A controversial Mississippi law taking effect Wednesday will authorize state law enforcement to compile a detailed registry of immigrants living in the state without legal authorization, raising alarm among civil rights advocates who warn the measure could fuel racial profiling and erode community trust in police.
The law directs the state Department of Public Safety to "use all reasonable lawful investigative means available" to determine the number and identities of all "illegal aliens" in Mississippi. The registry will include names, addresses, country of origin, whether individuals are adults or minors, any criminal history, and the date, location and status of deportation proceedings. The department is directed to share information on those suspected of violating laws with state and local authorities, though the measure neither requires nor prohibits sharing the database with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Civil Rights Groups Sound Alarm
Victoria Francis, deputy director of state and local initiatives for the American Immigration Council, said the new law is "very concerning for a bunch of different reasons," including the potential to redirect law enforcement resources away from protecting the public to investigating people from foreign countries who may be contributing to the economy. "A mandate like this invites profiling and turning entire communities into targets," Francis said.
Lydia Grizzell, policy and advocacy manager for the American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi, warned the law could undermine trust between police and residents. "That increases the likelihood of individuals not reaching out to law enforcement when it's needed – and that is opposite of the mission," Grizzell said.
Efrén Olivares, vice president of litigation and legal strategy at the National Immigration Law Center, highlighted the practical and ethical complications of tracking immigration status over time. "You can be undocumented today, and then have status tomorrow, and then lose it again next month, and then regain it three months from now," Olivares said. "It's practically unworkable, but it's also very worrisome, because it's eerily reminiscent of other countries that have created lists of certain groups of people."
A Small Population, Outsized Impact
Mississippi has one of the country's smallest percentages of immigrants illegally residing in the state — fewer than 28,000 people, amounting to less than 1% of its population — according to a report by the American Immigration Council, which used 2023 Census Bureau data. The law envisions more than a one-time count, prescribing an ongoing effort to keep track of immigrants illegally in the state for the next two years. That could get complicated as people overstay visas, apply for new forms of legal status and move into and out the state.
Sponsor Defends Measure
Republican state Sen. Angela Hill sponsored the measure. She said states have a right and obligation to assist the U.S. government in discouraging illegal immigration, which she said facilitates crimes such as human and drug trafficking. "Seems like commonsense to me," Hill said, adding, "In order to address the problems caused by illegal immigration, we need to understand the magnitude of the problem. Identifying the number and identity of illegal aliens in Mississippi is a concrete way to better understand the problem."
Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies, said the law "makes a lot of sense," adding that it "raises the likelihood that someone's illegal presence is going to come to the attention of federal authorities." Vaughan said state officials will need to come up with "a credible and fairly foolproof way of correctly determining someone's immigration status."
National Context
Nationwide, states already have enacted more than 100 immigration-related laws this year, according to an Associated Press tally. In Republican-led states, those measures generally have aligned with Trump's agenda by requiring local sheriffs to sign cooperative agreements with ICE, reinforcing eligibility restrictions for public benefits and directing election clerks to check voter rolls against the federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements system in an attempt to flag noncitizens. Democratic-led states generally have pushed back against Trump with new laws banning cooperative pacts with ICE, forbidding ICE tactics like wearing masks and restricting immigration enforcement actions in schools, hospitals and other sensitive locations without judicial warrants.
The closest thing to Mississippi's new law appears to be a 2021 executive order by Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. That measure directed the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to "use all lawful investigative means available" to determine the number and identities of all "illegal aliens" who had been transported from the nation's southwest border to Florida. The Florida agency did not respond to an AP request for information about the results of the executive order. Trump's administration, meanwhile, has stepped up enforcement of a decades-old federal law that requires noncitizens to register with the U.S. government.
Why This Matters:
The Mississippi registry law represents a significant expansion of state-level immigration enforcement that could have far-reaching consequences for community safety and civil rights. When immigrant communities fear contact with law enforcement, victims and witnesses of crime become less likely to come forward, making entire neighborhoods less safe. The law's broad investigative mandate raises concerns about racial profiling and the diversion of limited public safety resources away from serious crime prevention. With fewer than 28,000 undocumented immigrants in Mississippi — less than 1% of the state's population — the measure targets a small, vulnerable population that includes workers contributing to the state's economy. The practical challenges of tracking constantly changing immigration statuses, combined with the historical precedent of government registries targeting specific populations, underscore the tension between enforcement objectives and the protection of civil liberties and community trust that effective policing requires.