Tennessee GOP passes immigration law to criminalize elected officials’ votes

Tennessee Republicans finalized an immigration bill Thursday establishing a new enforcement office exempt from public records law and criminalizing local officials who support sanctuary policies for immigrants.

The GOP supermajority in the General Assembly this week gave swift passage to the immigration enforcement law despite warnings from staff attorneys that the bill is “constitutionally suspect” in its unprecedented effort to curtail elected officials’ voting decisions.

Shortly after the bill’s final passage, the ACLU of Tennessee said in a statement it was preparing to sue the state over the pending law. The bill will soon go to Gov. Bill Lee’s desk.

The legislation will fund a $5 million office within the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security, allowing Lee to tap an enforcement director and incentivize local law enforcement entities to enter into a contract program with federal immigration authorities. The bill will also establish a new driver’s license that distinguishes U.S. citizens from legal permanent residents.

Criminalizing votes of local officials

The bill aims to criminalize local officials such as city council members or county commissioners who cast a vote for any local immigration “sanctuary” policy. Tennessee has long banned such policies, which generally limit how much local or state governments are willing to cooperate with federal immigration authorities.

“It is illegal under state law to set up sanctuary cities. That statute, as defined now, does not have any teeth in it,” said House Majority Leader William Lamberth, R-Portland. “We are not going to allow cities and counties set up a sanctuary city. If they vote to do so, absolutely it will be a felony and they will be removed from office.”

The criminalization clause is an unprecedented step by the Republican legislative supermajority to control the specific votes of local officials. There are constitutional protections in both the U.S. Constitution and state Constitution considered to be protections for elected official actions such as votes or speech made during legislative debate.

A single Republican, Sen. Todd Gardenhire, R-Chattanooga, joined Democrats in voting against the measure, calling it a “dangerous precedent” to charge local officials for casting a vote.

Rep. Joe Towns, D-Memphis, said the supermajority had gone “freaking berserk with power.”

“They’re drunk with power, and they think they can do anything they want to do without anybody saying anything or fighting back,” Towns said.

Tennessee lawmakers themselves have frequently passed laws at odds with federal law, such as the state’s abortion trigger ban that was unenforceable when Lee signed it into law.

But GOP leadership this week have waved away inquiries about why state officials can enjoy the ability to cast a vote without fear of criminal retribution, while local officials should be held criminally accountable.

“We’ve made it clear across Tennessee for the past several years that sanctuary city and sanctuary policies are illegal,” said Sen. Bo Watson, R-Hixson. “This is all consistent with that. There’s no hypocrisy at all.”

Rep. Gabby Salinas, D-Memphis, was diagnosed with bone cancer as a child and immigrated to Tennessee from Bolivia with her family to seek cancer treatment. While in Tennessee, her father died in a catastrophic car accident that also paralyzed her mother. Salinas said the late Republican U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson intervened to pass legislation to help her and her family obtain citizenship.

Salinas questioned if the legislature would consider Thompson a felon today for his efforts.

“I know for y’all it’s talking points, but I hope by sharing my story you’ll see there’s a human cost to this,” Salinas said in the freshman’s first comments on the House floor. “You will see this is not just numbers when you say illegal this and illegal that, and then call yourself a Christian. At one point in our state, we had statesmen like Sen. Fred Thompson.”

Lamberth suggested Salinas’ family sought citizenship through the correct channels.

“My hope is that nobody is prosecuted under this,” Lamberth said. “Just don’t vote for these policies. Don’t push them. Don’t implement them.”

Bill sponsors continually argued this week the election of President Donald Trump represented an immigration mandate, and the new law is needed to help Trump enforce his immigration policies. Trump has issued no guidance to states on cooperation agreements, nor does the new Tennessee law make substantive changes to how law enforcement can cooperate with federal officials.

Local law enforcement can already apply to the federal contract program, called 287(g) agreements. Watson said this week the law would clarify law enforcement can enter into the agreements independently without sign-off from a local governing body.

Tennessee currently has 287(g) agreements in Knox and Green counties, while Putnam County has an application pending. Davidson County dropped its coordination agreement in 2012 after myriad issues, including a controversy after a routine traffic stop led law enforcement to shackle a detained woman to a hospital bed while she gave birth.

The new department would also act as liasion between local, state and federal authorities on immigration issue, in addition to direct grant money to assist locals in establishing the 287(g) programs.

Shortly after the bill received final passage in the House on Thursday, ACLU-TN Legal Director Stella Yarbrough said the organization is preparing a lawsuit to challenge the new bill. Yarbrough called it “unprecedented, unconstitutional” legislation.

“Threatening officials with felony charges and criminal prosecution based solely on how they vote raises significant constitutional concerns,” Yarbrough said. “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.”

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee GOP passes immigration measures during special session

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