North Michigan News

The House Freedom Caucus introduced a five-bill package along with an accompanying resolution on Wednesday aimed at empowering law enforcement to address illegal immigration. State Representatives Neil Friske, Steve Carra, Matt Maddock, and James DeSana announced the legislative measures during a press conference.

The proposed bills would mandate all Michigan law enforcement agencies to comply with U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement detainers. Additionally, they would establish state-level criminal penalties for being in Michigan without legal status, penalize local governments that fail to enforce federal immigration laws, and prohibit local policies that prevent police officers from questioning individuals about their immigration status.

"The federal government has left us no option but to act. There are a historic number of migrants flooding across our international borders while the people in charge of our country would rather cater to radical protestors than enforce immigration law," said Friske, R-Charlevoix. "If the federal government won’t close the border and begin mass deportations, the burden falls on us to do everything we can to protect our communities. The only way people will start using the legal pathways again is if we deport illegal immigrants and make it crystal clear that the legal option is the only option."

Friske highlighted recent arrests of illegal aliens in Michigan for violent crimes including murder, soliciting sex with a minor, and sexual assault as evidence of the broader dangers posed by illegal immigration.

"We are currently incentivizing illegal immigration with taxpayer-funded programs and disincentivizing legal immigration with bureaucratic complications. What we should be doing is embracing legal immigration by eliminating immigration caps and ending mass migration by eliminating the taxpayer-funded incentives to illegal immigration," Carra stated. "Coming here legally starts a person on the road to becoming a law-abiding, productive and responsible individual, whereas illegal immigration often destines an individual to a life of secrecy and servitude."

A recent Gallup poll found that 28 percent of Americans view immigration as the most important problem facing the country, while 55 percent believe that large numbers of immigrants entering illegally pose a critical threat to national interests.