MONTGOMERY — Wednesday's House Judiciary Committee meeting's public comment for House Bill (HB13) offered the first public acrimony for what has been an otherwise sleepy legislative session to date.
The bill, carried by State Rep. Ernie Yarbrough (R-Trinity), drew apparent opposition in attendance clad in red T-shirts, organized by left-wing activists online under the banner of the radical Alabama Coalition for Immigrant Justice (ACIJ).
According to Yarbrough, the legislation, which passed the same committee during last year's session, would allow state-based law enforcement to voluntarily enter into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with federal law enforcement.
"It comes from a similar bill out of Georgia that was passed," Yarbrough said. "We all know the story of Laken Riley. In a nutshell, what this bill does is it provides an optional path for state and local law enforcement agencies to enter into an MOU with the federal government to enforce existing federal immigration laws that are on the books. This is to help with the flooding of criminal elements into our country over the last several years."
One of the hearing's speakers, identified by committee chairman State Rep. Jim Hill (R-Moody) as "Reverend Thomas," said his 18-year-old adopted daughter, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Guatemala and a University of Alabama at Birmingham student, was living in fear of being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
Thomas suggested his daughter's skin color could be "probable cause" for detention.
"[U].S. citizens in our country are not supposed to have to show papers in public," he said. "You know that. You're aware of it. But that's a fear that we live with. Until now, most of her fear has been the possible encounter with ICE officers. But as I read this bill, it potentially makes any, any state law enforcement officer an ICE officer, including those on her campus at UAB."
He continued, "It enables those officers to arrest and detain someone on probable cause of being an undocumented immigrant. It doesn't define what that probable cause looks like and I'm curious if my daughter's skin color is probable cause for her detention, or if she is hanging out with the wrong group of people. Maybe it is the language, although I speak more Spanish than she does."
Thomas' anti-ICE remarks drew a response from State Rep. Matt Simpson (R-Daphne), a House Judiciary Committee member, who apparently took issue with the effort to villainize law enforcement.
"Do you have any indication that the color of someone's skin is listed as probable cause?" Simpson asked.
"I see nothing in the bill as I read it," Thomas replied.
"Do you know the definition of probable cause?" Simpson said.
"I do not know what you mean by negation of probable cause."
"My issue is, and I appreciate you coming up here and thank you for what you've done with your daughter — when you talk about scaring people and you talk about the fear, when you get up here and you say it is probable cause because of the somebody's color of skin, that initiates fear that there is absolutely zero legal basis for. And creates a fear of interactions with law enforcement when there is no probable cause, because you're saying, 'Oh, because of the color of her skin, that's probable cause.' That's just not a correct statement of the law."
"I know we're not supposed to go far into these public testimonies, but when you get up and say these things repercussions, and everybody that's watching this, and everybody has got their cameras out seeing this, and when you just say and we leave it unchecked — for you to say it's probable cause because of the color of her skin, that's just not right."
The bill will be back before the House Judiciary Committee next week for consideration.
Jeff Poor is the editor-in-chief of 1819 News and host of "The Jeff Poor Show," heard Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-noon on Mobile's FM Talk 106.5. To connect or comment, email [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @jeff_poor.
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