Bill Analyses and Ratings
Bill Information: S1442E1 – Idaho Refugee & Illegal Alien Accountability Act
Bill Summary
This bill creates two new sections of Idaho law targeting refugee resettlement oversight and immigration enforcement. Section 67-467 requires any Idaho-incorporated entity receiving federal grants to provide refugee resettlement services to submit annual audits to the legislature detailing the number, nationality, gender, language abilities, housing locations, and communicable disease rates of refugees served. These same entities are prohibited from harboring, transporting, or encouraging illegal aliens to remain in the United States unlawfully, and must catalog the names and demographics of any illegal aliens they serve for potential matching against federal immigration databases at DHS, HHS, and the State Department.
Section 67-3015 mandates that all Idaho law enforcement agencies — state, county, and municipal — verify and record the immigration status and nationality of every arrested individual as part of the administration of criminal justice. Beginning October 1, 2026, each agency must file biannual reports with the state controller containing arrest data broken down by immigration status and nationality, crime statistics related to illegal aliens, and the number of illegal aliens transferred to federal officials. These reports must be publicly accessible on the state controller’s website at all times.
The bill includes an enforcement mechanism: if the attorney general determines a law enforcement agency is out of compliance, the agency receives a 30-day cure notice, after which the attorney general may seek injunctive relief and the legislature may withhold state funding from the noncompliant agency. The bill takes effect July 1, 2026, under an emergency declaration.
Overall Assessment
This bill’s most direct impact falls on two groups: Idaho-incorporated refugee resettlement organizations, which face new annual audit and reporting mandates to the legislature, and every law enforcement agency in Idaho, which must now verify and record the immigration status of all arrested individuals and file biannual public reports. Resettlement entities that serve illegal aliens must compile personal identifying information for federal database matching, and those that harbor or transport illegal aliens face legal prohibition under state law. Law enforcement agencies that fail to comply risk injunctive action by the attorney general and potential loss of state funding.
This is the engrossed version of S1442.
Rating Breakdown
ARTICLE I. Responsibility in Government (0)
The bill creates new public reporting requirements — annual audits from resettlement entities and biannual law enforcement reports posted on the state controller's website — which add a layer of transparency over federally funded activities in Idaho. However, the bill does not address fiscal responsibility, government spending levels, taxation, or program efficiency reviews, which are the core concerns of this metric.
ARTICLE II. Citizen Involvement in Government (0)
The bill's provisions are confined to immigration enforcement and refugee resettlement oversight. It contains no provisions related to elections, voting procedures, citizen participation in the political process, or any of the mechanisms through which Idahoans engage with their government.
ARTICLE III. Education (0)
The bill makes no reference to schools, curriculum, parental rights in education, school choice, or education funding. Its scope is limited to refugee resettlement auditing and law enforcement immigration reporting.
ARTICLE IV. Agriculture (0)
The bill contains no provisions affecting farming, ranching, agricultural markets, water access for agriculture, or any other agricultural concern. It is entirely focused on immigration-related oversight and enforcement.
ARTICLE V. Water (0)
The bill makes no reference to water rights, water appropriation, irrigation, dams, or state sovereignty over water resources. It has no bearing on Idaho water law or policy.
ARTICLE VI. Natural Resources and Environment (0)
The bill contains no provisions related to natural resource management, environmental regulation, federal land policy, forest health, or any environmental topic. Its subject matter is entirely immigration and refugee oversight.
ARTICLE VII. Energy (0)
The bill makes no reference to energy production, energy independence, electrical rates, hydroelectric power, or any energy-related policy. It has no connection to Idaho's energy sector.
ARTICLE VIII. Idaho National Laboratories (0)
The bill contains no provisions related to the Idaho National Laboratory, nuclear research, technology transfer, or energy technology development. It is unrelated to INL's mission or operations.
ARTICLE IX. Private Property Rights (0)
The bill imposes reporting and compliance obligations on resettlement entities and law enforcement agencies but does not affect property ownership, eminent domain, development rights, or any Fifth Amendment property protections for Idaho residents.
ARTICLE X. State and Federal Lands (0)
The bill contains no provisions addressing the management, transfer, or disposition of state or federal lands in Idaho. Its scope is limited to immigration enforcement and refugee resettlement reporting.
ARTICLE XI. Wildlife Management (0)
The bill makes no reference to fish and game management, hunting, fishing, predator control, or federal wildlife designations. It has no connection to Idaho wildlife policy.
ARTICLE XII. Economy (0)
While the bill imposes new compliance burdens on resettlement organizations and law enforcement agencies, it does not regulate Idaho commerce, address small business concerns, affect labor markets broadly, or target the economic drivers central to this metric. The economic footprint of the bill is limited to administrative costs for affected entities.
ARTICLE XIII. Health and Welfare (0)
Section 67-467(3)(g) requires resettlement entities to report vital statistics including communicable disease rates among refugees served, which touches on public health data collection. However, the bill does not regulate healthcare delivery, insurance, welfare program eligibility, or any of the substantive health and welfare policy concerns addressed by this metric.
ARTICLE XIV. American Family (0)
The bill contains no provisions addressing marriage, abortion, parental authority, child welfare, or family structure. Its focus on immigration enforcement and resettlement auditing does not intersect with the family policy concerns of this metric.
ARTICLE XV. Older Americans (0)
The bill contains no provisions affecting older Idahoans, retirement security, senior services, or policies that penalize continued workforce participation by older Americans. It is unrelated to this metric.
ARTICLE XVI. Law and Order with Justice (1)
Section 67-3015 directly strengthens criminal justice administration by requiring all Idaho law enforcement agencies to verify and record the immigration status and nationality of every arrested individual, and to report crime statistics related to illegal aliens — including transfers to federal officials — in publicly accessible biannual reports. The attorney general's enforcement authority, including the ability to seek injunctive relief and trigger funding withholding against noncompliant agencies, gives the mandate real teeth and reinforces state-level accountability in the administration of criminal justice.
ARTICLE XVII. National Defense - Securing the Border (1)
Section 67-467(4) explicitly prohibits Idaho-incorporated resettlement entities from harboring, concealing, transporting, or encouraging illegal aliens to remain unlawfully in the United States — directly targeting conduct that facilitates illegal presence. Section 67-467(5) further requires entities serving illegal aliens to catalog their identifying information for matching against federal DHS, HHS, and State Department databases, creating a state-level mechanism to support federal immigration enforcement and border security objectives.
ARTICLE XVIII. Election of Judges and Idaho Supreme Court Justices (0)
The bill contains no provisions related to judicial elections, the selection or retention of judges, or constitutional interpretation standards. It is entirely unrelated to the judiciary's composition or selection process.
ARTICLE XIX. Religious Liberty (0)
The bill contains no provisions that restrict or protect religious exercise, target faith-based organizations specifically, or engage with the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Many refugee resettlement organizations in Idaho are faith-based, and the audit requirements apply to all Idaho-incorporated entities equally regardless of religious affiliation.