Talking Points: Should Minnesota become a sanctuary state for undocumented immigrants?
ST. PAUL — Should the North Star State join 11 other states around the county to provide sanctuary for immigrants lacking legal status? This legislative session, some lawmakers say passing the North Star Act is a top priority.
What would that mean for the estimated 95,000 undocumented people who call Minnesota home? Under the bill, law enforcement and other government agencies like school districts and public health agencies cannot ask someone about their immigration status or help in civil immigration enforcement.
Read MORE: North Star Act aims to provide protections to immigrants
The furor over immigration has exploded as governors of the border states are sending busloads of migrants to sanctuary states like Colorado, Illinois and New York. In Minnesota, the state is divided.
Currently, Hennepin and Ramsey counties are sanctuary communities. This status does not protect the undocumented who are arrested and charged with serious and violent crimes. It does, however, protect someone who is undocumented if they are pulled over for a minor traffic offense like a ticket.
Outside of these two counties, Esteban Rivera, an immigration attorney, says those undocumented people are at risk.
"When the same offense happens in another county, specially greater Minnesota, I have clients who have been arrested because they had like tinted windows, for example, in the car, or no driver's license, and they have been turned to [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] and then they are being eventually deported," said Rivera.
Rivera says without sanctuary status the undocumented are unwilling to call police to report crimes, making the community as a whole less safe. But opponents, like Senate Minority Leader Mark Johnson, say it would result in a surge of undocumented migrants.
"Right now in Minnesota, we're at our maximum when it comes to things like education system, our school districts, our health care systems are really struggling right now," said Johnson.
RELATED: The life-changing law for thousands of undocumented Minnesotans
Among the strongest supporters of making Minnesota a sanctuary state are leaders of religious groups who have joined forced to create the Minnesota Interfaith Coalition on Immigration (ICOM).
"We are people of faith who gather together to support community members who are going through crises caused by what we see as dehumanizing and criminalizing immigration systems," said Greg King, president of ICOM.
Talking Points airs every Wednesday and Thursday at 6:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., live on CBS News Minnesota.
NOTE: Above is a preview of Talking Points presented on "The 4."
