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Bill to outlaw harboring illegal immigrants advances Friday, Mar 30, 2007 By Jason Wiest Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - A bill that would make it illegal for a person to knowingly harbor or transport an illegal immigrant cleared a House committee on Thursday. As endorsed by the House Judiciary Committee, House Bill 2779 by Rep. Jon Woods, R-Springdale, would create a Class D felony, punishable by up to six years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000. The bill was later amended on the House floor to lower the offense to a Class A misdemeanor, which would carry punishment of up to a year in jail and a fine of up to $1,000. The bill would not apply to those who employ illegal immigrants. Woods told the House Judiciary Committee he filed the bill because of what he described as a large population of illegal immigrants in Springdale, which he said has caused unrest among the rest of the population. "This is a big issue back home," Woods said. "We have 63,000 people that live in Springdale, and between 7,000 and 9,000 can't speak English, and we've just gotten to a point where people just want action." Holly Dickson, staff attorney for the Arkansas chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, said Woods' bill likely would be unconstitutional if it became law because immigration issues fall exclusively under federal jurisdiction. "This is the purview of the federal government regardless of whether we think they're doing their job well or not," Dickson told the committee. Rep. Will Bond, D-Jacksonville, said determining the legal status of individuals would be impossible because states don't keep such records. "That's the problem that we've had in the city courts that I work for," said Rep. Mark Pate, D-Bald Knob. "We don't know who this person is, whether they're here legally or illegally and we'd never be able to reach that burden." Some committee members also worried about the bill's ramifications for landlords. Anyone could sign an affidavit claiming a landlord was harboring an illegal immigrant, and the property owner would go to jail, members said. "People are going to be deterred from housing or transporting anyone that looks or sounds foreign, whether they're an illegal immigrant or a citizen of the country, and those are the folks that are going to be arrested and sitting in jail waiting for verification," Dickson said. The committee endorsed the measure on a voice vote. It goes to the House. |
