Wyoming House Committee Shoots Down Immigration Bill

Bloomberg reported that: A Wyoming House committee on Monday rejected a bill that would have cracked down on illegal immigrants and people who employ them in the state. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Pete Illoway, R-Cheyenne, died Monday after no member of the House Minerals, Business and Economic Development Committee moved to vote on it. Several witnesses testified that it would duplicate existing federal law and raise constitutional concerns about police treatment of people suspected of being in the country illegally. Illoway said after the vote he's hopeful that his bill, HB 94, helped to focus attention on the immigration issue and that the Legislature will address it in the future. "What I heard today was finally, is there is a problem here in Wyoming, and it needs to be addressed," Illoway said. "No, this bill is probably not where we wanted to go. But it's a first step because people finally say, 'Oh, there is a problem. Let's go ahead and work on this thing.'" Introducing his bill to the committee, Illoway said he had modeled it after a state immigration law enacted in Arizona that has prompted wide-ranging legal challenges. Illoway's bill would have authorized police to arrest people without a warrant if they committed offenses that made them eligible for deportation. The state needed to act because the federal government hasn't done enough to address illegal immigration, he said.