A Mississippi-based immigration reform organization is hopeful that the Mississippi House of Representatives will approve five bills overwhelmingly passed by the State Senate that are aimed at curbing illegal immigration in the state.

Dr. Rodney Hunt heads up the Mississippi Federation for Immigration Reform and Enforcement (MFIRE). Hunt says the Mississippi Senate has done the right thing, by passing legislation similar to states like Arizona and Oklahoma to discourage illegal immigration.

“One of the bills is to make sure that people who are here who are not United States citizens [and] who apply for social benefits are eligible for these benefits,” he explains. “And another also strengthens the identity and document fraud and things like that.”

But Hunt is concerned the bills may have difficulty in the House. “The bills that have been passed by the Senate are likely to go to committees that are chaired by people who have not shared the philosophy that illegal immigration is a bad thing,” he notes. In fact, says Hunt, one of committee chairmen stated he was not going to “waste his time” trying to look for people who wanted to work. “That’s the problem we face in the House,” says the MFIRE leader.

Hunt is hopeful that Mississippi House Speaker Billy McCoy will allow the bills to move to the House floor for a full vote — either on his own accord or in response to pressure from the state’s citizens.