In what some activists and advocates call alarming and extreme, the possibility of a record number of forced removal and expulsion of undocumented immigrants has created a climate of anxiety, fear, and concern among citizens and non-citizens as to how it could be carried out.
According to the Center for Migration Studies, the U.S. undocumented population increased to 11.7 million in July 2023. While the majority of undocumented immigrants hail from Central and South America, many also come from India, China and other countries.
And while a majority of Americans want to see illegal immigration addressed, the manner and method is a key issue.
With some state legislatures promising to create laws and policies of their own, states such as Missouri have proposed bills to enhance the incoming presidential administration’s vow to deport millions of undocumented immigrants from across the country.
But also to charge them with crimes for violating the laws of their states. There are even incentives being proposed to “reward” people for reporting suspected illegal immigrants.
According to a Bill Summary in the Missouri State legislature: “SB 72 – This act creates the offense of trespass by an illegal alien which provides that a person shall be guilty of such offense if the person is an illegal alien who knowingly enters this state and remains here and is physically present in the state at the time a licensed bounty hunter or peace officer apprehends the person.
Such an offense shall be a felony for a term of imprisonment without eligibility for probation or parole with certain exceptions as provided in the act,” it states in part.
The bill also states, “Additionally, the Department of Public Safety shall develop an information system for people to report violations of this act which shall include a toll-free telephone hotline, e-mail, and online reporting portal. Any person who makes a report in which an illegal alien is arrested shall receive a reward of $1,000.
“The Department of Public Safety shall develop the ‘Missouri Illegal Alien Certified Bounty Hunter Program’ which shall certify applicants to be bounty hunters for the purpose of finding and detaining illegal aliens in this state. Any person with a license as a bail bond agent, general bail bond agent, or surety recovery agent may apply to the program as provided in the act.
“Finally, this act creates the ‘Missouri Illegal Alien Certified Bounty Hunter Program Fund’ which shall consist of money appropriated by the General Assembly.”
The first day of the state’s 2025 legislative session begins January 8.
Expressing alarm over Missouri Senate Bill 72, Ashley DeAzevedo, president of American Families United (AFU), a non-partisan 501(c)(4) non-profit organization established in 2006 to advance solutions to Congress and to propose legislation affecting U.S. citizens married to foreign nationals, said in a media release shared with The Final Call that:
“What we’re seeing in Missouri is an alarming sign of what’s to come in this race to the bottom of extreme anti-immigration policies. A bounty system, where Missourians would be empowered to report neighbors, colleagues, and classmates they suspect of being non-citizens will create absolute chaos and division,” DeAzevedo’s statement read.
“The harm this would cause to mixed-status families and their communities cannot be understated,” she noted. “There are 20,000 Missourians in mixed-status families, with the average immigrant spouse having lived in the United States for 18 years.
According to DeAzevedo, “If Senate Bill 72 were to pass, under existing federal immigration laws, Missourians could receive $1,000 payouts to separate U.S. citizens from their non-citizen, spouses and children. This is wrong and must be immediately rejected.”
Republican Senator-elect David Gregory, of the 15 District which covers parts of southwest St. Louis County, sponsored the bill. He campaigned heavily on issues that included illegal immigration.
He visited the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona. “Let’s do this right to protect our people because immigration is good,” Gregory said in a campaign video. “Illegal immigration is bad,” he said.
With promises for radical change after the January inauguration in which Mr. Donald Trump will once again be president and the submission of initiatives regarding immigration matters from states such as Florida, Oklahoma, and Texas, people are divided, emotions are high, and grievances are real.
Regarding restrictions to educational benefits, “DREAMers,” or the DREAM Act (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act) and DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), where non-citizen minors may have come to the United States as young children.
Or even as babies, and sometimes with English as their only language as adults, states such as Florida are seeking to repeal if not phase out laws allowing DREAMers and persons under DACA to receive in-state tuition though they may have lived in the state since childhood.
In the southwest U.S., the targeting of undocumented children, and by extension undocumented families, is creating additional anxiety. According to a December 18, 2024, article in USA Today’s education section:
“Oklahoma schools could soon be required to report the number of undocumented students in its district after the Oklahoma State Department of Education quietly published a series of proposed changes to the agency’s administrative rules on its website.”
The article also said the proposal would require students to provide proof of citizenship upon enrollment and that it is currently illegal to record a student’s citizenship or legal immigration status according to the 1982 Plyler vs. Doe U.S. Supreme Court decision. The issue, particularly in border states, is volatile.
In a letter from Commissioner Dawn Buckingham, M.D., of the Texas General Land Office to President-Elect Donald Trump, dated November 19, she “offered 1,402 acres of land in Starr County, Texas, to be used to construct deportation facilities.”
“The Texas General Land Office (GLO) currently owns a 1,402-acre tract roughly 35 miles west of McAllen, Texas,” Commissioner Buckingham wrote. “My office is fully prepared to enter into an agreement with the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or the United States Border Patrol to allow a facility to be built for the processing, detention, and coordination of the largest deportation of violent criminals in the nation’s history.”
In the wake of the historic Million Man March on Washington, D.C., called for by the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan on October 16, 1995, a draft of “The National Agenda: Public Policy Issues, Analyses, and Programmatic plan of Action 2000 – 2008”
Was developed after the National Political Convention held a year later in St. Louis, Missouri. The agenda was released during the Million Family March in Washington, held five years later on October 16, 2000.
Offering a multiplicity of reasonable and workable solutions within America’s political system, page 43 covered immigration and issues specific to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and those of goodwill concerned with the humanity of others.
“A legislative or administrative solution should be found for the thousands (at that time) immigrants who have been in the United States on or before January 1, 1982,” the chapter of the agenda titled, “Immigration,” stated in part.
Some of the issues addressed in the National Agenda included concerns associated with the Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act (NACARA) passed in 1997 where immigration and relief applied to some Central American nationals and their dependents who had applied for asylum in the United States but did not include others from the region.
Minister Farrakhan has also spoken on the challenges and plight undocumented and documented immigrants face in the United States. He has also explained that anyone who is not White is not viewed as “American.”
In a message delivered on February 26, 2017, as part two of his Saviours’ Day address titled, “Have No Fear For The Future’: The Future is Ours!” Minister Farrakhan stated, “Do you know in the early dictionaries, the definition of an ‘American’ is one of the six European nations that made up the 13 colonies? Those are the real Americans; it said no aboriginal people included—none.”
He continued, “Here (with me) is my Korean family; I have some Chinese family here, some Mexican family: You think you’re an American? Are they treating you like an American? You’ve got to wake up. The moment (President Donald) Trump said what he said, what did they do?
They showed up at the home of a Mexican woman who had been reporting (her routine immigration check-in) every year. She was undocumented, but she has lived here over 20 years, had children here, but what did they do? They snatched her up like she was some common criminal, and sent her away.”
Student Minister Donald Muhammad, of Mosque No. 28, in St. Louis under the leadership of Minister Farrakhan, told The Final Call that it is important for Black and Latino communities to have a positive relationship with each other and that they cannot afford to allow themselves to be played against one another. The unity among members of the Original family is what the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad and Minister Farrakhan teach.
Student Min. Donald Muhammad stated he was not surprised about the proposed Missouri legislation.
“I’m not surprised. If Blacks and Latinos came together to organize, we could wield a lot of power, not just in Missouri, but in the country as a whole, and there are people who don’t want that now, or later on down the line. If the undocumented have children, they will have citizenship by birthright under the 14th Amendment as it stands in the Constitution,” he said.
“If you look at the birthrates of the Black and Latino communities and the decline of White birthrates, that is cause for alarm by some who are in power and feel threatened by that,” the student minister said, reiterating what Minister Farrakhan has taught about Whites fearing that they will no longer be the majority in America as non-White birthrates increase.
“It’s just like the stories of Moses and the Children of Israel in Egypt in both the Bible and Holy Qur’an where Pharaoh feared their multiplying, their joining on to his enemies and coming against them. It’s in the Bible, in Exodus Chapter 1 verse 10,” Student Min. Donald Muhammad said, referring to a scripture that Minister Farrakhan has pointed to over the years.
Final Call staff contributed to this report. —William P. Muhammad, Contributing Writer