News Web site News .House OKs amended illegal immigration bill

The version of an illegal immigration bill that passed the House Thursday has new provisions that may be too tough for one party and too lenient for the other.

District 53 Rep. Bobby Moak, D-Bogue Chitto, said the amended version of Senate Bill 2179, the Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act of 2011, contains stiff penalties for employers who hire illegal immigrants and a sweetener for local law enforcement agencies who jail them.
"You need to shut the door right there," said Moak, who presented the bill on the House floor. "What the House did was hear from Mississippians who said the cause of this problem is people who continue to bring these folks in illegally. That's what needs to stop."
The amended legislation now stipulates businesses found guilty of hiring illegal immigrants may face fines of not less than $5,000 per day and not more than $25,000 per day, with those funds placed in an account accessible by local governments for reimbursement of costs or to pay for more training for law enforcement officers. The amount of the fine is up to the judge, Moak said.
Employers found guilty of hiring illegal immigrants will likewise be stripped of tax benefits, bonds and grants, and the state auditor's office will be charged with recovering any money the state has invested in that company.
Illegal immigrants found guilty of a non-violent crime would serve one-third of their sentence and then be eligible to be returned to their country of origin under a federal program, Moak said. If that illegal immigrant is caught in Mississippi a second time, they will serve the remainder of the sentence with no chance for parole, he said.
House leaders removed a provision in the original bill that would have allowed any Mississippi citizen to bring suit against local law enforcement agencies or governments suspected of refusing to enforce the immigration law.
Instead, agencies that comply and jail illegal immigrants will be reimbursed $36 per day on a program similar to the money the state sends to local jails for housing state inmates. The latter rate is $20 per day.
"Suing is not the answer," Moak said. "Let's say you win. Who gets to pay for it? You do, the local taxpayers."
The bill now returns to the Senate for review, where it could be amended even more.
"If it was up to me, it's either take it or leave it," Moak said.
District 92 Rep. Becky Currie, R-Brookhaven, said Republicans supported the amended version of the bill in force in order to keep it alive in the Legislature, but not all GOP members are happy with the House's changes. She said the bill underwent 55 deletions and 43 insertions of new language that she fears has crippled its ability to be enforced.
"For Democrats to walk away from this and say, 'Well, we passed the immigration bill,' no one needs to be fooled by that," Currie said. "Not everything in it is terrible, but it's just watered down."
Still, Currie - who introduced her own Arizona-style immigration bill in the House - called the passing of the bill "absolutely a step in the right direction" and commended Moak for the way he handled the bill on the floor.
"We'll do what the people of Mississippi want us to do - take care of the illegal immigration problem," she said. "The federal government won't do its job, so the states will have to step up and do theirs."