Three weeks after Immigration and Customs Enforcement carried out the largest workplace raid in a decade, devastating an East Tennessee community, the state legislature has approved a bill banning "sanctuary cities," even though they have been banned in the state since 2009. But what's worse, the legislation mandates that local law enforcement officials comply with ICE detainer requests.
It was discussion of this bill that prompted Rep. Jay Reedy, the Republican sponsor of the bill in the House, to use an ethnic slur while telling a story about an immigrant he encountered as a young boy. And it passed the legislature despite the fact that there are no so-called "sanctuary cities" in Tennessee — because they've been outlawed since 2009. An effort to restrict Nashville's cooperation with federal immigration officials failed at the Metro Council last year. But Reedy said on Tuesday — after the bill died on Monday but then zombied back after pressure from House Majority Leader Glen Casada — that it was Nashville's actions, even though they never became law, that prompted him and Sen. Mark Green to sponsor the bill. (We are sure Green's pending congressional bid had nothing at all to do with it.)
If the legislation becomes law, any state or local government entity that runs afoul of it — by, say, declining a request from ICE to hold an immigrant in custody — could be stopped from receiving grants from the state's Department of Economic and Community Development. Such grants are an addictive substance for cities with their eyes on growth, but can be a lifesaver to rural communities, as a few Democratic legislators tried to point out on the floor to no avail.
Legislative attorneys have raised concerns about the bill's constitutionality. Similar bills have sparked legal battles in other states. The Fifth Circuit federal appeals court ruled in March that a sanctuary city ban in Texas could temporarily stand while legal challenges proceed. (That ruling has been appealed.) But the Seventh Circuit granted a national injunction last week to stay a federal measure to cut funds from sanctuary cities, of which, again, Tennessee has none and has outlawed for almost a decade. The Ninth Circuit is weighing a similar case.
During a discussion of the bill in a House committee earlier this week, Republican Rep. Gerald McCormick defended the bill against opponents who said it would lead to the separation of families.
%{[ data-embed-type="oembed" data-embed-id="https://twitter.com/carigervin/status/988801566491709440" data-embed-element="aside">
Of course, that is precisely what ICE's actions do. In Grainger County, just north of Knoxville, where ICE raided a meatpacking plant last month, 160 children had a parent who was arrested. More than 500 students missed school the next day.
In a release following the bill's passage, Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition co-executive director Stephanie Teatro suggested the bill greases the skids for abuse.
“Despite escalating and egregious behavior by ICE, the Tennessee legislature just took away any safeguards against federal overreach and abuse by turning every detention request from ICE into an unconditional, legal directive to every police officer in the state,” Teatro said.
The ACLU of Tennessee also bashed the legislation.
"The passage of this discriminatory and unconstitutional legislation, despite public outcry about its dangerous impact on immigrant communities in Tennessee, is a direct assault on our civil liberties and the quality of life in our welcoming state," said ACLU-TN head Hedy Weinberg. "In addition to its potential Fourth Amendment violations, this legislation harms immigrant families, supports warrantless searches and erodes immigrants' trust in police, leading to underreporting of crime by victims and witnesses. Especially in the wake of the Bean Station raid, this legislation sends a clear message to the nation that Tennessee is becoming the country's 'deportation' capitol."
Immigration advocates have long argued that strict immigration policies and looming crackdowns can scare immigrants from doing basic things like taking their kids to get vaccinations or calling police to report crime, for fear that their immigration status — or that of their family members — will be questioned. On Wednesday, Democratic state Sen. Jeff Yarbro, of Nashville, suggested that dynamic could well have been at play during the day-and-a-half-long manhunt for the alleged Waffle House shooting suspect.
"The legislature put tough talk on immigration ahead of public safety," Yarbro tells the Scene. "On Monday, we needed everyone in southeast Nashville to cooperate with law enforcement to bring the alleged shooter into custody. More families scared to open the door or report what they’d seen for fear of deportation could only have complicated an already difficult task."
Once a bill reaches his desk, Gov. Bill Haslam has 10 days to decide whether to sign it, veto it or let it become law without his signature. The bill passed the House and Senate with large majorities, meaning the legislature would have little problem overriding a veto.
