A Mississippi lawmaker’s bid to recruit local bounty hunters to detain undocumented immigrants died in the Legislature last week, joining a raft of other immigration proposals that failed to make it out of their assigned committees by the Feb. 4 deadline.
Filed Jan. 22 by Mississippi House Rep. Justin Keen, R-Byhalia, Mississippi House Bill 1484 would have awarded certified bounty hunters $1,000 for apprehending people who are in the state without authorization. Residents who shared information leading to the arrest and removal of undocumented migrants would also have earned a $1,000 reward.
The bill’s demise comes after the Mississippi Free Press reported on Jan. 22 that the measure was unlikely to gain traction in the Legislature, citing concerns from legal experts and lawmakers over its implementation and constitutionality. Some described the legislation as a political stunt designed to generate news coverage.
“It’s a complete waste of resources and money,” Larissa Davis, an immigration attorney based in Flowood, Mississippi, said on Jan. 23, adding that the bill contained so many legal pitfalls and logistical flaws that it seemed more like a ploy for attention than a good-faith attempt at legislating.
Mississippi House Rep. Jansen Owen, R-Poplarville, vice chairman of the Judiciary B committee (one of two House committees that Keen’s proposal was referred to), said he viewed the bounty hunter bill as a clear case of state government overreach.
“I’m concerned about the constitutionality of some of those provisions,” he told the Mississippi Free Press on Jan. 24. “The state doesn’t need to get in the business of enforcing federal immigration law.”
Keen has not responded to a request for an interview about his proposal since the Mississippi Free Press first requested one in late January.
Though its time in the Legislature was short-lived, immigrant advocates say Keen’s bill has been a powerful intimidation tool since its filing, sowing anxiety and confusion among Mississippi’s immigrant communities and preventing residents from going about their lives.
“This bill was intended to inflict fear,” Michael Oropeza, executive director of El Pueblo, a legal and humanitarian aid organization serving vulnerable immigrants, told the Mississippi Free Press on Feb. 7. “It was doubtful from the beginning that it would pass, but the intention to scare people … has definitely worked.”
‘They’re Afraid’
The death of H.B. 1484 coincides with a nationwide crackdown on people living in the U.S. without legal status. Since President Donald Trump took office for a second time on Jan. 20, Immigration Customs Enforcement officials have carried out large-scale raids in major cities, and the White House is pressuring the agency to ramp up arrests and deportations.
Separately, an array of proposals targeting undocumented migrants are advancing through state Legislatures, some of which empower local authorities to assist with federal immigration processes.
In Mississippi, Michael Oropeza says Keen’s bounty hunter proposal has contributed to growing misinformation around immigration enforcement at a state and community level. The legislation’s introduction sparked a flurry of false claims on social media, with some online posts incorrectly stating that the bill had already become law. Others mistakenly sounded the alarm over road checkpoints and raids at schools, restaurants and other workplaces.
“I would say 90-95% (of that information) is not true,” Oropeza said, though she acknowledged that ICE has detained some Mississippians who have overstayed their visas since the new administration took power.
Beyond fueling misinformation, Oropeza says measures like H.B. 1484 erode public safety and disrupt daily life in immigrant communities, preventing people from contacting law enforcement or requesting medical care in an emergency. Many children from immigrant families stayed home from school after the bill was introduced, she explained, and some parents remain hesitant about showing up for work due to fears of being detained.
“Even though it didn’t pass, it still leaves the concern of ‘What’s next?’” Oropeza said. “And that translates into people not contacting the police … or not going to doctor’s appointments when they need care because they’re afraid.”
‘A Huge Win for Immigrants’
H.B. 1484 is not the only immigration bill that met an early end in the Legislature this session. In a Feb. 5 social media post, the Mississippi Immigrant Rights Alliance announced that five separate measures targeting undocumented migrants and their allies failed to make it out of committee by the previous day’s deadline. Those include a bill that would have penalized Mississippians for transporting undocumented migrants into the state, as well as a bid to create an “illegal immigration enforcement unit” within a state agency under an agreement with the federal government.
Speaking with the Mississippi Free Press, MIRA representatives expressed relief that none of these measures survived the committee deadline, attributing the victory to sustained advocacy efforts and targeted appeals to lawmakers.
“It’s a huge win for immigrants here in Mississippi,” MIRA organizer Nataly Camacho said on Feb. 5. “I’m very happy that all the time I put into (advocating at) the Capitol … worked out for us in a positive way.”
Camacho credited Mississippi’s Legislative Black Caucus with helping to defeat the legislation, noting that its members played a key role in opposing individual measures during the committee phase.
“The language in these bills … makes undocumented people feel like they’re not actual people, like they don’t get their human rights,” she explained. “Most of the Black legislators we speak to understand this fight and cause because they’ve (faced) similar situations.”
Though H.B. 1484 and other immigration bills did not move forward this year, Camacho and other MIRA members say they will continue to monitor the Legislature for any subsequent actions against undocumented migrants. Bill Chandler, MIRA’s executive director, noted that lawmakers may attempt to fold language or provisions from the dead bills into other legislation in hopes of getting it passed.
“We say the bills are dead, but they’re not dead, dead until after the legislative session,” he told the Mississippi Free Press on Feb. 5. “So we’re watching until it ends to make sure nothing else comes in.”
Camacho said she expects legislative attacks on undocumented migrants to continue in Mississippi so long as Republicans control the Legislature. Nevertheless, she says the death of Keen’s bounty bill and other measures targeting immigrants illustrates the power of advocacy and grassroots organizing in a conservative state.
“Even though we’re in a Republican state, we came to the Capitol, we made our voices heard, and we told these lawmakers how these bills affect us,” she concluded. “We voted these people in, so we should hold them accountable for the things that they are doing.”