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Ice on Immigration:
Will
Mississippi follow in Arizona’s footsteps?
By L. Patricia Ice, Featured
Columnist
Question: The Senate of the Mississippi legislature
recently passed Senate Bill (SB) 2179 which, among other things, would
allow local law enforcement agents to act as immigration agents. Will
this bill become the law of the land in Mississippi?
Answer: Hopefully
not. SB 2179, an Arizona SB 1070 style anti-immigrant bill, will be
sent to a Mississippi legislative House of Representatives committee for
review and a vote. The bill has to be voted out of the House
committee in order to be voted on by the full Mississippi House. It is
possible that it will die in the House committee and never get to the
full House for a vote. If the bill gets voted out of the committee, the
full House will vote on it and either pass it or not.
If the bill passes the
full House, it still has to be signed (or not signed) by Governor Haley
Barbour in order to become law. So, SB 2179 must pass through several
more steps before it can become law.
At least three other Arizona style bills
have been introduced in the Mississippi House of Representatives, along
with at least 20 other anti-immigrant bills. |
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