Missouri Republican State Sen.-elect David Gregory is receiving backlash after suggesting a bill in which residents would be paid bounty rewards for turning undocumented immigrants in to law enforcement.
Senate Bill 72, a bill filed by Sen. Gregory, attempts to establish an "Illegal Alien Certified Bounty Hunter Program" by which Missouri residents can register to be bounty hunters and are subsequently rewarded with $1,000 every time they apprehend an undocumented immigrant, reported Fox 2 Now.
"Right now, it sounds like the public is going to not only get finger-pointing but potentially be subject to various situations of discrimination," said Democrat State Sen. Brian Williams of north St. Louis County. "Missourians expect us to find solutions and not point fingers and not point people out of a public lineup."
"I don't know how you do something like this without just stopping every brown person and demanding to see their 'papers,'" civil rights attorney Javad Khazaeli of the Khazaeli/Wyrsch firm, who also called Gregory's bill "unAmerican", said.
"For someone like me who's a civil rights attorney, this is going to be a boon," he continued. "You're going to have a Puerto Rican walking down the street, gets tackled, and people are going to be like, 'We caught one', and they don't know Puerto Ricans are Americans."
Sen. Gregory's campaign heavily focused on securing the border between the US and Mexico, even releasing plans to create a new criminal charge called "trespass by an illegal alien" that undocumented immigrants could be slapped with.
Gregory suggested that the offense be punishable by up to life in prison.
"Let's do this right to protect our people because immigration is good," Gregory said. "Illegal immigration is bad."
"The immigrants and refugees we work with have made our country more welcoming, healthy, and prosperous for all," said a spokeswoman for the International Institute of St. Louis, which assists migrants and refugees in the re-settlement process.
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