'We have failed': Idaho lawmakers say immigration bills are stalling. Here's why

Carolyn Komatsoulis, The Idaho Statesman on Mar 20, 2026

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BOISE, Idaho — Anti-immigration bills in the Idaho Statehouse are crashing up against political reality, frustrating some proponents.

The lawmakers behind the slate of proposals say the issue is popular among Idahoans — but they’ve acknowledged a string of setbacks.

Rep. Dale Hawkins, a Republican who brought several of the immigration proposals, said “in some legislation we have failed,” as he urged lawmakers in the House to support his bill to require every law enforcement agency in the state to apply for a cooperation agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.

The bill made it through the House 41-27 on March 6. But on Monday, Senate lawmakers voted it down after law enforcement testified against it.

“This isn’t a good piece of legislation,” said GOP Sen. Brandon Shippy, who added that every sheriff in his district opposed the bill. “It needs more work.”

That’s not the only bill to hit a roadblock.

At least one, a bill that would make it a crime for employers to knowingly hire some immigrants, is “clearly unconstitutional,” an East Idaho Republican said in the House, where it squeaked by 36-33. A similar bill would mandate that every employer use a federal service called E-Verify to check the status of their workers. The sponsor of of the employer crime bill said that lawbreaking was wrong and the bill is constitutional. Proponents argued mandatory E-Verify would protect American workers.

Those two bills passed the House, but GOP Sen. Jim Guthrie, the chairman of the Senate State Affairs Committee, has not yet given them a hearing, which is effectively shelving them for the session. The Idaho Republican Party announced Monday that Chairwoman Dorothy Moon had sent a letter to Guthrie, urging him to let the proposals see the light of day.

Another E-Verify bill, which some view as watered down, has yet to receive a hearing after clearing the Senate. The bill applies only to certain employers. Rep. Jordan Redman, who sponsored the mandatory E-Verify bill, is the chair of the House Business Committee and the one who decides whether to give the Senate’s version a hearing.

The House Education Committee rejected a replacement bill to require schools to collect data about students’ immigration status, which an education official told The Idaho Statesman is illegal under federal law.

On Thursday, GOP Rep. Steve Tanner told the House that those bills hadn’t gone through. Instead, he proposed a memorial asking the federal government to help with the cost of educating undocumented students. A memorial is an expression of the Legislature’s view but has no impact on law.

“It just asks the federal government to recognize this burden and make Idaho whole,” said Tanner before the memorial passed.

Another bill, to collect the immigration status from patients at hospitals, has yet to receive a hearing.

The sponsor of a bill to audit Idaho refugee resettlement asked people on social media to contact Guthrie and ask for a hearing after it passed the House.

Lawmakers also shot down a bill to prohibit concealing, transporting or providing legal assistance to immigrants after the Catholic Church in Idaho, immigration lawyers, the Ada County Sheriff and nonprofit leaders packed a hearing room to dissent.

Sen. Brian Lenney, a Republican, wrote on social media on Tuesday that it was “still crazy that Idaho legislators are killing every single bill we got on illegal immigration.” But when someone suggested using a procedural rule to bring the two undocumented-worker bills up without a hearing, he was frank about the chances: “It only works if the votes are there, and they aren’t.”

A Hawkins bill to require all law enforcement to verify the nationality and immigration status of everyone arrested squeaked out of committee by one vote Monday after the Idaho Chiefs of Police Association criticized it.

Police don’t collect data like fingerprints, Meridian Police Chief Tracy Basterrechea said. Instead, he said, that falls under the purview of the county jail. He said the requirement would take officers’ time away from police work and could lead to duplicated data, because the police would hand the people in their charge over to the county.

But on Wednesday, immigration hardliners got a bit of hope. Hawkins presented his bill to the House, promising this was “probably the last immigration piece of legislation I’ll bring this year, maybe.” His bill cleared the body 40-30 over the opposition of multiple law enforcement organizations.

“This is the lightest touch possible,” Hawkins told the House. “ … Give the people of Idaho your green light.”

It was referred to the Senate Judiciary and Rules Committee.

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