Bills propose criminalizing ‘improper entry,’ bounty program
By Sheila Harris sheilaharrisads@gmail.com
Proposed Missouri Senate Bills 58 and 72 are striking fear in the hearts of many of Monett’s estimated 2,500 Hispanic residents, a number which makes up about 25 percent of the city’s population.
SB 58, sponsored by State Sen. Jill Carter, R-Granby, proposes to criminalize “improper entry” into Missouri by people who are undocumented. If apprehended, such trespassers would be subject to a minimum $10,000 fine and deportation.
SB 72, sponsored by State Sen. David Gregory, R-St. Louis County, proposes the initiation of a bounty program for the purpose of tracking down undocumented residents and paying citizen tipsters $1,000 for successful arrests. Undocumented residents apprehended would then be subject to life imprisonment if the U.S. government opted not to deport them.
Carter said she proposed SB 58 after seeing first-hand what she calls a “humanitarian crisis” at the Mexico border in Texas.
Monett resident Elsa Porras and former resident Yesi Corrales also use the phrase “humanitarian crisis,” but for different reasons.
They believe the proposed legislation itself presents the crisis.
“It’s inhumane,” said Porras, who said she opted not to become involved in politics prior to the recent election but now said she can’t turn away from what is unfolding in the Hispanic community around her.
“The threatened hunting of humans for a reward isn’t a political issue — it’s a humanitarian issue,” she said. “People hunt deer and other animals for sport, but this legislation is talking about hunting humans.”
Carter said she believes Gregory’s proposed SB 72 is extreme, and she feels as though it’s attracting media hype and distracting residents from the real issue.
“We do have a problem at the Mexican border,” she said. “The Mexican cartel are controlling it, even terrorizing U.S. citizens and threatening US law enforcement personnel.”
Carter sees her proposed bill as a way to join several other states in teaming with the federal government to control drug and human trafficking by the cartel.
“We have cartel members accused of violent crimes in prison here in Jasper County,” she said.
Porras and Corrales believe such sweeping laws are going to create a problem, not only for undocumented residents, but for legal citizens as well.
Corrales, a former Monett resident, school board member and community liaison, was 10 years old when her mother to attempt an illicit border crossing into Texas with her four children some 30 years ago.
“She didn’t feel like she had a choice, really,” Corrales said. “My dad was a seasonal migrant worker in the U.S. at the time, but the money he sent home was barely enough for us to subsist on. Feeding four children was a day-to-day challenge, and there was no hope that conditions would ever improve for us. She heard about other women and children making the crossing and decided to try it.”
Although Corrales’ mother was successful in her quest to provide better lives for her children, she later told Corrales that if she had known, up front, the risks involved with the crossing, she would never have attempted it.
Corrales has vivid memories of the fear she experienced crossing the Rio Grande in pitch darkness with her mother and siblings, accompanied by a “coyote,” a guide whose services cost the family “mucho dinero,” she said, money scraped together by friends and relatives.
That very real fear, however, paled in comparison to the fear Corrales experienced when she began attending school in the U.S.
“By then, I was old enough to know that my mother could be taken away from [my brothers and sister and me] because she was undocumented,” Corrales said. “So, leaving for school every day was frightening, because I didn’t know if my mom would be there when I got home. I remember the relief I felt every day when I got home and she was still there.”
The poultry processing industry drew Mexican and other Hispanic immigrants to the Monett area, beginning primarily in the early 1990s after George’s Processing opened a new facility in Butterfield.
Since then, many, if not most, Hispanic residents have ventured from poultry processing into every sector of the southwest Missouri workforce.
Porras, Monett Area Chamber of Commerce board member and owner/broker of Dream Casa Real Estate in Monett, said all of the positions Hispanics fill, whether they are undocumented residents or not, benefit the local, state and federal economy.
“I hear it said that Hispanics are taking jobs from Caucasian citizens; but the truth is, Hispanics are willing to do jobs that a lot of Caucasians don’t want,” Porras said. “Undocumented U.S. workers pay taxes to the IRS, just like everyone else, but they will never be able to take advantage of benefits like Social Security, so they’re giving to the U.S. treasury, not taking away.”
Porras became a naturalized U.S. citizen when she was 12 years old, after her family moved to rural Verona and her father attained his citizenship.
The 7th of 10 children, Porras, who is now 37 years old, said her parents worked hard after their California border crossing into the U.S. some 30 years ago.
“My dad made it a point to never accept welfare or food stamps, because when he was able to apply for citizenship, he wanted to be able to prove to the Department of Homeland Security that he was able to support his 10 children without help from the government,” Porras said.
In spite of their current professional positions in the community, and although they are naturalized citizens and speak fluent English with no trace of an accent, both Porras and Corrales are experiencing traces of the fear they remember from their childhoods.
Why? Because their skin will always be brown.
“I’m afraid that this proposed legislation will lead to racial profiling,” Yesi Corrales said. “People will start getting pulled over or questioned just because they are of color or because they speak with an accent.”
Porras wonders whether she should start keeping her proof of citizenship on her person at all times.
Corrales, who became known as an advocate for the Hispanic community during her time in Monett, said she’s receiving multiple texts, calls and messages from Hispanic residents who are worried. Specifically, she’s aware of a situation where an undocumented family is fearful because they live next door to documented Hispanic residents, who, they say, do not like them.
“What will happen?” Corrales asked. “This type of legislation will open the door for pitting neighbors against neighbors, and give permission to racists to act on their hatred.”
“Living in the United States has always seemed like the American Dream,” Porras said. “But what kind of dream will this become?”
Corrales believes that legislators should be working to build bridges between communities, not constructing walls.
A hearing for proposed Senate Bills 58 and 72 brought an overflow crowd to the Missouri Senate hearing room on Jan. 27, where the majority of attendees spoke in opposition to the proposed legislation.
“I had to watch my brother die after a car accident because first responders didn’t want to call an ambulance until they’d called ICE,” one witness said.
A proponent of the legislation, Lewis County Sheriff David Parrish, said it would give law enforcement another tool in the toolbox; however, newly-elected Newton County Sheriff Matt Stewart said his deputies won’t be out hunting for the undocumented.
Although Carter’s primary concern is focused on stopping Hispanic criminals, the results of a study on crime associated with illegal immigration that was conducted by an interim committee of the Missouri House last summer, were inconclusive.
“Nobody promoting these bills presented any numbers showing that undocumented residents committed more crimes than legal residents,” said one opponent of the proposed legislation at Monday’s hearing.
“[Hispanics] come from very humble upbringings,” Porras said. “And, we have tried our best to bring our best to the communities where we live.”
Porras is not against the deportation of violent criminals who have been apprehended; however, she’s not sure if justice is really served by returning them to their countries of origin and setting them free without facing repercussions for their crimes.
“Shouldn’t they be punished for their crimes in the country where they committed them?” She asked.
Porras and Corrales both said the majority of Hispanic immigrants, undocumented or not, are not criminals.
Senate Bills 58 and 72, however, propose to make them so. Carter admits there is room for improvement with the language of the proposed bills, hers included.
“I just want to use this as a placeholder, a way to start a hard, but needed, conversation in the community,” she said.
As for Corrales, she wants to encourage the broader community to have empathy and compassion for the area’s Hispanic residents.
“Many of them fear their world is being upended,” she said. “Remember, these are your neighbors: real people, with real feelings.”
For individuals concerned about their rights, whether in legal status or not, more information and guidance may be found at https://immigrantjustice.org.
SIDEBAR:
According to “Know Your Rights,” published by the National Immigrant Justice Center:
• An individual pulled over by ICE who is a U.S. citizen or has lawful immigration status should present a passport, legal permanent resident card, work permit, or other documentation of status.
• Individuals over the age of 18 should carry papers with them at all times.
• If a person is undocumented: They have the right to remain silent and do not have to discuss immigration or citizenship status with the police, immigration agents or other officials. Anything said to an officer can later be used in immigration court.
• If an officer knocks on your door: Do not open the door. Teach your children not to open the door. Officers must have a warrant signed by a judge to enter your home. ICE “warrants” are not signed by judges; they are ICE forms signed by ICE officers and they do not grant authority to enter a home without consent of the occupant(s).
More information can be found at https://immigrantjustice.org/know-your-rights/ice-encounter.
