

[necamw]

12:14 PM on 03/16/2012

I don't have an issue with the police checking the immigration status of anyone that has been arrested. However, I have a huge problem with the Alabama law that lets the police detain anyone that they think "might" be here illegally - that's a law just waiting to be abused.

[Karissa36]

11:09 AM on 03/16/2012

This bill is nothing. Secure Communities is about to be expanded nationwide, and will do exactly the same thing.

[spytheweb]

05:53 AM on 04/04/2012

Plus the Real ID Act in Jan 2013. States who are dragging their feet will not be allowed to board a FAA aircraft unless they have a Real ID or a US Passport, greencard, passport with valid visa. Enter a federal building.

[ugly american]

10:37 AM on 03/16/2012

There is nothing wrong with checking the immigration status of a foreign national who has been arrested any more than checking the criminal record of a citizen. If they are afraid of being discovered as an illegal alien, once they are in police custody, it is a bit late to worry about that. Privacy is out the window for citizens once arrested. Why treat foreigners any different?
But not to worry! Mexico and their coalition of Latin nations is sure to file suit against Mississippi just as they did against North Carolina, Alabama and other states. And the Justice Department will be right there with them. The Justice Department is now in the business of deciding which laws they like instead of just enforcing them. And everyone knows the US is not allowed to say who can enter and be a citizen and who can't. That is the message our Dear Leader sends, mainly because he thinks 6.5 million votes will be the difference between re-election and planning his presidential library.
So what if the states still believe in the quaint idea of "national sovereignty"?
Ain't globalism grand?
Good luck Mississippi! You're gonna need it.

[Condor75]

10:13 AM on 03/16/2012

Can't imagine anyone want to move into Mississippi, but whatever

[inthedesert]

10:20 AM on 03/19/2012

I can't imagine anyone wanting to come to America too. LOL.

[spytheweb]

05:59 AM on 04/04/2012

No place in Mexico will ever be near what Mississippi is today. Americans feel the same way about illegal aliens all over the country. States just don't have the coconuts to say so.

[Jorgelzorro]

08:16 AM on 03/16/2012

Isn't it weird that the anti inmigration laws are passing more and more in the south?racist?I wonder?

[iuriggs6]

09:07 AM on 03/16/2012

Anti illegal-immigration. If you are going to post something, don't be misleading.

[freedom1947]

09:49 AM on 03/16/2012

Zorros statement sounds Merican to me.

[ugly american]

10:03 AM on 03/16/2012

Exactly when did "unregistered foreign national" or more bluntly, illegal alien, become a race?

[Recall Walker]

07:48 AM on 03/16/2012

Miss. Passes "illegal immigration" bill. Unemployment drops to zero; house keeping, gardening, and agricultural jobs flourish for motivated antebellum residents. State bounces back from last in literacy in the nation to almost second last. State enjoys hours of harmonious twang dialog absent the romantically derived language of Spanish. State decides to formulate law to get rid of those pesky other "residents" that were given the right to vote after reconstruction but never really considered residents by true Mississippians. GOP decides to pass more enlightened laws, like banning a woman's right to use her uterus in any way; getting rid of all business taxes (not really helpful as Miss. has no industry or business); and decriminalizing wide stances and toe tapping in men's bathroom. Yay for Miss! Great things from the state that considers 5 teeth a full set.

[INDIVIDUALTERRY]

12:06 PM on 03/16/2012

Bigot.

[Hammer0311]

03:30 PM on 03/17/2012

You ought to visit and wear that post on a shirt. I have heard your dentist would enjoy the over time