DESOTO COUNTY, Miss. — There’s a push by a north Mississippi lawmaker to create an immigration enforcement division within the state’s Department of Public Safety.

The idea is for Mississippi law enforcement agencies to be able to work with ICE to essentially streamline the process when someone is arrested for a crime.

This comes as we’ve seen nationally the news of thousands of illegal immigrants detained by ICE since President Trump took office.

During a press conference on Monday, DeSoto County District Attorney Matthew Barton presented a gallery of people arrested since the start of the new year.

“This represents someone just about every other day,” Barton said.

Barton said the people arrested for various charges were not in the country legally.

“This is Mr. Perez-Lopez, we prosecuted him in my office last year for a DUI death,” Barton said during the press conference. “He is from Guatemala, he had fake documentation.”

Barton also mentioned other people such as a man who was arrested for federal drug tracking and another who was being prosecuted for molestation and sexual battery charges against children.

Barton and Mississippi State Senator Michael McLendon said these cases show a need for broader immigration enforcement in the state, as Senator McLendon introduced the Mississippi Immigration Customs Enforcement Bill (the MICE Act.)

“A one-page bill, $500,000 appropriation to the Department of Public Safety to come up with an illegal immigration criminal czar,” McLendon said.

They would help deputize and train officers from different municipalities that wish to participate.

“These aren’t people off the street,” McLendon said. “These are officers whether they work for a municipality.”

“Whereas now, if there is an arrest made and the individual meets the criteria for an ICE hold or they have to call ICE (and) wait for ICE to show up,” Barton said. “As we know, ICE only has so many boots on the ground and so, enabling the municipalities and sheriff’s departments to participate in a very structured way would help basically act as a force multiplier.”

McLendon said right now, housing offenders is costing the state millions of dollars and tens of thousands of dollars at the local level.

“We’re not talking about the people that are here trying to live the American Dream and better themselves and their families,” Barton said. “We’re talking about people that are ending up in the jail, doing the wrong thing. And we’re not talking about separating families. Every one of these people decided to separate themselves from their families when they went to jail.”

Senator McLendon said he believes he will have support for the bill.

WREG will keep you posted as the bill moves along in the process.