Activists protest the agenda of President Donald Trump during a rally near the water tower on the Magnificent Mile on Jan. 25, 2025, in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Two Ohio Republicans have introduced a measure directing state agencies to track the number of people they interact with who aren’t in the country legally.
The bill, sponsored by state Reps. Josh Williams, R-Sylvania Twp., and Tex Fischer, R-Boardman, requires an annual report from law enforcement, education and health officials among others.
Backers describe it as simply “adding a box to a form,” but make it clear they want to leverage that information to restrict benefits.
“This information is going to come to the legislative body who has the power of the purse,” Williams told committee members. “That’s where the teeth are. “
What the bill does (and doesn’t) do
Under the proposal, four state agencies — the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections, Job and Family Services, Education and Workforce, and Medicaid — as well as every Ohio law enforcement agency, are directed to “collect and maintain” citizenship status for the people they serve. Each year the agencies must report their figures, broken down by the citizens who are lawfully present, and those who aren’t here legally.
Agencies in charge of benefits like Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) food assistance or cash assistance have to report data based on household — whether all members are legal citizens, or if at least one member is not, with information about their specific immigration status.
The agencies are also directed to report the monetary value of the benefits given to households with individuals who are not citizens.
However, the proposal doesn’t indicate how agencies are supposed to verify an individual’s status or how the reports will avoid counting individuals multiple times.
There’s also no effort to quantify what immigrants contribute to the state. A recent American Immigration Council report, for instance, estimates in 2023 Ohio immigrants paid $7.3 billion in taxes — $2.5 billion of that to state and local governments.
Data and consequences
Williams and Fischer introduced their bill last week. Fischer noted agencies throughout the state already collect several kinds of demographic data, “but there is currently no provision in Ohio law to require these entities to collect data on citizenship status.”
“The citizens of Ohio have a right to know where their tax dollars are being spent,” Fischer said, “and this bill allows us to take a step forward in painting the full picture of where our public funds are going.”
Under federal law, unauthorized immigrants are generally barred from access to benefit programs like SNAP, Medicaid and various forms of cash assistance. Even lawful permanent residents (green-card holders) have to wait five years before getting access to those benefits.
“I think ultimately our hope is that this data will come in over the next couple years, and we will see that we don’t have a widespread problem with people who are unlawfully present in the country collecting these benefits,” Fischer said.
But his co-sponsor, Williams, thinks benefits definitely are going to unauthorized immigrants. The Toledo-area lawmaker criticized the city for becoming a “Welcoming City.”
One element of that designation is that programs supporting entrepreneurs don’t discriminate based on immigration status.
Williams said that means “our local tax dollars are definitely going towards illegal immigrants.”
“This claim is patently false,” City of Toledo Communications Director Rachel Hart said in a text message.
She described the designation as an affirmation that the city is a place where immigrants “can pursue the American Dream” and that it does not “dictate funding decisions.”
“This kind of ludicrous rhetoric is a waste of time and a distraction from the real challenges Toledoans face,” she added. “Once again, Rep. Williams is more interested in pandering to the extremes of his party than in serving the real needs of Northwest Ohio.”
And while the sponsors pitched the changes as minor record-keeping updates, Williams has long-term plans for the information.
“We’re going to get into a budget cycle where we’re going to have those department heads come and answer to us in (the) Finance (committee) and to our individual standing committees, and we’re going to be able to say 5%, 3%, 10% of your budget went towards this — here’s the data.” Williams said. “… It’s the legislators that have the teeth when it comes to the budget, right? We’re able to strip that funding out.”
Problems in practice
Across the aisle, Democratic lawmakers wondered if the sponsors had adequately thought through their bill.
Rep. Tristan Rader, D-Lakewood, said he’s sensitive to the limits on eligibility after working with the Cleveland Food Bank to sign people up for SNAP benefits. He noted the five-year waiting period for permanent residents, and that officials need to collect applicants’ social security numbers.
“So, I’m wondering if you had conversations with (Job and Family Services) if this is not information in some way, shape or form, they already have, and if this isn’t sort of, at least in this respect, a little bit redundant,” Rader said.
The sponsors said they had not spoken with the agency.
State Rep. Latyna Humphrey, D-Columbus, asked if they’d reached out to school officials or superintendents? Again, no.
ACLU of Ohio Chief Lobbyist Gary Daniels said “there appears to be a lack of knowledge” about what data are collected and what services immigrants are eligible to receive.
Referencing limits on SNAP, he noted the bill requires state officials collect citizenship information about an entire household while remaining “silent about how this is to be accomplished to the satisfaction of the bill’s sponsors.”
Daniels added that collection of data from schools is particularly revealing. The sponsors have argued these data could be the premise for budget cuts, but federal law and U.S. Supreme Court precedent requires public schools enroll undocumented kids.
“So, if/when the data reveals how many undocumented students are attending Ohio’s public schools, what do the sponsors anticipate the legislature’s response will be,” he asked, “keeping in mind schools have no choice in this matter regarding enrollment?”
Practically speaking, he added, carving out private entities like charter schools or hospitals from the data collection requirements would likely leave whatever report their legislation does produce, “skewed and perhaps entirely unreliable, no matter what side of this issue one takes.”
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