JACKSON- Senate Bill 2710 says local governments and public colleges could not stop their employees from asking a person their immigration status, that includes giving any special treatment to individuals who have entered illegally.
The bill has passed the Senate with a vote of 32-16. It now moves to the House for debate.
Mississippi currently does not have any sanctuary cities, however this bill brings the state into debate over the legality of them across the country.
“The United States was founded by people who came here from all over the world, and that is one of the things that has made it great so you fully appreciate and respect that,” said Sen. Sean Tindell. “But when people come to this country they just need to do so in a legal means.”
This particular bill would devalue and ordinance in the Capitol City. Within the Jackson City Ordinance’s Sec. 86-195,
“any public servants is prohibited from inquiring into the immigration status of a person or engaging in activities designed to ascertain the immigration status of any person, while acting within the scope of his or her authority, or employment, as a public servant.”
The bill would not require an immigration check, but it would override that prohibition made by the Jackson ordinance. Public servants could no longer be forbid from inquiring about an immigration status.
Sen. Tindell said that the goal is to keep government, such a politicians and bureaucrats, from preventing law enforcement to do their jobs. That includes the efforts of people who are trying to remove individuals who have come to the country illegally.
“I think there is a lot of political posturing from the other side of the isle saying you know, it’s going to run immigrants out or it’s a hate bill, but it isn’t doing any of those things. It’s just allowing law enforcement to do their jobs,” said Sen. Tindell.
The ordinance was adopted in 2010 as a way to ban racial profiling by police officers. It prevents them from inquiring about a persons immigration status unless it is a federal investigation.
