Immigration is taking center stage at both the federal and state levels, with Tennessee Republicans working quickly to take advantage of President Donald Trump’s focus on the southern border — a focus he’s shown through a slew of sweeping executive orders.
Last week, Gov. Bill Lee’s office issued a release signaling its intention to “provide critical support at the Southern border and keep communities safe by ensuring our state is ready to assist President Trump in carrying out his immigration enforcement agenda.” Among the governor’s listed priorities is creating the Centralized Immigration Enforcement Division, a “division within the Department of Safety to ensure efficient resource allocation and effective enforcement of immigration laws.” Lee has also suggested that local officials who adopt or maintain “sanctuary city” policies could be charged with a felony and removed from office.
More immigration bills could be filed ahead of the Feb. 6 filing deadline. But as of Jan. 21, the following pieces of legislation are among those that will be considered by legislators, both in the regular session and in the ongoing special session called by Gov. Lee.
House Bill 10/Senate Bill 6, sponsored in the House by Rep. Todd Warner (R-Chapel Hill) and in the Senate by Sen. Joey Hensley (R-Hohenwald), aims to require local law enforcement agencies who have arrested undocumented people to “request an immigration detainer and detain such individual for the maximum period as specified in the detainer.” The bill also requires law enforcement to transport any undocumented defendant to a “sanctuary city,” if U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has not placed them into custody within 48 hours — on the dime of local agencies who could then refuse to pay federal taxes to recoup their costs.
Warner recently told Scene sister publication the Williamson Scene he plans to amend the bill to change its focus from sending immigrant criminal defendants to sanctuary cities to facilitating deportations.
HB 11/SB 5, sponsored in the House by Rep. Scott Cepicky (R-Culleoka) and in the Senate by Sen. Joey Hensley (R-Hohenwald), would require the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security to redesign driver’s licenses, photo IDs and driver’s permits issued to lawful non-citizen residents to be “easily distinguished” from driver’s licenses and photo IDs issued to U.S. citizens residing in Tennessee.
HB 144/SB 139, sponsored in the House by Rep. Jason Zachary (R-Knoxville) and in the Senate by Sen. Adam Lowe (R-Calhoun), would require hospitals that accept Medicaid to “inquire about a person’s citizenship status and submit a quarterly report to the [Department of Health] on the number of hospital admissions and emergency department visits by persons lawfully and not lawfully present in the United States.” It would also require the department to submit an annual report to the governor and lawmakers “regarding the impact of uncompensated care for persons not lawfully present in the United States and other related information.”
HB 145, sponsored in the House by Rep. Gino Bulso (R-Brentwood), would require a financial institution to verify the immigration status of anyone sending funds electronically outside of the U.S., as well as changing “the definition of resident or citizen of this state to mean citizens of the United States and aliens lawfully present in this state.” It would also require the parent, guardian or legal custodian of a student “who is not lawfully residing in this state” to pay tuition for public school. The bill doesn’t currently have a sponsor in the Senate.
HB 177, introduced by freshman Rep. Lee Reeves (R-Williamson County), “urges” the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security to “study the enforcement of federal immigration laws, detentions and removals, investigations in this state, and immigration-related progress and challenges.” It would require the department to submit a report to the governor and General Assembly on or before Jan. 1, 2026. The bill doesn’t currently have a sponsor in the Senate.
SB 17, sponsored in the House by Sen. Todd Gardenhire (R-Chattanooga), would require law enforcement agencies and officials to report the immigration status of someone who has been arrested, “including reporting knowledge that a particular alien is not lawfully present in the United States or otherwise cooperate with the appropriate federal official in the identification, apprehension, detention, or removal of aliens not lawfully present in the United States.” The bill doesn’t currently have a sponsor in the House.
SB 227, sponsored in the Senate by Sen. Brent Taylor (R-Memphis), would allow a “charitable organization that provides housing to a person who the charitable organization knows is unlawfully present in the United States” to be held liable for damages, a loss, injury or death committed by someone who is “unlawfully present in the United States while the person is receiving housing services from the charitable organization if the charitable organization’s conduct in providing housing constitutes negligence, gross negligence, or willful and wanton misconduct.” At this time, the bill does not have a sponsor in the House.
The 114th Tennessee General Assembly will consider education, immigration, guns and health care
