MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WIAT) -- One lawmaker wants to give local police the authority to arrest people based on immigration status.
It's called the Laken Riley Act. State Representative Ernie Yarbrough of Trinity pre-filed the bill for the 2025 legislative session. The bill is named for the young woman from Georgia who was abducted and murdered. Police say the suspect, Jose Antonio Ibarra, entered the US illegally.
One lawmaker said the law is necessary, while those against it say it could lead to profiling.
"It creates a lot of fear, and a lack of trust between communities and law enforcement," said Allison Hamilton, executive director of the Alabama Coalition for Immigrant Justice.
State Rep. Ron Bolton (R-Northport) said, "You want to offer protection to the communities, but you also want to treat people fairly." Rep. Bolton said the bill would allow local police to take in a book those who enter the US illegally. He also said this is a tool that law enforcement needs in Alabama.
"They do need this tool of authorization when they encounter a person where; during an investigation, they have reason to believe that, in addition to whatever they're looking at, they're in the country illegally," said Bolton. "Then they can take it and they can act on it on a local level."
But Hamilton believes otherwise. "I mean, the biggest problem with this legislation is it allows local law enforcement to racially profile people and decide if they think someone's undocumented and ask them about their status."
She said the law could evoke fear and a lack of trust in communities.
"People are actually targeted when they're immigrants in Alabama," said Hamilton. "They're targeted for crimes because they know that they won't report to the police."
But Bolton says the federal government may not always have enough people on the ground to enforce these laws. He said the bill is an authorization to help, not profile others.
"That's what I don't want it to become. I don't want officers coming in, deciding they can just stop everybody that looks like they're a foreign national, make them produce identification based on reasonable suspicion," said Bolton. "That's not in the constitution."
State Rep. Allen Treadaway (R- Morris) is chair of the Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee. He said the bill should pass out of their committee early in the 2025 session, which begins in February.