Missouri Republicans Consider Putting $1,000 Bounties On Immigrants

Republicans in the Missouri state legislature have proposed legislation that would put $1,000 bounties on the heads of undocumented immigrants in the state. Under the legislation – if approved – people who provide tips that lead to the deportation of undocumented people would get the payout. This is no different than what took place in Nazi Germany when “Informants” would turn in their friends and neighbors to be rounded up and put in camps. Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins discusses this.

Subscribe to stay connected to our stories

Support us by becoming a member on YouTube

Or Support us on Patreon

Buy Ring of Fire merch

Find us on social media!

*This transcript was generated by a third-party transcription software company, so please excuse any typos.

Republicans in the state of Missouri have put forth legislation that would essentially create a bounty system for anybody who turns in an undocumented immigrant, the bounty would pay out $1,000 for every undocumented person that is caught. So basically what they want to do is they wanna establish a tip line. And if you call in and say, Hey, oh my God, there's this person, it's my neighbor. They're here illegally. Come and get 'em. And if it turns out the tip is, you know, correct, you get a thousand dollars. And this is technically relegated to bounty hunters in the state, right? The people that work with the bail bondsmen, things like that. Uh, they would be the ones going out there and doing this, and most likely getting the rewards, not the people who go out there and call the tip lines. So you don't actually get the money for turning in your neighbors or your friends or maybe even your family members.

No, that's just kind of what they're positioning it as in order to get you to be their own little informants. For those of you not familiar with world history informants are what the people in Nazi Germany were called who were basically instructed and promised, you know, rewards if they turned in their Jewish neighbors or anybody that you know, was believed to be hiding Jewish people. They were called informants. And they did that, and the Nazis rewarded them. And here we are, not even a hundred years later, and Republicans in Missouri are trying to set up the same system that the Nazis used. And I know, maybe it's cliche, maybe it's overplayed to compare these people to Nazis, but unfortunately that is the most recent part of American history that we have to point back to. And the parallels at this point, folks are overwhelming. But here's the kicker.

This legislation does not just create the bounty system for the undocumented people. It actually is even worse than that because it would also give the state the authority to imprison undocumented people for life. Let me read you this, and again, pardon me. This was put forward by Republican State Senator David Gregory. So the bill seeks to create an ICE program at the state level. That's essentially what it does. This is an ICE program inside the state of Missouri. Carter's bill would create new crimes based on immigration status for simply being undocumented. A person could be charged with improper entry and could be punished

By a fine of up to $10,000 and removal to a US port of entry for deportation. Now, if the tip that the state receives, you know, Hey, this person's undocumented, come get 'em. If the tip proves accurate, the person arrested will be charged with trespass by an illegal alien and subject to life in prison without parole. If federal immigration authorities declined to take the person into custody, crossing the border illegally is a misdemeanor, a misdemeanor offense. So in Missouri, if this legislation passes, somebody who committed a misdemeanor of crossing that border, going into the state of Missouri, somebody calls in a tip, Hey, I just saw an undocumented person, right? The police come and arrest that person. If ICE says, Hey, listen, you know, we we're not gonna take them, uh, you know, there's just not high on our priority list. We're not gonna take that person. The state of Missouri under this legislation would say, fair enough, you're going to jail for the rest of your life without the possibility of parole for a misdemeanor. So don't tell me that the comparisons to Nazi Germany are overplayed. Don't tell me that the comparison to the Nazis are a little too much hyperbole. It can happen here, folks and Republicans are trying to make it happen.