Tennessee Passes Bill To Assist Trump’s Illegal Immigration Crackdown

The Tennessee General Assembly passed sweeping legislation on Thursday creating a new state-level immigration position to help coordinate President Donald Trump’s crackdown. 

The legislation was passed during a special session called by Republican Governor Bill Lee to address illegal immigration, hurricane relief, and school choice. In addition to establishing a state immigration enforcement officer, the legislation will also tighten state identification laws and penalize local authorities who back sanctuary city policies. 

“This week, in partnership with the General Assembly, Tennessee passed meaningful legislation to address three pressing issues that President Trump and Tennesseans overwhelmingly support – the Education Freedom Act, additional disaster relief for East Tennesseans, and measures to halt illegal immigration,” Lee said. 

The immigration package easily passed the House 72-22 and the Senate 26-7 despite protests from leftist activists.  

Backed by Lee and Republican leadership, the legislation will create the Centralized Immigration Enforcement Division under the state’s current Department of Safety. This division will include a chief immigration enforcement officer appointed by the governor to coordinate directly with the Trump administration in implementing federal immigration laws. The officer would also ensure that state and local officials comply with federal immigration laws.

One aspect of the bill creates a felony offense for an official who votes to implement a sanctuary city policy and create a pathway for citizens to challenge lax immigration policies put in place by local officials. There are currently no sanctuary cities in the state, but there have been some complaints that some local jurisdictions, such as Memphis, do not cooperate with federal immigration authorities.

“From this day forward let it go forth, do not set up sanctuary cities in our state. We are not a sanctuary to illegal immigrants from across the world that try to come to this state,” House Majority Leader William Lamberth said during a debate on the measure. 

Additionally, the bill stipulates that state-issued IDs will only be available to U.S. citizens and permanent residents. Individuals with federal authorization to be in the country for a specified period or a non-citizen would have a temporary driver license with a distinctive mark.

Lee is expected to sign the bill into law, and the leftist American Civil Liberties Union plans to challenge it. 

Tennessee’s special session followed a call from Trump for governors to follow the lead of Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, who first ordered the Sunshine State’s legislature to consider legislation to assist federal authorities with illegal immigration. It also came as a Nashville-area school board urged the state “to expedite the closure of our nation’s borders” due to an increasing strain on public education.