Committee advances bill presuming noncitizens charged with violent crimes are flight risks amid constitutional concerns

A House committee adopted an amendment to HP348 and gave the bill a favorable report after members debated constitutional and procedural implications.

Sponsor description: the bill "would require an illegal alien who is charged with a violent offense to be detained pending on pretrial hearing" and "establish a presumption that based on the defendant's status as an illegal alien, the defendant is an inherent flight risk," the sponsor said. An amendment was read that replaces the enumerated offenses language with a reference to "section 15-13-3(b), Code of Alabama 1975," and the committee adopted that amendment.

Representative England and other members questioned how the bill would operate in practice, including whether judges would be forced to make impermissible inquiries into a defendant’s immigration status and whether the presumption could produce unconstitutional, prolonged detention if immigration status could not be verified within the usual procedural timeframes. England said the measure could place the court in a position of asking questions courts should avoid during bail hearings; she described the bill as, in her words, "super unconstitutional." The sponsor said the amendment narrows the list of offenses and that the bill was intended to set a procedure for pretrial detention in specified cases.

The committee adopted the amendment and gave the bill a favorable report as amended. The provision and its constitutional implications may attract judicial and advocacy scrutiny as the bill proceeds.

Sources: Sponsor remarks, committee Q&A and amendment text.