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| - Mississippi's House Bill 1484 proposes the creation of a hotline where people can report immigrants in the country illegally. Reports that result in arrest and imprisonment are eligible for a $1,000 reward. Separately, the bill proposes the creation of the "Mississippi Illegal Alien Certified Bounty Hunter Program" through which the state government can license "bounty hunters" to "find and detain illegal aliens."
However, the bill was simply introduced in the Mississippi state House on Jan. 22, 2025. At the time of this writing, it was not law.
In January 2025, claims (archived) circulated online that a Mississippi bill would pay "bounty hunters" $1,000 for each time they helped successfully deport immigrants in the country illegally.
A popular version of the claim on Facebook read:
Mississippi is going to start paying registered bounty hunters $1000 each time they help successfully deport somebody. It cost $40 and it's a 40 hour class to become a registered bounty Hunter in Mississippi. Take a class and pay $40 to hunt down people that don't look like you. We're only on day five.
The claims spread across Facebook (archived) and X (archived). Some claims directly named (archived) a bill introduced in the state's House of Representatives on Jan. 22, titled, "HB1484 Mississippi Illegal Alien Certified Bounty Hunter Program."
The bill proposes creating a new felony called "trespass by an illegal alien" and a government hotline where people can report this crime. The bill offers a $1,000 reward if a report on the hotline leads to the arrest and imprisonment of an "illegal alien." Separately, the bill proposes creating the "Mississippi Illegal Alien Certified Bounty Hunter Program" through which bounty hunters — people who track down criminal defendants who have skipped bail — can be licensed to "find and detain illegal aliens." The reward for a bounty hunter in the program was governed by the Mississippi Code, not fixed at $1,000.
At the time of this writing, the bill was assigned to two committees in the state House — the early stages of the bill possibly becoming a law. Therefore, we rate this claim as a mixture of truth and falsehoods.
A key part of HB1484, and the reason for the inclusion of bounty hunters, is that the bill creates the felony of "trespass by an illegal alien," defined as:
A person commits the offense of trespass by an illegal alien if such person: (a) Is an illegal alien; (b) Knowingly enters this state and remains in this state; and (c) Is physically present in this state at the time a licensed bounty hunter or a peace officer apprehends such person.
A person found guilty of "trespass by an illegal alien" could be sentenced to life in prison without eligibility for probation, parole or release if the bill were to pass.
In order to catch people committing this felony, the bill proposes the development of an information system — a hotline — where anyone can report infractions. Reports that lead to the arrest and imprisonment of an immigrant in the country illegally make the reporter eligible for a $1,000 reward, according to the bill:
If an illegal alien is arrested and imprisoned under this section as a result of a report to the information system, the person who made the report shall be eligible to receive a reward of One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) for providing such report;
The bill text does not specify that the person making the report has to be a bounty hunter, or registered with the new "Mississippi Illegal Alien Certified Bounty Hunter Program." However, in a statement announcing the introduction of the bill, Matthew Barton, district attorney for Mississippi's 23rd Legislative District, said the proposed legislation "would offer a $1,000 reward to registered bounty hunters for each successful deportation they help facilitate," indicating that people would need to be registered with the program to receive a reward, something not specified by the bill itself.
The bill did not specify how bounty hunters' targets would be assigned, or whether the bounty hunters would be free to pursue any person in the state that they suspected could be in the country illegally.
Republican state Rep. Jansen Owen, vice chairman of one of the committees to which the bill has been referred, told the Mississippi Free Press that he was concerned about the constitutionality of the bill. He added that determining whether a person's immigration status was legal was the responsibility of the federal, not state, government. "I think it's very unlikely that it'll come out of committee," Owen told the outlet. We have reached out to Owen to confirm whether this remains his opinion.
Another critique leveled at the bill was that a federal immigration hotline already exists. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement runs a tip line where people in the U.S. can report a number of crimes, including illegal immigration. ICE has "the discretion and statutory authorization to pay for information and/or evidence" submitted via the tip line.
A similar bill in Missouri also proposes offering a $1,000 reward for reporting instances of "trespass by an illegal alien" and forms the "Missouri Illegal Alien Certified Bounty Hunter Program."
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