The effort will be renewed next year to let state authorities enforce federal immigration law. The House would not go along with Senator Bill Alter’s bill last year putting federal immigration law into state statutes and authorizing Missouri law enforcement agencies to, therefore, enforce federal immigration law. He promises to re-introduce the bill next year. Alter says he does not think illegal immigrants should be eligible for state-funded medical assistance, education, or welfare-housing benefits. Alter admits his bill sends a pretty cold message to those immigrants. But he says they created their situation, the state didn’t. He says he wants to send a message to illegal immigrants that they should forget about coming to Missouri because they won’t be able to get government benefits. And he thinks employers will be discouraged from hiring illegal immigrants becuase enforcement will become local….not something from a distant federal government.
