JACKSON, Miss.—If ICE agents come to Mississippi to enforce federal immigration laws, Mississippi public offices, cities and colleges could be forced to assist the federal agency under a bill the Mississippi House passed on Feb. 12.
House Bill 538 amends an existing law that bans sanctuary cities in the state by adding requirements for every Mississippi state agency, department, municipality, county, institution of higher learning and law enforcement agency to comply with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The bill says they would have to provide “information on all aliens within the state when requested by federal and other state and local government agencies, departments and law enforcement officials.”
The legislation says the state agencies would have to obey “immigration detainer requests,” which is when ICE asks for local jails to hold people for an extra 48 hours after the initial detention period. This includes requiring local law enforcement to detain immigrants at local jails.
The bill also gives the Mississippi attorney general the authority to investigate and prosecute any entity that does not comply with the provisions of H.B. 538.
Mississippi House Judiciary A Chairman Rep. Joey Hood, R-Ackerman, introduced the legislation on the House floor on Feb. 12 and answered questions from several of his colleagues for over an hour.
“Aren’t we already cooperating with the federal government with respect to law enforcement actions?” Rep. Christopher Bell, D-Jackson, asked the chairman on the House floor on Feb. 12.
“Gentleman, I don’t know,” Hood replied. “I can’t answer that to effect. All I know is we’re going to make that the policy of the state that we don’t have any individuals that do not, any law enforcement agencies or any other municipalities, they were in the previous legislation, so that’s what we’re doing. We’re adding that, that they will cooperate in their duties.”
“You just said to me that you don’t know of any entity or community that has not participated in helping the federal government (and) federal law enforcement agencies with respect to immigration. Is that what you just said?” the Democratic lawmaker replied.
“I didn’t say that. I don’t have firsthand knowledge, gentleman—that’d be speculation, maybe even conjecture on my part if we did that,” the chairman answered, adding that all the bill does is require cooperation.
For the most part, the federal government has the power to enforce immigration. The U.S. Supreme Court has held that federal laws preempt state laws on immigration, including the imposition of state-level penalties that run parallel with federal penalties.
Rep. Jeffrey Hulum, D-Gulfport, asked whether the State, local municipalities and ICE have an “interagency agreement.”
“I do not know that question, gentleman,” Hood said. “I’m just here to explain what this bill does.”
The federal 287(g) program already allows local and state law enforcement to work under the supervision of ICE. Another bill—Mississippi Senate Bill 2114—could codify the Department of Public Safety’s participation in the initiative.
ICE agents could train employees at the Mississippi state auditor’s office to “execute functions of immigration enforcement within the state if needed” as part of an agreement made between the two agencies in September 2025, State Auditor Shad White announced.
‘Enforcement of Federal Immigration Laws’
Several Democratic representatives had concerns about the language in the legislation. Line 25 of H.B. 538 says that state agencies and employees may not interfere with or disrupt “the enforcement of federal immigration laws.”
“So, is it OK with you if an ICE enforcement officer is violating the law and our law enforcement officer observes that and says, ‘Look, you’re going to have to stop’? According to your bill, because you don’t say that it has to be lawful enforcement, you just say ‘enforcement,’ and we clearly observe them not following their own rules and regulations,” Mississippi House Minority Leader Rep. Robert Johnson, D-Natchez, said of ICE while speaking on the House floor.
“And so, what I’m asking you, simply—and at some point somebody may have an amendment that there should be something in here that says that it has to be a lawful enforcement of the federal immigration laws. Would you be opposed to that?” he asked Hood.
“Gentleman, the bill that we have in front of us is this, OK?” the chairman responded.
“Look, please, please,” Johnson said.
“I know. I know,” Hood retorted.
“I just recited the line and page to you. I’m just talking about what the bill says,” Johnson pressed. “And there’s nothing in there that says that it has to be a lawful carrying out of the federal enforcement laws, and we’ve watched them violate their own laws. And I’m just saying there should be some protection for our own local law enforcement who understand the law … and say, ‘Hey guys, you all are wrong, so you need to stop. I don’t want them to be penalized for saying that.”
“Gentleman, federal law is going to be what immigration is here to enforce,” Hood replied.
“No, they don’t. They clearly have shown that they will not follow the federal law,” Johnson said.
“Gentleman,” Hood said, “we’re going to agree to disagree on certain aspects, and it would be speculation because I’m not anywhere—”
“You answered my question,” Johnson interjected.
Hood attempted to speak.
“A non-answer is an answer,” Johnson said.
“I get to answer—thank you, gentleman,” Hood said.
Rep. Omeria Scott, D-Laurel, also said she had concerns with the wording of the language in the legislation, particularly on line 46, which says Mississippi agencies must provide information “on all aliens within the state when requested by federal and other state local government agencies, departments and law enforcement officials.”
“My boy, Donald John Trump, campaigned and said that he was going to get the illegals out of here: the murderers, the robbers, the rapists—you know, ‘We’re going to get them out of here,’” she said to Hood on the House floor on Feb. 12. “So, can you tell me, what does line 46 do? What does ‘on all aliens’ mean?”
She then suggested that the House should amend the legislation to say “illegal aliens” instead of “all aliens.”
“I think the overwhelming intent of this legislation is to have cooperation,” Hood responded, adding that he was open to amending and improving the bill in the future.
‘Protect’ State Employees
After the bill’s debate concluded, Rep. Bryant Clark, D-Pickens, presented an amendment to add “unlawfully” before “interferes” on line 25, “lawful” before “enforcement” on line 25 and “illegal” before “aliens” on line 46. Scott coauthored the amendment.
“It simply, basically says that no state agency, no law enforcement official, nobody that works for a government entity has to break the law. They do not have to assist anybody that’s trying to break the law,” Clark said from the podium on the House floor on Feb. 12.
“ … Regardless of party affiliation, regardless of race, 18 months ago up until now, everyone in this House would have to admit that some things have happened that you would’ve never dreamed in your entire life would happen,” he continued. “Some say government has overreached, and what we’re simply trying to do, ladies and gentlemen, is trying to protect the men and women who work for our state in these very agencies.”
He gave a hypothetical example of ICE coming to the University of Mississippi Medical Center, which is a state agency, and asking for patients’ medical records. UMMC would then say ICE cannot access them due to HIPAA, but if the center refuses to turn over medical records, they would be in violation of this bill if it becomes law.
“We shouldn’t do that to our state employees,” the Democrat said.
“So, ladies and gentlemen, regardless of where you stand on this position of immigration, we all agree that certain records, certain information, that we entrust our government agencies to be the protectors of, should not be turned over illegally,” Bryant said. “If ICE needs those records, they have recourse now—it’s called going to the judicial system, filing for subpoenas and they can get them.”
In response, Hood said that while he believed Clark had “good intentions” for the amendment, the chairman opposed it because no one came up to him with questions or concerns during the week that the bill had been on the House’s calendar, nor had anyone presented him with an amendment prior to the floor debate.
Hood said he would look into making any other changes to the bill as it moves through the legislative process and that he would be willing to rectify anything on the bill that needs to be fixed. The chairman emphasized that federal law would “trump” state law and any language in the bill.
Before he walked away from the podium, he asked the chamber to vote no on the amendment.
Clark came back to the podium, which he called “the truth box,” to close on the amendment.
“The only thing we’re doing is carrying out what the gentleman said the intent of this legislation is. State agencies would still have to be required to do what? Work with ICE. Our sheriff departments will still have to work with ICE, but if (it’s) something they deem to be illegal and they have legal counsel, then they do not have to conform. If they see a rogue ICE agent doing something, they do not have to violate the oath that they took and assist that ICE agent.
The Clark and Scott amendment failed by a 43-71 vote. The House passed H.B. 538 by a 77-40 vote on Feb. 12. It heads to the Senate Judiciary B Committee for consideration. Reps. Lee Yancey, R-Brandon, Noah Sanford, R-Collins, and Rodney Hall, R-Madison, cosponsored the legislation.
The State could imprison any undocumented immigrants who enter the state by boat or plane from a foreign country under a bill the Senate passed on Feb. 10. That legislation is now in the hands of the House Judiciary A Committee—the same committee that H.B. 538 originated in that Hood chairs.
Immigration Attorney Responds to Bill
Brandon Riches, an immigration attorney serving Mississippi and Alabama, said bills like H.B. 538 and Senate Bill 2114 lack practicality in real-life situations because they are not specific enough about who is covered under the legislation, especially since the law lacks a true definition of who is an “illegal” person in the U.S.
“All of the bills that I’ve looked at that come through Mississippi lack a lot of clarification, right? Who is covered under this, right? When we say someone is ‘illegal,’ that has no meaning in the law,” he told the Mississippi Free Press on Feb. 23. “That’s just a political term that politicians use. There’s people who entered illegally and maybe they’ve obtained lawful status since.”
Riches said local and state law enforcement “generally do cooperate” with the federal government, including ICE agents enforcing immigration laws, so the legislation is strengthening a relationship that is already strong.
H.B. 538 presents an issue where local and state entities could be required to help out ICE without gaining any extra funding for their additional job requirements, he added. It also puts those local and state agencies at risk of being the subjects of lawsuits if they violate constitutional rights by following ICE’s orders, the attorney said.
“You can say all these things that you want people to, but there’s just no money to back it up,” Riches said. “And so, that’s always been kind of the practical issue with giving more work to local law enforcement.”