We read Senate Bill 1 and it still hurts immigrants and Kentucky

In an op-ed piece published on Feb. 10, Ronald Vissing wrote that we should all “read the bill”, referring to Senate Bill 1. I agree with Mr. Vissing on this one point, but if you’re going to read the bill, you also need to understand what it says. We know well that “the devil is in the detail.”

Some public agencies are exempted from the impact of Senate Bill 1, but the vast majority are not. The more than 250,000 employees of those agencies cannot be prevented from asking about citizenship and immigration status. When you go to license a business, when you get a marriage license, when you go to pay your taxes, when you transfer the title to a vehicle – you could be asked about citizenship and immigration status. Asking is not required, it is entirely at the discretion of the employee, but it is now permitted. What are the odds that every single one of the 250,000 employees will choose not to ask about status? Would you want to take the chance to interact with these public agencies if you were an immigrant, even one with legal status? Even if you were a US citizen?

If you’re asked, you must now present verified proof of your status. However, you can’t be asked based on the way you look. SB1 specifically states you cannot profile based on race, color, religion, language or national origin. How do you prevent racial profiling?

The way you avoid this problem is to ask everyone — and that means all English-speaking, native-born US citizens — to present verified proof that they are, indeed, US citizens. Have you got your US passport handy? You will need to carry it with you anytime you encounter law enforcement or deal with public agencies, including public universities. A Kentucky driver’s license won’t prove citizenship or status.

ICE does not decide whom to arrest based on questions asked by public agency employees, so being able to ask about status is pointless. This just creates fear and intimidation, especially for the 170,000 of Kentuckians who are foreign-born. We won’t be profiled, but they will, including over a third of them who are US citizens. Best available estimates suggest that one out of 100 Kentuckians might be an undocumented immigrant. In order to identify those folks, the other 99 of us will have to be ready to “show our papers.” If that doesn’t happen, racial profiling will take place.

Having worked for decades with immigrants, we know that undocumented immigrants will be more afraid to report crimes and will become even more victimized. The U visa program – which allows visas for immigrants who are victims of crimes – offers little protection. Over the last four fiscal years, 71,053 U visa petitions have been approved and 255,495 are pending. During this period, applicants had only a 21 percent chance of being approved. And the U visa only provides protection for certain crimes - not all crimes. That’s not much encouragement for immigrants to report crimes.

Contrary to what Mr. Vissing wrote, SB1 does allow local law enforcement to stop people for no reason and demand to see their papers. It specifically prohibits any local law enforcement agency or local government from preventing “law enforcement officials or employees of a law enforcement agency from asking a person about his or her citizenship or immigration status.” Anytime. Anywhere.

Immigration law is extraordinarily complex. To their credit, legislators who crafted this bill went through many revisions to refine the language of the bill. Unfortunately, the language of the version now being proposed is still problematic and detrimental to many in Kentucky. It does not “preserve the status quo,” it gives considerable new powers to many public agency employees and creates a high risk of racial profiling. We’ve read the bill.

Marilyn Daniel is a retired immigration attorney, having volunteered with the Maxwell Street Legal Clinic for the last 20 years. Dominique Olbert is a board member of ACLU-KY and Neighbors Immigration Clinic.

This story was originally published February 14, 2020 at 10:42 AM.