By Anna Puleo
LSU Manship School News Service
Lawmakers passed two bills this week aimed at expanding the state’s role in
immigration enforcement, joining states like Texas and Florida in helping the Trump
administration crack down on undocumented immigrants.
One bill would require agencies to track the legal status of people using public services, and the
other would criminalize interference with federal immigration operations.
The Legislature last year empowered local and state law-enforcement to arrest people on
suspicion that they were undocumented immigrants. Gov. Jeff Landry signed that bill into law,
and the two bills passed this week will now go to him for his signature.
The latest legislation comes amid growing national tensions over immigration policy. Protests
broke out in Los Angeles this week in response to enforcement actions, and Trump hinted at
invoking the Insurrection Act, a set of laws that might let the president to deploy the military
domestically.
One of the new bills, Senate Bill 100, by Sen. Blake Miguez, R-New Iberia, would mandate that
state departments–including Health, Education, Motor Vehicles and others–disclose whether
individuals receiving services are “illegal aliens” or “unaccompanied alien children.”
Services covered under the bill range from healthcare and education to tax benefits and
emergency assistance.
Agencies would have to report how many people in those categories they serve and the cost of
those services.
The reports would be submitted annually to the governor, the attorney general and the
Legislature and published online.
The bill also would require agencies to verify legal status, either through immigration documents
or by using federal tools like the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements system.
Agencies that do not comply risk funding loss.
Senate Bill 15 by Sen. Jay Morris, R-West Monroe, would prohibit private individuals and
public officials from obstructing federal immigration enforcement or civil immigration
proceedings.
That would include refusing to cooperate with requests from agencies like the U.S. Immigration
and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, or failing to honor written detainer requests when releasing
someone suspected of being in the country illegally.
The bill updates the state’s obstruction and malfeasance laws to cover immigration-related
violations. Penalties range from six months in jail and a $1,000 fine to one year in jail and a
$5,000 fine.
More serious violations involving public officials could lead to felony charges and prison
sentences of up to 10 years. The law would take effect Aug. 1.
If SB15 is enacted, Louisiana would be the first state to institute state criminal penalties for
interfering with immigration enforcement efforts. Under current law, these issues are handled as
a civil matter.
Both measures reflect Gov. Jeff Landry’s broader agenda to position Louisiana as a more active
player in immigration enforcement, which echoes moves in the other Republican-led states.
Advocates against the legislation highlighted the negative impact the bills would have on
immigrant families in the state.
Tia Fields, policy manager at the Baton Rouge-based Louisiana Organization for Refugees and
Immigrants, told the Louisiana Illuminator that the bills convey a “chilling message” and portray
immigrant families as expendable.