NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee House lawmakers have advanced legislation to ban landlords from renting or subleasing housing to people in the U.S. illegally.
Republican Rep. Bruce Griffey's bill cleared the House Business Subcommittee on Tuesday.
Griffey says the bill would penalize landlords for allowing residents in their property while knowing or recklessly disregarding that they're in the U.S. illegally. First-time penalties would include a misdemeanor punishable by a $350 fine, with increasing penalties.
The Tennessee Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition said the bill denies communities basic human dignity and puts children at risk of homelessness.
Another subcommittee Tuesday overwhelmingly rejected Griffey's other bill to charge fees on international money transfers from people in Tennessee who can't present a driver's license. Griffey has said it could help fund President Donald Trump's U.S.-Mexico border wall.
