Missouri could consider plan to offer bounty for reporting illegal immigrants

A new bill proposed to the Missouri Senate would pay residents a $1,000 bounty for reporting illegal immigrants who entered the US. State-level Republican Senator-elect David Gregory proposed Senate Bill 72, which will create an online portal for people to make reports to the State Highway Patrol and earn the payment. 

The legislation would also create the “Missouri Illegal Alien Certified Bounty Hunter Program,” which would certify anyone licensed as a bail bond agent to be a bounty hunter to search for and detain illegal immigrants. 

Illegal immigrants found in Missouri without proper documents could be found guilty of “trespass by an illegal alien,” and therefore couldn’t receive any public benefit, vote in any election, get a permit or license to drive, or ever become a legal resident of the state. 

The proposals are part of seven bills that have been introduced so far in the state legislature that focus on immigration. Other Republican proposals would require businesses to make sure all employees are documented, fine cities $25,000 per day for enacting sanctuary policies, and create a new immigration offense with penalties including jail time and removal, according to the St. Louis Post Dispatch. 

Earlier this year, Missouri Republican Gov. Mike Parson also authorized $2.2 million to deploy Highway Patrol and National Guardsmen to Texas to assist in the state’s “Operation Lonestar” efforts to secure the border. 

President-elect Donald Trump campaigned on enacting mass deportations of the approximately 11 million illegal immigrants believed to be in the US as soon as he takes office.