Blackburn introduces bill to fund state reporting on crimes by undocumented immigrants
WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., introduced the “Migrant Crime Reporting Act” on Feb. 26, legislation that would provide states with grant funding to collect and analyze data on crimes committed by undocumented immigrants. The bill was filed as S.3955.
What the bill would do
Under the bill, states would be eligible for grants if they prepared a report during the previous fiscal year on the number of undocumented immigrants charged or convicted of a criminal offense in that state. To qualify, the report would need to be published on a publicly available, state government-operated website and submitted to the U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security.
The legislation defines a “migrant” for purposes of the report as any individual who cannot provide a U.S.-issued birth certificate, a valid unexpired U.S. passport, a certificate of citizenship, or a certificate of naturalization.
Tennessee state law currently requires the Tennessee District Attorneys General Conference to compile annual data on migrant crimes in the state.
Blackburn says this bill would would incentivize other states to adopt similar reporting practices.
“The Migrant Crime Reporting Act would ensure that states have the tools and resources to collect data on illegal alien crime and report it,” Blackburn said.
View the full bill here.
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