(ABC 6 News) – The House Public Safety Finance and Policy Committee heard arguments Wednesday about a new bill designed to increase the amount of cooperation between local law enforcement agencies and federal immigration agencies like ICE.

Rep. Max Rymer (R – North Branch) authored the bill and calls it “narrowly focused.”

“What this bill does is it makes sure that we have an open line of communication between local authorities and the federal government in dealing with violent or dangerous criminals in our community,” Rymer said in a press conference Wednesday morning.

The bill’s goals include compelling local agencies to report undocumented immigrants who have been arrested on suspicion of violent crimes to ICE.

Specifically, it references crimes like murder, assault, gang related activity, and certain kinds of theft as examples of which crimes an individual has to be arrested in connection to for the bill to apply.

The bill also seeks to prohibit local and state governments from adopting policies that prevent local law enforcement from cooperating with federal authorities – like the separation ordinances maintaining Minneapolis and St. Paul as sanctuary cities.

Supporters of the bill say it mirrors existing federal laws that already dictate communication between state and local government agencies and federal immigration agencies, and that it should receive broad bipartisan support like the recently passed Laken Riley Act.

“I don’t view this as a quote-unquote messaging bill,” said Rymer. “I do view this as a practical bill to solve the problem of crime in our communities.”

Opponents, however, say the bill opens up the door to violating certain civil rights.

“When we look at these efforts in the state of Minnesota, what they’re really trying to do is undermine due process,” said Ryan Perez, organizing director for the Latin advocacy group COPAL. “So that if someone accuses me of a crime or someone accuses me of being undocumented, now suddenly I’m a suspect and I have to be reported out and my data has to be shared with ICE.”

Multiple letters of opposition, including some from law enforcement and attorney groups, also outline concerns about federal use of local resources.

Previous reporting by ABC 6 showed many local law enforcement agencies in southeast Minnesota keep interactions with ICE to a minimum and generally don’t hold people for the agency.

How this new bill would affect those agencies if passed is unclear, but a statement from the Rochester Police Department provided to ABC 6 said:

“We are aware of the proposed legislation. As a local law enforcement agency, we are committed to upholding the laws passed by our lawmakers.  As with any new legislation, we would receive guidance from our judicial partners to interpret any changes that would affect our enforcement procedures or polices.”