Local police would be tasked with detaining people suspected of entering the United States illegally under a bill approved Monday by the Louisiana State Senate. If made law, people living in Louisiana without legal immigration status face up to a year in prison and a $4,000 fine, and up to two years in prison and a $10,000 fine for a second offense. The Senate approved the legislation on a 28-11 vote, sending it to the House, The Advocate reports. A Senate committee passed amendments last month exempting from the bill immigrants who are witnesses or victims of certain crimes, including rape, murder, and involuntary servitude. The bill can only take effect if the federal courts uphold Texas' law, which seeks to give state and local police immigration enforcement powers, or if the Constitution is amended to give states a bigger role in such enforcement.
Opponents of the Texas bill have said it interferes with federal immigration laws, historically the purview of the federal government. Supporters of the bill argue that the legislation mirrors federal law, which Biden administration officials have neglected to enforce. On the Senate floor Monday in Baton Rouge, supporters of the Louisiana legislation struck a similar stance, saying that though the Bayou State does not share a border with Mexico, the effects of illegal immigration are far-reaching and merit a state-level response due to the failure of the federal government to enforce its own laws. "I think all of us know that we have a crisis at the border, and the federal government is not doing anything to help the states," said Sen. Valarie Hodges, R-Denham Springs, the bill's sponsor. Democrats on the Senate floor pushed back on Hodges' bill, casting it as part of an effort by Republicans to dehumanize immigrants fleeing brutal circumstances in Central and South America.
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