Politics

Wild Tennessee Bill Would Ban Officials From Opposing Trump’s Immigration Policies

NO SAFE HAVEN

The controversial bill has made its way to Governor Bill Lee’s desk after it was passed by the House and Senate.

President Donald Trump and Tennessee Governor Bill Lee in the White House.
MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images

A sweeping Tennessee immigration bill could make it unlawful for local officials to adopt sanctuary city policies and create temporary driver’s licenses for non-citizens.

Senate Bill 6002/House Bill 6001 cleared both chambers of of the state legislature Thursday afternoon following a whirlwind special legislative session called by Gov. Bill Lee.

The contentious bill makes it a Class E felony for an official to vote in favor of adopting a sanctuary policy, which limits cooperation with federal immigration authorities. It also removes any officials who are convicted.

President Donald Trump has been targeting sanctuary cities like New York and Chicago, where officials don’t ask about residents’ immigration status nor report them to authorities, as he scrambles to fulfill his much-hyped mass deportation campaign promises.

The Tennessee bill would also instruct the Department of Public Safety to issue temporary driver’s licenses to lawful permanent residents or other individuals who are authorized to be in the U.S. but are not citizens in order to determine voter eligibility. Currently, they qualify for standard driver’s licenses.

Individuals who would present a driver’s license “from a state that issues driver licenses to illegal aliens” in order to obtain a license in Tennessee would also be required to provide proof of citizenship or authorization.

The bill also creates an “immigration enforcement grant program” to incentivize local governments to work with the U.S. Attorney General’s Office to enforce federal immigration laws.

The ACLU, a civil rights advocacy group, said it would challenge the measure in court immediately after it is signed into law.

“Threatening officials with felony charges and criminal prosecution based solely on how they vote raises significant constitutional concerns,” the organization said in a statement. “This authoritarian legislation is incompatible with the bedrock American values of democracy and the rule of law, and we have no choice but to challenge it in court.”

Democratic Memphis Rep. Justin Pearson warned that the bill sets a “dangerous precedent.”

“This legislation is only intending to use government as a bludgeon and to ignore the autonomy and the right of locally elected people to govern in a way that is according to their own conscience,” he said at the special session. “This is authoritarian, this is wrong, and the actions that we are being asked to take are immoral.”

Republican Portland Rep. William Lamberth invoked the deaths of Laken Riley and others who were killed by illegal immigrants in his defense of the bill.

“Let it ring forth: We will not have sanctuary cities in this state,” he said. “It ain’t gonna happen here in Tennessee and our citizens will not be murdered by illegal immigrants.”

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