BOISE, ID – An Idaho House committee narrowly advanced a bill on Monday to require all law enforcement to record and verify the immigration status and nationality of any arrested individual.

The House Local Government Committee voted 8-7 to send House Bill 660 to the House floor for further consideration.

Many of those who voted against it cited the Idaho Chiefs of Police Association’s stated opposition to the bill over language in it that may impede city police’s job.

Fernwood Republican Rep. Dale Hawkins sponsored the bill, which would require twice-a-year reporting of the immigration status and nationality of every person arrested, crime statistics of foreign nationals arrested in Idaho, and the number of undocumented people “investigated, apprehended, detained and transferred to federal officials.”

“We’re constantly hearing about our jails being over full, and this is part of this issue, and we need to know what kind of detention capacities are being taken up by people who don’t belong here.”

Hawkins, with Nampa Republican Sen. Brian Lenney and a group of lawmakers, this year introduced a slate of immigration bills, crafted with the conservative policy think tank the Heritage Foundation and former Idaho Solicitor General and former adviser to President Donald Trump, Theo Wold.

The slate of bills have been supported by Secure Idaho, an advocacy group created to oppose the 2024 ranked choice voting ballot measure.

Secure Idaho co-founder Michael Angiletta spoke Monday in favor of House Bill 660.

“We support this bill because it gives lawmakers and the public accurate statewide information while constantly respecting the operational realities of Idaho law enforcement,” Angiletta said.

Meridian Police Chief Tracy Basterrechea, on behalf of the Idaho Chiefs of Police Association, opposed the bill. He said the bill, as written, would require city police to take additional time to verify immigration status and nationality before the individuals could be booked into county jail. He said since the bill applies to all law enforcement agencies, the process would likely have to be duplicated by the sheriff’s office deputies when an individual is booked into jail.

Idaho municipal police departments don’t operate jails, which are run by county sheriff’s offices.

Basterrechea said he also had concerns about the requirement that law enforcement verify nationality, regardless of whether the person is a citizen or a lawful resident.

“Some of your constituents, who are citizens, are going to be asked their nationality, and it’s going to create an adversarial discussion between us and them,” he said.

Twin Falls Republican Rep. Clint Hostetler questioned Basterrechea about why agencies wouldn’t want to collect the information required in the bill and report it out.

“Personally, if you’re getting arrested, I don’t care if you’re being asked questions,” Hostetler said. “That’s just the reality. And if this is once again happening, regardless whether it’s the person booking them at the jail or the officer, it’s a simple communication to get that information after the fact. Am I wrong?”

The police chief responded, “If you’ve ever been involved in an arrest, it’s never a simple communication when somebody’s already upset about being arrested. And when we talk about arresting people, let’s not forget, there are some people that are getting arrested for something like failure to pay a traffic fine, right? I mean, it’s not the crime of the century.”

Lawmakers concerned about law enforcement opposition to bill 

Trevor Chadwick, the mayor of Star and a legislative substitute for Rep. Bruce Skaug, said he agreed with the police chiefs association’s interpretation that it may cause duplicative work between city and county law enforcement.

He asked Hawkins if he would be amenable to amending the bill to require just the jail booking officer to do the verification and recording.

Hawkins said this late in a session that’s expected to wrap up in late March or early April, he didn’t feel confident the House would be able to amend the bill in time.

Boise Democrat Rep. Steve Berch made a motion to hold the bill in committee, which would stop it from advancing.

“I don’t think this bill has been sufficiently researched or vetted,” Berch said.

He noted that Hawkins had said he didn’t work with Idaho law enforcement agencies when crafting the bill.

“What we have heard is the Idaho Sheriffs’ Association, the Idaho Fraternal Order of Police, the Idaho Chiefs of Police Organization, have all come out in opposition on this bill,” Berch said. “Now, you don’t necessarily have to have every stakeholder agree to a bill, but when three key stakeholders make it very clear that this is not a workable bill … I think this bill is premature.”

Berch’s motion died in a 7-8 vote. A motion by Hostetler to send the bill to the floor passed 8-7. It now goes to the full House for consideration, and if passed, will then go to a Senate committee.

Hawkins told the Idaho Capital Sun that he planned to look into whether the bill language needed clarification.

This story first appeared on Idaho Capital Sun.