The state Senate passed a bill mandating that law enforcement must immediately transfer any person identified as an undocumented immigrant to federal authorities for deportation.
Senators voted 32-2 in favor of the bill, which now goes to the House of Delegates for consideration.
“This bill sends signal that West Virginia is a state of law and order and not chaos and lawlessness,” said Senate Judiciary Chairman Tom Willis, R-Berkeley.
This comes during a series of federal court cases in West Virginia focusing on whether arrests and detentions have allowed appropriate due process rights for immigrants.
Debate on the Senate floor focused on how local officers would be aware of immigration status, and if they would be held responsible under the bill for acting anyway.
Senate Bill 615 says that when “an individual has been determined to be in the United States illegally by a law-enforcement agency in this state” then “the law-enforcement agency shall notify and cooperate with the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement.”
The legislation has a national resonance because of the immigration sweeps that are taking place across the nation. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency recently said more than 600 undocumented immigrants were arrested during a two-week surge in West Virginia last month.
The legislation is also advancing in the context of questions that have arisen in federal courtrooms in West Virginia over due process. In those cases that have come under scrutiny, some non-citizens have maintained that they have consistently attended immigration proceedings and should not be summarily deported following arrest.
Federal judges in West Virginia have thrown out several cases involving immigrants just in the past week, saying the people who were arrested were entitled to due process within the immigration system itself.
One recent case involved the due process rights of Danny Briceno-Solano, a Venezuelan citizen under Temporary Protected Status. He participated in removal hearings that were ultimately dismissed on Jan. 7. Just four days later, Jan. 11, he was one of the many people arrested and detained by ICE officers while traveling on Interstate 77.
Senator Joey Garcia, D-Marion, took note of those cases while arguing against the bill. Garcia was one of the two votes against the legislation, along with Senate Minority Leader Mike Woelfel, D-Cabell.
When asked at some of these hearings, what was the probable cause, what was the reason for their arrest, those immigration officials came forward and they did not have the evidence. And this is happening over and over again,” Garcia said.
“What do we do to help with this situation? We are going to muck it up even more, providing language that is passive, that any law enforcement officer should have to worry about if they do not notify, if they do not cooperate. ‘When it has been determined.’ What does that mean?”
Senator Patricia Rucker, R-Jefferson, argued in favor of the bill. Rucker said her perspective in the West Virginia Senate is unique because she was born in Caracas, Venezuela.
“I came here legally, following the laws, and I can tell you that in all the years I’ve been here, even when my maiden name was Puertas and clearly not sounding like a typical American last name, I never once had any problems with law enforcement or questions that made me feel uncomfortable,” she said.
“What this legislation is trying to do is actually protect Americans and protect our law enforcement and our all of our county officials and everybody else by making it clear that in the state of West Virginia, you are going to support legal immigration and the law enforcement officers who are charged to essentially enforce the law.”
Talking with reporters after the Senate floor session, Willis expressed confidence that local law enforcement officers will be able to comply with the responsibilities in the bill.
He described the intent as trying to prevent the possibility of communities actively working in opposition to federal immigration law.
“This is just saying that moving forward, there’s no question — West Virginia is going to be a state of law and order, safety and security; we’re going to cooperate with federal law enforcement on immigration policies. We’re not going to have sanctuary cities or sanctuary agencies. That’s the law of the land in West Virginia,” Willis said.
The judiciary chairman described the bill as irrelevant to the immigration proceedings taking place in federal courtrooms in West Virginia.
“It just states that as a matter of policy, local law enforcement or local municipalities can’t contradict federal immigration law,” Willis said.
In real-life situations, Willis said, this could work when local law enforcement is investigating someone for another reason and then finds reason to believe citizenship should be checked with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“Practically speaking, local law enforcement can’t pull someone over for a suspected immigration violation,” Willis said.
They have to have probable cause for another criminal violation. And then during the process of that investigation, they may determine there’s a suspected immigration violation as well, and that’s when they call in federal authorities at that point to ascertain what is the immigration status of that individual.”