En esta noticia
Starting this Wednesday, Mississippi will launch a new law that authorizes the state’s Department of Public Safety to create a registry with information about people living illegally in its territory.
The measure is part of a series of initiatives promoted in different states to strengthen immigration enforcement and drew criticism because the legislation does not clarify whether the collected information can be shared with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
What information will the new immigrant registry collect?
The law states that the Mississippi Department of Public Safety may use “all available legal and reasonable investigative means” to identify people in the state without immigration authorization.
The database may include:
- Name.
- Address.
- Country of origin.
- Whether the person is an adult or a minor.
- Criminal record.
- Date, place, and state of any deportation proceedings.
In addition, the rule provides that that information must be shared with state and local authorities when there are suspicions of a violation of the law.
Can the data reach ICE?
One of the most controversial aspects is that the law neither requires nor prohibits sharing the information with ICE.
As a result, the text leaves open the possibility that federal authorities could access that data if there is a legal mechanism to do so, although the rule does not establish a specific procedure.
That point raised concern among organizations that defend immigrants’ rights, which believe the registry could become an additional tool within the deportation policy promoted by President Donald Trump.
What supporters of the law argue
The author of the initiative, Republican Senator Angela Hill, defended the creation of the registry by arguing that states have a responsibility to work with the federal government to discourage illegal immigration.
According to her, knowing how many people live in Mississippi without immigration authorization will make it possible to better gauge the scale of the phenomenon and address crimes such as human trafficking and drug trafficking.
“The new law seems like common sense to me. To address the problems caused by illegal immigration, we need to understand the magnitude of the problem,” she said.
A growing trend in different states
Mississippi’s rule joins a wave of immigration legislation across the United States.
According to a survey by The Associated Press, states passed more than 100 immigration-related laws during this year.
In states governed by Republicans, the measures align with Donald Trump’s immigration agenda and include greater cooperation agreements with ICE, restrictions on access to public benefits, and additional controls over the voter rolls.
By contrast, states governed by Democrats advanced laws to limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities and restrict certain enforcement actions in schools, hospitals and other spaces considered sensitive.
Questions about how the registry will work
The new law does not provide for a one-time review, but rather creates a system of ongoing updates over the next two years.
Immigration experts warned that maintaining a registry of this kind could be complex, since a person’s immigration status can change over time through the obtaining of visas, protection requests or other legal processes.
They also pointed out that creating lists of people according to their immigration status could encourage profiling practices and increase fear within immigrant communities.