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Two bills prefiled in the Alabama legislature would enhance sentencing of illegal immigrants convicted of crimes, as well as strengthen local law enforcement’s powers to enforce immigration law.
With the Laken Riley Act, sponsored by Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., on track to become one of the first bills signed into law after President Donald Trump’s inauguration, Alabama’s state lawmakers are scheduled to begin debating similar immigration measures upon the 2025 legislative session’s start on Feb. 21.
House Bill 3, sponsored by state Rep. Chip Brown, R-Mobile, would impose harsher sentencing on undocumented immigrants convicted of felonies or certain misdemeanors.
Meanwhile, House Bill 7, sponsored by state Rep. Ernie Yarbrough, R-Trinity, would enhance local law enforcement’s ability to enforce immigration law and transfer custody of detained individuals to federal immigration enforcement.
HB3 would provide longer sentencing for criminal defendants who aren’t legally entitled to reside or work in the U.S. and convicted of a felony offense.
Those convicted of a Class A felony, which ranges in sentencing from 10 years to life in prison, would be ensured a life sentence. Defendants convicted of Class B, C or D felonies would have their sentencing upgraded by one felony class.
Undocumented defendants convicted of a misdemeanor where the victim was a minor, will be sentenced to a Class C felony.
Brown, during appearance on WALB News 10, said, “There’s definitely a fear amongst law enforcement across the United States that if they handed a criminal over to ICE that they wouldn’t actually be punished. They’d be let go.”
Brown said the bill would be “essentially adding some teeth to our laws without actually getting into the border enforcement side of things.”
Brown similarly said in August 2024, his bill sought to correct what he saw as the federal government’s failures in efficiently enforcing immigration law.
“As a state, we are limited in what we can do for them as far as securing our borders. The court has continuously ruled that it is a federal issue. So, I started looking at this and I thought, you know, what better way? The person has already committed one crime by entering our state illegally,” Brown told NBC 15, continuing, “I thought that was a way to dish out punishment. It was a way to try to keep the people of Alabama safe.”
Meanwhile, HB7 would strengthen local law enforcement’s ability to enforce immigration law.
The bill would allow local law enforcement agencies to enter “memorandums of understanding and agreements” with the U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Homeland Security or any other federal agency to assist in enforcing immigration law.
HB7 states these agreements are “for the purpose of enforcing federal immigration and customs laws and the detention, removal, and investigation of illegal aliens and the immigration status of any person in this state.”
The bill reads that any local law enforcement officer acting under such memoranda of understanding “may arrest, with probable cause, any individual suspected of being an illegal alien.”
The bill would also allow state and local law enforcement to transport an individual into the custody of the federal immigration enforcement, provided an officer has “verification that a person is an illegal alien.”
While immigration law is primarily enforced by the federal government, collaborations between federal departments and local law enforcement to enforce immigration in similar ways to those described in HB7.
Notably, the Department of Homeland Security’s 287(g) program allows local departments to enter memorandums of understanding to collaborate in enforcing immigration law, including interviewing individuals regarding their immigration status and transferring noncitizens into ICE custody.
A report from the American Immigration Council accused the program of “widespread racial profiling” and unlawful detentions and arrests.
Alabama Senate President Pro Tempore nominee, Garlan Gudger, R-Cullman, expressed immigration reform’s importance to the Alabama legislature’s upcoming session during a Jan. 10 appearance on Alabama Public Television program, Capitol Journal.
“I think we have to, and I think we have to work with the federal government to make sure that we don’t overstep or duplicate services that they’ve already put in place,” Gudger said.
If passed, both bills will go into effect Oct. 1.
