Bill Description: Senate Bill 1039 would enforce immigration law against dangerous illegal aliens.

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NOTE: Senate Bill 1039 is one of several immigration bills introduced this session, including House Bill 11 and House Bill 83. 

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?

Senate Bill 1039 would create Chapter 90, Title 18, Idaho Code, which would be titled the "Immigration Cooperation and Enforcement Act." Despite its title, this act would do very little to address illegal immigration, instead focusing on enforcement actions against anyone who is defined as a "dangerous illegal alien." 

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 of a crime that would constitute a dangerous crime if the offense had been committed in this state and the person could have been punished under the laws of this state for commission of a dangerous crime."

The bill even appears to limit law enforcement's ability to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement unless the case involves a "dangerous illegal alien." It says, "To the extent authorized by federal law, law enforcement officials shall be authorized to send, receive, and maintain information relating to the immigration status of dangerous illegal aliens for public safety purposes." [Emphasis added.] 

The bill also says, "Law enforcement officials shall not be prohibited from entering into memorandums of understanding, agreements, and memorandums of agreement with the United States department of justice, DHS, or any other federal law enforcement agency for the purpose of enforcing federal immigration laws as against dangerous illegal aliens…" [Emphasis added.]

Are we to infer from this language that law enforcement is not authorized to "send, receive, and maintain information relating to the immigration status" of illegal aliens in general? Is cooperation with federal law enforcement to enforce federal immigration laws against all illegal aliens effectively prohibited since it is excluded from this list of actions that "shall not be prohibited"?

The bill goes on to criminalize the "unlawful presence of a dangerous illegal alien" and "smuggling a dangerous illegal alien," but in each case, the wording is written to exclude the vast majority of illegal aliens.

In a subsection that deals with turning over convicted criminal aliens to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for deportation, exceptions are made for "temporary confinement under alternative sentencing programs such as work release, inmate labor detail, a scheduled sentence program, or similar programs" and "probation, parole, or supervised release after a judgment of conviction is entered." In other words, the bill anticipates that there will still be convicted criminal aliens on the streets in Idaho — just fewer who are deemed "dangerous." 

While some of the measures in this bill would come into play when handling cases involving illegal aliens who have committed or been convicted of violent crimes, the bill does next to nothing to combat the skyrocketing costs — both fiscal and social — that unchecked illegal immigration imposes on Idaho. 

Enacting this law could do more harm than good by effectively limiting immigration enforcement to violent criminal aliens to the exclusion of all others. Given the economic interests of those who oppose more comprehensive immigration enforcement, perhaps that is the point.

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