In an era where federal inertia and urban chaos threaten the fabric of our republic, two visionary state leaders — Missouri senator David Gregory and Mississippi attorney general Matthew Barton — have dared to propose a solution as bold as it is American: deploying bounty hunters to track down criminal illegal aliens. Their legislation, Senate Bill 72 and House Bill 1484, offers a $1,000 reward per deportation, a concept now rippling across the heartland. To the timid, it’s a provocation; to the resolute, it’s a reclamation of sovereignty. As conservatives, we must not only embrace this idea, but elevate it as a cornerstone of our renewed commitment to law, order, and the pioneering spirit that forged this nation.
Let us first confront the crisis with unflinching clarity. Illegal immigration is no mere administrative hiccup; it is a breach of our sacred borders, often shielding those who flout our laws with impunity. The Department of Homeland Security estimates over 11 million illegal aliens reside here, a figure stagnant yet festering since the mid-2000s. Among them lurk not just the weary laborer, but also the predator — cartel enforcers, human-traffickers, and recidivist felons. ICE’s 2023 report notes 170,000 encounters with criminal aliens, including 1,300 homicide offenders. These are indictments of a federal system too bloated to act and too cowed to prioritize American lives.
Enter the bounty hunter, a figure as old as the Republic, reborn for this modern fray. Critics — often cloistered in coastal salons — scoff, conjuring dystopian fantasies or historical ghosts like the Fugitive Slave Act. Such hand-wringing misses the mark. This is not about rounding up the innocent, but targeting the guilty: illegal aliens with rap sheets, warrants, or deportation orders defied. Gregory’s and Barton’s plans harness a regulated, incentivized force to augment an overwhelmed ICE and understaffed sheriffs. Missouri’s bond agents and Mississippi’s certified hunters are extensions of the law, licensed and vetted, answering a clarion call the feds have ignored.
Hellbound and Down 
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