On Jan. 7, the Kentucky state senate passed Senate Bill 6, a piece of legislation that rivals Arizona’s controversial SB 1070 in its efforts to crackdown on illegal immigration. Although illegal immigration is a very real problem, Senate Bill 6 is no solution.

It calls for police to question individuals about immigration status during traffic stops and other run-ins where citizenship is far from the issue at hand. It contains a provision that would allow police to arrest undocumented immigrants for trespassing, a conviction for which could vary from a Class A misdemeanor to a Class C or Class D felony. It also makes it a crime for anyone to help an undocumented immigrant come to live in Kentucky. The bill even prevents communities that welcome undocumented immigrants from establishing ordinances that restrict policing of the undocumented. That means the end of so-called “sanctuary cities” for these vulnerable immigrants in Kentucky.

Now that the state senate has passed the bill, the only hope of stopping it from becoming law is to target the state’s House of Representatives, which will next take up the issue. Let Kentucky’s House Judiciary Committee know that Senate Bill 6 goes too far.