A Mississippi bill proposing a bounty hunter program that would pay individuals to report and identify undocumented immigrants has died in the legislature. The bill, House Bill 1484, would have offered $1,000 to registered bounty hunters to assist U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in deporting people in the state.
The legislation was authored by Republican State Representative Justin Kean and supported by District Attorney Matthew Barton. It aimed to allow licensed bond agents to locate and detain undocumented immigrants. According to Kean, the program would have involved a vetting process to ensure bounty hunters targeted individuals considered a detriment to national safety.
“I think the initial knee-jerk reaction for a lot of people is they see this, and it says, ‘Illegal Alien Bounty Hunter Program,’ and they just assume that people are going to run rampant and just start scooping up individuals and start hauling them off,” Kean said in a statement. “We want licensed, legal people… specifically targeting those that should not be here.”
The proposal sparked controversy among students at the University of Southern Mississippi, where many students come from immigrant families or are international students. Some expressed relief that the bill did not pass, while others raised concerns about its potential impact on immigrant communities.
“While I’m greatly relieved that such a bill was not passed, I think the true shame is that it was even brought to consideration in the first place,” said USM student Cassidy Spann. “The passing of this bill would have set us back decades. No ordinary citizen should have such extreme legal authority over the fate of these people, regardless of their methods of coming to this country.”
The debate over the bill comes on the heels of a recent incident involving ICE agents at Fernando's Restaurant on Colony Crossing Way in Madison, Mississippi. Officers were called to the restaurant after a sexual assault report and arrested Jose Rigoberta Meija-Cubias, 37, of El Salvador. He was charged with sexual battery and tampering with evidence.
During the investigation, Madison Police Department Lt. Micah Taylor said officers found several individuals working at the restaurant who were suspected of being in the country illegally. Seven people were taken into custody by ICE agents.
The raid at Fernando’s and the failed bill have heightened concerns for many students, particularly those from immigrant communities. Local graduate student Azia McKenzie shared her anxieties about the climate of increased immigration enforcement.
“I am constantly on the edge of being at the wrong place at the wrong time and having my visa revoked because not only am I Black, but I am also an immigrant,” McKenzie said.
As immigration enforcement remains a topic of concern, the impact of proposals like House Bill 1484 continues to resonate among Mississippi’s diverse population.
