SF 124: A threat to all and an open door for racial profiling

To my fellow Wyomingites,

If Senate File 124 passes, Wyoming will be sending a clear message: If you don’t look white, you’re not safe here. This bill isn’t about keeping people safe. It’s about control and targeting those who aren't white-passing.  To support this is to take your mask of ignorance off and show everyone that you support government overreach and racial profiling.

Let’s be real. This bill isn’t just going after undocumented people. It's coming for all of us who “look like” we might not belong. SF 124 will allow local law enforcement to act as immigration agents, which means racial profiling will be unavoidable. If you think that only “illegal immigrants” will be affected, ask yourself this question: Who do you think is going to get stopped? Who’s going to be asked to prove their citizenship? It won’t be the white guy wearing a Vortex snap back — it’ll be the Brown mom picking up her kids from school, the Indigenous man at the gas station, or the woman whose family has lived here for generations but still gets asked, “... but where are you *really* from?”

This bill endangers the safety of everyone. When does keeping Wyoming safe make entire communities too scared to call the police when they need help? If victims of crime, domestic violence, or trafficking are afraid that reaching out will get them detained or deported, then who exactly is being protected? Certainly not them.

I already know what some people will say, “If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to worry about.”
That’s easy to say when you’ve never been pulled over for “looking suspicious,” and never had someone question if you belong in your own country. Why should we have to carry proof of our existence just because someone in power decides we don’t deserve to be here?  

History shows us exactly where this leads. Richard and Mildred Loving were once arrested because their love was illegal. Emmett Till was murdered because someone thought a Black boy’s existence was threatening. How long before a law like this is used to justify tearing families apart and throwing men like my husband in jail because of who he married? Will we need to start marking our children with yellow stars to make it easier for the state to tell who does and doesn’t "belong?" Women of color are already being targeted by men impersonating law enforcement and attempting to exploit them. Please tell me, how far is too far?

Wyoming is a state that supposedly values freedom and small government. So why are we pushing a law that expands government surveillance, forces local police into federal duties, and puts businesses in the role of immigration officers? That is control, not freedom, and history has shown us where that leads.

For those backing this bill, I hope you think long and hard about what happens when the government starts deciding who does and doesn’t belong. Once you open that door, it doesn’t just stop with one group.

Respectfully,

Christine Ford, Rawlins, Wyo.