There is no appetite among House Republicans for a bill that would put a bounty on undocumented immigrants, Speaker Jon Patterson told reporters Thursday. The legislation, which was debated Tuesday in a Missouri Senate committee,

One bill being discussed in the Senate would include life imprisonment without parole as a punishment for immigration violations, and would allow Missourians to collect $1,000 bounties for reporting people who are in the country without legal status.

Under the bill, the Missouri Department of Public Safety would create a system for anyone to contact authorities and accuse someone of being here without legal documentation. But accusers can remain anonymous,

Some Missouri lawmakers want to increase penalties for immigrants in the country illegally, including adding a hotline to report those without official documentation.

A confrontational legislative hearing Monday — with a witness calling a state senator a fascist and lawmakers battling over whether the state should put a bounty on undocumented immigrants — set the tone for this year’s debate on immigration and the state’s role in border security.

Dozens of people spoke out against the plan by state Sen. David Gregory, R-Chesterfield, during a committee hearing this week.