Missouri's House of Representatives gave initial approval to a bill requiring Troopers to get federal training on how to enforce immigration laws. But St. Louis Representative Maria Chappelle-Nadal says the bill will distract law officers from their real jobs - protecting citizens from crime.

"Now munincipalities have to worry more about the crime of whether or not you're legal or illegal in the State of Missouri rather than focusing on a victim of rape, rather than focusing on a victim of some other heinous crime. And that's unfortunate," said Chappelle-Nadal.

The bill would also require immigrants to take trucking license tests in English. Chappelle-Nadal says this practice is un-American because it hurts legal immigrants. "It's un-American to allow them instantly to only take this test in English. It is not something that we should be supporting. Not everyone, as you and I well know, has spoken english as their primary language first when they arrive in this land," she said.

Chappelle-Nadal says a good compromise is to give legal immigrants a time limit for learning English. The bill will also require officers to check the immigration status of everyone they arrest.