Bill Description: House Bill 83, as amended in the Senate, would criminalize illegal entry as a secondary offense and prioritize enforcement against "dangerous" illegal aliens.
Rating: +1
NOTE: House Bill 83 was heavily amended by the Senate to strip out the majority of the original bill and replace it with language from Senate Bill 1039. As a result, the bill is weaker and the analysis has changed considerably. The bill rating, however, remains the same at (+1).
NOTE: The original (pre-amended) House Bill 83 was related to House Bill 11, introduced earlier this session.
Does it violate the spirit or the letter of either the U.S. Constitution or the Idaho Constitution? Examples include restrictions on speech, public assembly, the press, privacy, private property, or firearms. Conversely, does it restore or uphold the protections guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution or the Idaho Constitution?
House Bill 83, as amended in the Senate, would create Chapter 90, Title 18, Idaho Code, which would be titled the "Immigration Cooperation and Enforcement Act." The act would not focus broadly on illegal immigration, instead prioritizing enforcement actions against those who the bill defines as "dangerous illegal aliens."
The bill's definition of a "dangerous illegal alien" is one "who has previously been convicted or found guilty, by judgment or withheld judgment, of a dangerous crime in this state or in any other state or nation." A dangerous crime would be defined as "any felony crime as described in Idaho Code or in similar state or federal code, any offense for which an extended term of imprisonment may be imposed pursuant to section 19-2520B, Idaho Code, or any offense requiring sex offender registration as set forth in section 18-8304, Idaho Code."
Unlike Senate Bill 1039, the amended House Bill 83 would still contain a provision saying, "A person who is an alien commits an offense if the person enters or attempts to enter this state at any location other than a lawful port of entry or through another manner of lawful entry." A first offense would be a misdemeanor and a second or subsequent offense would be a felony.
Illegal reentry into Idaho by someone who had previously been deported would be a misdemeanor. It would be a felony under some circumstances, including if the initial removal was "subsequent to a conviction for commission of two (2) or more misdemeanors involving drugs, crimes against a person, or both."
These crimes of "illegal entry" and "illegal reentry" could only be enforced "when a person is detained or investigated for suspected commission of an independent crime" unrelated to their illegal status. In other words, someone would have to commit a second crime (not just an infraction) before he or she could be charged with illegal entry or illegal reentry. Even if a known criminal alien who had been deported multiple times was discovered, he could not be charged under this law unless he committed an additional crime.
The Senate amendment to House Bill 83 stripped out all the provisions related to a judge ordering an alien to return to the foreign nation from which the person entered or attempted to enter.
In place of these provisions, the amended bill inserts several sections from Senate Bill 1039, including a provision that makes it a felony to traffic a "dangerous illegal alien."
Another provision provides a sentencing enhancement for an alien who commits a dangerous crime and who before the commission of the dangerous crime had "been deported or is under order of removal or deportation pursuant to federal authority."
This bill is intended to allow Idaho greater latitude to enforce immigration restrictions, which the federal government has long failed to do. Unfortunately, by treating these crimes as secondary offenses and focusing on "dangerous" illegal aliens, the state would hobble its enforcement efforts in much the same way the federal government has done, effectively disallowing any wide-scale efforts to find and expel illegal aliens.
(+1)
