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Some Tennessee lawmakers want more privacy for agents involved in immigration enforcement and less privacy for residents who use public services.
As part of the Republican-led state legislature’s extensive immigration platform, House committees considered a bill this week that would withhold identifying information of law enforcement involved in immigration enforcement — including federal agencies like Immigration and Customs Enforcement — while also advancing a bill that would require local governments to track the immigration statuses of those who utilize public schools, jails, hospitals and other public resources.
On Wednesday, activists lined the hallway and packed the room where the State and Local Government Committee was set to discuss HB1711, which would not only require local governments to track individuals’ immigration statuses but would also create a Class A misdemeanor charge for any official who did not comply. The trigger bill would only go into effect if the Supreme Court overrules Plyler v. Doe, which allows children of all immigration statuses to attend public schools.
After an hour and a half of waiting, the crowd was told the bill, one of eight written in conjunction with White House Adviser Stephen Miller and sponsored by state Republicans, was deferred for a second week in a row.
The tracking bill is the harsher of two similar pieces of legislation floated by Republicans this year. The other, HB 793, is a watered-down version of a bill originally intended to challenge Plyler, allowing school boards to charge tuition or deny enrollment to non-citizen students. That bill was gutted and converted into a K-12 school-tracking bill this year as sponsor Rep. William Lamberth (R-Portland) feared the state would lose $1 billion in federal funding if it ran afoul of Plyler.
Though Lamberth’s bill no longer directly denies any student access to schools, educators and immigration activists are concerned that it would open the door for further enforcement and, in turn, discourage kids from immigrant communities from attending school.
While Lamberth has stalled and amended the bill on the House side to protect the state’s federal education funding, educators have criticized the bill as an “unfunded mandate,” which would cost school districts additional dollars to add and train staff to interpret immigration documents.
An advocacy group recently estimated the tracking requirements would cost schools across the state as much as $55 million in the first year, with many expenses recurring each year. The state’s fiscal analysis found no significant impact to Lamberth’s bill, but estimated HB 1711, the other tracking bill, would cost more than $100,000 annually.
The biggest looming financial question about Lamberth’s tracking bill lies in the Senate, where the bill already passed in its original, Plyler-be-damned form last year.
While the Senate could conform to the House version of the bill — presuming it advances — no such amendment has been filed, and Sen. Bo Watson (R-Hixson) has not committed to conforming to Lamberth’s reigned-in version.
When the Banner asked Watson’s office to discuss the bill, Watson declined. A staffer said he would not discuss because the bill hadn’t passed on the House floor yet, saying Watson “does not have anything new to add to the conversation as of this time.”
If the bill passes the House in a different form than what was passed in the Senate, it could force a conference committee, an opaque meeting of lawmakers that is often held without notice, outside of regular committee hearings.
Concealing law enforcement names
Though HB1711 was deferred, another immigration bill proposed by Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson (R-Franklin) and sponsored by House Speaker Cameron Sexton was heard and voted on by the committee on Wednesday.
That bill, HB 2506, would allow law enforcement agencies to conceal the names of agents involved in immigration enforcement specifically and would, again, threaten local officials with a criminal penalty for noncompliance. It would also require that details of future immigration enforcement, including dates, times and other details, be confidential.
This legislation, which was written by Johnson to target Mayor Freddie O’Connell after he shared basic information about an ICE operation in Nashville last summer, would create a Class E Felony charge for noncompliance.
Rep. Dan Howell (R-Cleveland) said the bill was necessary to protect law enforcement from people seeking to harass or harm those involved in immigration enforcement.
“This addresses the safety of their contact and personal information and officer safety should not vary by zip code,” Howell said.
Democrats on the committee opposed the bill, arguing that limiting transparency would also impede accountability for agents who behave unprofessionally.
Rep. Bo Mitchell (D-Nashville) said that he is always in favor of protecting police, but had concerns about the lack of training for ICE.
“I think we ought to know who these people are because they don’t have the type of training necessary,” Mitchell said.
“When we get to the point that we’re hiding these people’s identities and we’re in a society where it’s OK to pick up people off the street and take them to an undisclosed location and not tell their family or their attorney or anyone else, it's beyond a slippery slope,” Mitchell continued.
Citing ICE killings, including the shooting deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minneapolis early this year, Mitchell said he had to oppose this bill.
“Right now it’s citizens 0, these out of control officers who don’t represent most of society 2,” Mitchell said, adding that he would “err on the side of protecting citizens.”
Republicans rushed to vote on the bill, calling the question even as several committee members had their hands raised to speak. It passed along party lines.
Rep. John Crawford (R-Kingsport), who chairs the State and Local Government Committee where HB1711 was meant to be heard, also abruptly adjourned the meeting after just one of three people who signed up to discuss another Miller-driven immigration bill which would mandate local law enforcement to partner with ICE had testified, citing another committee that was set to start in the same room five minutes earlier.
Rep. Gabby Salinas (D-Memphis) seemed surprised by the meeting ending mid-bill and asked if those signed up to testify would have to sign up again. Crawford said yes.
This article first appeared on Nashville Banner and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Here’s a beautiful story of how one mother turned her grief journey into a gathering of gratitude… and organ donation awareness.
Robb Coles highlights a special event organized by Cari Hollis – whose 26-year old son Austin died two years ago. Austin agreed to be an organ donor – and that single gesture saved multiple lives.
Cari reached out to as many recipients she could find – several of whom traveled to Nashville for an emotional celebration in Austin’s honor. One woman – whose life was saved by receiving Austin’s lungs – put it simply: “He’s my angel”.
- Rhori Johnston
