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State legislators were already working a bill in the Wyoming house that would ban any jurisdiction from declaring “sanctuary” status or offering protections for undocumented immigrants, although no jurisdiction has ever had such protections.
Then, on Wednesday, a new bill with some similar supporters was introduced that goes even further. House Bill 276 would reuqire sherriff deputies to act as immigration enforcers, after they and each board of county commissioners signed an agreement with the United States Attorney General.
While there hasn’t been enough time for many to react to the recent bill, Teton County electeds have said they aren’t expecting changes to immigration enforcement.
Teton County isn’t actively pursuing sanctuary status, but the potential law, House Bill 133, still targets the county and the Town of Jackson as the region with the state’s highest concentration of immigrants. At least that’s the sentiment shared between ACLU Wyoming’s Antonio Serrano, Jackson-based Representative Mike Yin and Teton County Sheriff Matt Carr.
“There is nobody having conversations about being a sanctuary so that part of the bill is just trying to feed into the ‘culture war’ and send signals that Wyoming is becoming more and more anti-immigrant with every legislative session,” Serrano said.
The “Sanctuary cities, counties and state-prohibition” bill comes on the heels of a tit-for-tat between Republican Congresswoman Harriet Hageman, Wyoming’s lone Representative, and Carr after she accused him of not cooperating with federal immigration agents because he wouldn’t hold arrested undocumented immigrants long enough for transfer to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Carr has since rebutted several times that his policies are and have been within the law. Carr believes that honoring extended holds, or “detainer” requests not signed by a judge, would violate the Fourth Amendment.
Carr previously told KHOL he fears lawsuits from advocacy organizations if he went down that route.
Serrano confirmed those fears.
“With the ACLU, we sue people. It’s what we’re known for,” Serrano said, adding that his civil rights organization is watching Wyoming’s legislative session closely.
While Carr is tracking the anti-sanctuary bill, he said he isn’t worried about it impacting how he approaches his job. That’s because Carr maintains that his department has always followed immigration law even though it’s not typically under the purview of local law enforcement.
“I have no concerns with [House Bill 133],” Carr said. “Teton County already follows all that’s outlined and addressed in that bill so I think it’s certainly not one that we’re going to oppose or have any issues with.”
If the bill passes, and Carr, or any public officials fail to report undocumented immigrants to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, they could face five to 10 years jail time or a $20,000 fine, or both.
Typically, immigration enforcement has only fallen under the purview of ICE. This bill would try to change that and up enforcement on a local level.
Rep. Andrew Byron, a Teton County Republican, called the bill “comical.”
“We’re not a sanctuary county. We’re not a sanctuary city,” Byron said.
He doesn’t think Sheriff Carr’s administration has ever engaged in behavior that would even “lean” toward sanctuary policies either.
Bringing a bill to the house costs taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars, according to Byron. He said he’d rather see the money and effort go toward what he feels are more meaningful bills, such as the property tax exemption extension bill he is sponsoring that would help homeowners in his district.
Though this isn’t the first time that a bill, that would preemptively restrict the state’s immigrant rights, has been introduced, it trends with legislation moving at the federal level.
The federal Justice Department recently ordered investigations into law enforcement that doesn’t enforce or follow President Donald Trump’s wave of changes to immigration policies in the first few days in office.
AsTrump ordered an end to birthright citizenship earlier this week, the U.S. Senate passed the Laken Riley act, which Trump is expected to sign into law.
If signed, the federal bill would require detention for undocumented residents for petty crimes, offenses such as theft or burglary that aren’t currently cause for detention.
As for the rest of the legislative session, which comes to a close in March, Yin has hopes for the child tax credit bill he is sponsoring. Byron spoke enthusiastically about working with his fellow lawmakers.
With an unprecedented 700 bills anticipated in the queue and 40 days to deliberate, the state legislative session is expected to be jam packed. Themes on the docket so far range from restrictions to abortion access, transgender healthcare, education, property taxes and voting rights.
As the House Minority Floor Leader, and one of the few Democrats, Yin said, for him, many of the hardline conservative agenda items are cause for concern.
“I’m worried that there’s a lot of uncertainty on how the Freedom Caucus will govern,” Yin said. “If they move away from a Wyoming where you can actually have opportunity and succeed and raise a family, then I would say we’ve not moved towards a better Wyoming.”
This year’s legislative session will be historic, in part because it’s the first time the Freedom Caucus bloc has achieved majority representation in any state house since its establishment in 2015.