By Andrew Hay

(Reuters) – Arizona’s legislature is set to vote on legislation to pay police $2,500 for every illegal immigrant they help deport, marking it the latest U.S. state to consider bounties to support President Donald Trump’s hardline immigration policies.

Arizona’s so-called bounty bill would be paid for by taxing international money transfers and has a good chance of passing the state’s Republican-controlled house and senate.

Civil rights and migrant advocates warned that bounties would drive racial profiling and draw police away from law enforcement duties that generally fall to local jurisdictions, unlike federally enforced immigration laws. Arizona’s Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs vowed to veto the bill should it pass.

“This is a critical mission that Arizona voters overwhelmingly support, and we want to reward the efforts of our hardworking officers,” the bill’s Republican sponsor Senator Jake Hoffman said in a statement.

Trump’s state-level allies are looking for ways to mobilize local law enforcement and civilians in the president’s push to deport illegal immigrants. 

Missouri and Mississippi recently considered bills to pay civilian bounty hunters $1,000 for each illegal immigrant they caught. The legislation was shot down in Mississippi and looks set to fail in Missouri, with state Republicans reluctant to pay for immigration enforcement.

Arizona has a history of using local police for immigration roles, notably under former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio who enforced a strict “show me your papers” law. State voters in November approved a proposition to make it a state crime to cross the U.S.-Mexico border illegally. The measure is on hold pending an appeals court ruling.

Arizona Senate Democrats said the bounty bill was a throwback to the Wild West.

“But it’s Wild West with a twist, it’s a racist bill,” said Senator Lauren Kuby before the legislation passed at committee level last week. It now goes for house and senate votes.

The legislature would need two-thirds majorities in both chambers to override a veto from the governor. That would require several Democratic votes, something that could prove difficult, said University of Arizona politics professor Lisa Sanchez.

(Reporting by Andrew Hay; editing by Donna Bryson and Stephen Coates)

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