---
type: "Bill"
title: "Sanctuary policies; prohibit certain government entities and employees from adopting or interfering with federal immigration enforcement."
description: "Sanctuary policies; prohibit certain government entities and employees from adopting or interfering with federal immigration enforcement."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ms"
legislature: "Mississippi Legislature"
session: "2026"
identifier: "HB 538"
citation: "Mississippi HB 538 (2026)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Judiciary A", "Judiciary", "Division B"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Yancey"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 22
vote_count: 4
first_action: "2026-01-12T06:00:00+00:00"
last_action: "2026-04-08T05:00:00+00:00"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/f81908c0-1e65-4ff0-a8b2-96e878dcaad6"
source_url: "http://billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/2026/pdf/House_authors/Hall.xml"
source_hash: "33aa4e8ecb71788fdff0a7270193ba7f3aed2af6017c292be4e106b3c82df913"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ms"]
---

# Mississippi HB 538 (2026) — Sanctuary policies; prohibit certain government entities and employees from adopting or interfering with federal immigration enforcement.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **As Introduced** (filed) — [source](http://billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/documents/2026/html/HB/0500-0599/HB0538IN.htm)
2. **Amendment No 1 to Committee Amendment No 1 (Adopted) (Voice Vote)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/documents/2026/pdf/sam/HB0538_S_Amend_01_to_Cmte_Amend_01.pdf)
3. **Amendment Report for House Bill No. 538** (committee substitute) — [source](http://billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/documents/2026/pdf/sam/Amendment_Report_for_HB0538.pdf)
4. **As Passed the lower** (committee substitute) — [source](http://billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/documents/2026/html/HB/0500-0599/HB0538PS.htm)
5. **Committee Amendment No 1 (Adopted) (Voice Vote)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/documents/2026/pdf/sam/HB0538_S_Cmte_Amend_01.pdf)
6. **Current version** (committee substitute) — [source](http://billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/documents/2026/html/HB/0500-0599/HB0538SG.htm)

## Votes

- Passage — **77–40** (pass) · lower
- Adopt Conference Report — **76–39** (pass) · lower
- Passage as Amended — **30–14** (pass) · upper
- Adopt Conference Report — **36–16** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Yancey — primary (person)
- Hall — cosponsor (person)
- Sanford — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2026-01-12T06:00:00+00:00** Referred To Judiciary A `referral-committee`
- **2026-02-03T06:00:00+00:00** Title Suff Do Pass `committee-passage`
- **2026-02-11T06:00:00+00:00** Read the Third Time `reading-3`
- **2026-02-12T06:00:00+00:00** Passed `passage`
- **2026-02-13T06:00:00+00:00** Transmitted To Senate `introduction`
- **2026-02-19T06:00:00+00:00** Referred To Judiciary, Division B `referral-committee`
- **2026-03-03T06:00:00+00:00** Title Suff Do Pass As Amended `committee-passage`
- **2026-03-10T05:00:00+00:00** Amended `amendment-passage`
- **2026-03-10T05:00:00+00:00** Passed As Amended `passage`
- **2026-03-10T05:00:00+00:00** Motion to Reconsider Entered
- **2026-03-11T05:00:00+00:00** Motion to Reconsider Tabled
- **2026-03-12T05:00:00+00:00** Returned For Concurrence
- **2026-03-17T05:00:00+00:00** Decline to Concur/Invite Conf
- **2026-03-23T05:00:00+00:00** Conferees Named Hood,Blackwell,Yancey
- **2026-03-23T05:00:00+00:00** Conferees Named Fillingane,Sparks,Hill
- **2026-03-30T05:00:00+00:00** Conference Report Filed
- **2026-03-30T05:00:00+00:00** Conference Report Filed
- **2026-03-31T05:00:00+00:00** Conference Report Adopted
- **2026-03-31T05:00:00+00:00** Conference Report Adopted
- **2026-04-02T05:00:00+00:00** Enrolled Bill Signed
- **2026-04-02T05:00:00+00:00** Enrolled Bill Signed
- **2026-04-08T05:00:00+00:00** Approved by Governor `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/f81908c0-1e65-4ff0-a8b2-96e878dcaad6`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Mississippi legislature records).