Legislation that would make certain records related to immigration enforcement confidential passed in the Tennessee Senate on Monday.
House Bill 2506/Senate Bill 1464, sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson (R-Franklin) and House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville), would shield the names, contact information, addresses and other personal identifying information of law enforcement officers participating in federal immigration enforcement activities in Tennessee from being made public.
Certain information like dates, times, locations, logistics and strategies related to future immigration enforcement operations would also be made confidential. Additionally, the bill makes it a felony to release such information. Public officials found in violation of the law could be removed from office.
Johnson says the bill is intended to protect law enforcement officers from being harassed due to their line of work, adding that the internet has allowed this information to spread more quickly and on a larger scale.
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“We don’t need to allow local governments to make that type of private information about our brave men and women in law enforcement publicly accessible so that they can be harassed or their families threatened or their children threatened,” says Johnson.
Johnson filed the bill in June, shortly after the Metro Nashville government posted the names of several ICE employees on the city website — a move the mayor’s office later said was a mistake. When the legislation was first announced, a news release specifically named Mayor Freddie O’Connell.
Sen. Jeff Yarbro (D-Nashville) opposed the legislation on the Senate floor Monday, arguing it is unconstitutional and would remove accountability for law enforcement officers.
“It exempts an entire category of government activity from normal transparency requirements,” Yarbro said. “That’s what it does. That is a blueprint for government abuse.”
The legislation passed in the Senate along party lines. It will be heard before the House State and Local Government Committee on March 11.
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This follows legislation passed last year that created a centralized immigration enforcement division also largely exempt from the state’s open records laws.
Immigration has been a focal point for state Republicans this year, with a slate of bills announced at the start of the session. These bills have included legislation formally making it illegal to be an undocumented immigrant in Tennessee.
Bills requiring local governments to cooperate with ICE and impose restrictions on driver’s licenses for undocumented immigrants are also moving forward. Last week, a House subcommittee advanced legislation that would require schools to track the immigration status of students.
This article was first published by our sister publication, the Nashville Post.
