A broad immigration bill that would let local Wyoming authorities charge someone with a felony that carries a sentence of up to five years in prison for transporting or sheltering an illegal immigrant squeaked onto the state Senate floor with its $1 million price tag intact.
If it becomes law, Senate File 124 would ascribe a felony punishable by up to five years in prison and $5,000 in fines to anyone caught concealing, harboring or sheltering any illegal immigrant in Wyoming.
It passed through the Senate Appropriations Committee on Friday with a $1 million appropriation for unforeseen enforcement expenses intact on a 3-2 vote.
The money would go toward unforeseen circumstances that law enforcement agencies incurred under the bill's requirements for enforcing what would become the state version of immigration law. Its unused funds would revert back to the state's savings account.
Sen. Mike Gierau, D-Jackson, asked the committee to remove the appropriation, saying the fund would “give cover” to anyone who believes the bill’s outcomes were justified.
“With all due respect to the bringer of this bill, I think this is the most dangerous bill I’ve ever seen in my time in the Legislature, with the most dangerous ramifications possible,” said Gierau.
In a quick shout-out voice vote, the committee voted down Gierau’s proposition to remove the $1 million price tag.
There was no further discussion on the bill.
Gierau and Sen. Ogden Driskill, R-Devils Tower, voted against it.
Driskill told Cowboy State Daily in a Friday text message that he had a qualm with the extra spending but was otherwise supportive of the idea.
Appropriations Committee Chair Tim Salazar, R-Riverton, and Republican Sens. Dan Laursen (Powell) and Darin Smith (Cheyenne) voted in favor of it.
It advances next to the state Senate floor for a debate, after which it must survive three readings and the same process on the House side, plus the governor’s desk, to become law.
Driving To Church
Throughout its two public committee hearings, the bill’s critics said it will place law-abiding residents living with undocumented family members in the crosshairs of the felony courts system.
People living with their family members or driving them to church could face felonies, as could ambulance drivers taking people to the hospital, the bill’s detractors have said.
Its proponents, conversely, say it will bolster immigration enforcement in Wyoming.
The bill would ban law enforcement agencies from adopting policies against immigration enforcement. It would also require agents to ask contacts and suspects about their immigration status upon a “reasonable, articulable suspicion” of its lawfulness.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
