Missouri bill would put bounty on undoc immigrants..$1000 to persons whose tips lead to capture [View all]

https://missouriindependent.com/2025/01/28/missouri-bill-putting-a-bounty-on-undocumented-immigrants-faces-fierce-resistance/

Missouri bill putting a bounty on undocumented immigrants faces fierce resistance
‘It is inhumane to say people should be hunted like a sport,’ said Aura Velasquez, who has been a U.S. citizen for five years.


A confrontational legislative hearing Monday — with a witness calling a state senator a fascist and lawmakers battling over whether the state should put a bounty on undocumented immigrants — set the tone for this year’s debate on immigration and the state’s role in border security.

The most aggressive approach, in a bill filed by state Sen. David Gregory, would award a $1,000 bounty for tips that result in the arrest of a person present in the United States without authorization. Gregory, a Republican from Chesterfield, wants to authorize bounty hunters, usually employed by bail bond businesses to catch absconders, to track down people identified in tips.

And if the tip proves accurate, the person arrested would be charged with “trespass by an illegal alien,” and subject to life in prison without parole if federal immigration authorities declined to take custody.

“This bill seeks to create an ICE program at the state level,” Gregory told the Senate Transportation, Infrastructure and Public Safety Committee. “That’s essentially all it does. This is an ICE program inside the state of Missouri.”