Alabama lawmakers approved several bills to crack down on undocumented immigrants this week.

A bill to increase sentences for undocumented immigrants who harm minors passed the full house on Thursday. HB3, is sponsored by Rep. Chip Brown, a Republican from Mobile County.

It creates harsher penalties for undocumented immigrants convicted of felonies against minors. It also increases misdemeanor offenses against minors to felonies for undocumented people.

The Alabama house also approved a bill Thursday to track and regulate intermediaries who bring immigrants into the country for work, individuals HB302, Rep. Ben Robbins, R-Sylacauga, is terming labor brokers.

Robbins said the bill is meant to prevent human trafficking, to make sure immigrants are qualified for any benefits they get in the U.S., and to make sure that the labor brokers sponsoring them provide the services they commit to by contract.

“If that sponsor does not provide those services, we will allow the attorney general to seek reimbursement against that sponsor for not providing the services they agree to.”

Another bill would give police the power to impound the vehicles of people driving without a valid license. HB304 by Rep. Jamie Kiel, R-Russellville, gives officers 48 hours to check the driver’s immigration status with ICE.

Several Democratic lawmakers spoke out against the bills.

On the bill to increase sentences for harming minors, Rep. Napoleon Bracy, Jr., D-Mobile, said he thinks children have a bigger chance of being molested or harmed by members of their own families than from undocumented immigrants. He said he thought the punishment for a crime should be the same for everyone, not less harsh for citizens who harm children.

“We pick on who we want to hold accountable instead of making sure that everybody’s held accountable,” he said.

Rep. Juandalynn Givan, D- Jefferson County, said the Alabama legislation appeared connected to an attack on immigrants and false claims such as Vice President J.D. Vance’s statement last year that Haitian immigrants eat dogs.

“At the end of the day, we’re dealing with a cultural divide. There’s a phobia of this and a phobia of that,” she said.

On Wednesday, SB55, a bill to invalidate driver’s licenses from states where drivers are not required to prove their citizenship or legal residency to obtain a license, was given approval in a house committee.

Before the vote, Rep. Thomas Jackson, D-Thomasville, questioned bill sponsor, Sen. Chris Elliot, R-Baldwin County, on whether the bill would increase the profiling of immigrants, and Elliot responded that he believed it would not because officers already have probable cause to stop people to check licenses.

The bills are a slate of anti-immigrant legislation being considered by Alabama lawmakers this session.

Other bills focused on immigration include one that would allow Alabama schools to not count the enrollment of students in ESL if they are not in athletics to be able to qualify for smaller divisions, HB298, by Rep. Brock Colvin, R- Albertville.

Another bill would create a 4% international wire transfer fee to pay for the costs off immigration enforcement and ESL programs, HB297, from Rep. Jennifer Fidler, R-Fairhope.

A bill by Sen. Wes Kitchens, R-Arab, SB53, would allow sheriffs and police to detain someone arrested for a crime for up to 48 hours to check their immigration status.

One bill would allow officers to take DNA and fingerprint samples of undocumented immigrants arrested for any reason. That’s SB63, sponsored by Sen. Lance Bell, a Republican from St. Clair County.

And HB7, from Rep. Ernie Yarbrough, R-Trinity, would increase the participation of local law enforcement officers in immigration enforcement.