Idaho is stepping up to be the next state to allow local law enforcement agencies to enforce federal immigration laws by making “illegal entry” a crime.
Republican state Sen. Todd Lakey said that the law is aimed at “people that are involved in criminal conduct under Idaho law” and is not intended to engage in “random” searches for illegal aliens. The state’s House of Representatives began debating the bill in January.
Unsurprisingly, the ACLU blasted the bill, calling it “an extreme anti-immigrant bill that threatens due process” that would be “enforced in ways that are uneven and deeply racialized,” according to Boise State Public Radio.
Democrat state Sen. James Ruchti feared it would chase workers out of Idaho and leave jobs open because these migrants take jobs “Americans won’t do.”
But Republican state Sen. Kelly Anthon waved off the criticism and insisted that the bill is “finely focused” on criminal activity.
“This piece of legislation today is very finely focused on criminal conduct and the people who are deported, and then they come back, and they do more crime. And I’m not talking about a speeding ticket. We’re talking about drug crime,” Anthon explained.
The bill would make a first offense of illegal entry a misdemeanor, but the second time an illegal alien is caught, their offense would be upgraded to a felony.
The bill was modeled after one passed in Texas in 2023. Labeled Senate Bill 4, the Texas law has been the focus of numerous lawsuits by migrant activists.
Other states have looked to similar laws, including Oklahoma, which passed its own version of the law in April.
Last year, Arizona’s Democrat Gov. Katie Hobbs vetoed a bill in her state that would allow law enforcement officers to arrest illegal aliens.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Facebook at: facebook.com/Warner.Todd.Huston, X at WTHuston, or Truth Social at @WarnerToddHuston.
Read the full article here