The bill that would make it a crime for individuals without legal immigrant status to step into Tennessee, cleared the House Subcommittee on Tuesday.
Laws criminalizing the act of being Tennessee without legal immigration status would involve both prison time and eviction notices from the state. The judge must issue a 72-hour warning and leave Tennessee to anyone charged or convicted of the crime.
The first offence is a misdemeanor, but if someone is charged for the second or later time, it becomes a felony.
“This bill is a measured and responsible step to protecting Tennessee communities, enforcing the rule of law and destroying our state to illegal immigrants,” Rep. Lee Reeves, a Republican from Franklin, told members of the House Division and agency agency subcommittee.
Sen. Jack Johnson, also a Franklin Republican, is another sponsor of the measure.
Immigration rights advocates called the measure “an incredibly inhumane bill that puts lives and families at risk,” and undermines the US Constitution.
“We need people who live peacefully here and sometimes for decades who are contributing to our community, and we put our targets on our backs based on who they are, where they came from, and whether the federal government has decided to give them a path to citizenship.”
Immigration enforcement is federal responsibility. While state and local law enforcement agencies can enter into agreements with US immigration and customs enforcement agencies to enforce federal immigration laws, a Supreme Court decision more than a decade ago established that states cannot deprive the federal government of exclusive powers to enact immigration enforcement laws.
The bill is considered a trigger law. If approved, it only works if any of three things occurs.
If the Supreme Court overturns the Arizona vs. US decision, the 2012 case in which Arizona attempt to create a new state immigration crime was unconstitutional, will automatically take effect on the next January 1st or July 1st.
Alternatively, the bill could come into effect after ratification of US Constitutional amendments and grant states the right to regulate immigration.
The third condition causes measures to become effective in Tennessee if other states have similar illegal entry laws that are permitted to remain in effect for 60 days.
The contents of the bill, originally introduced as a so-called caption bill that includes placeholder language, were revealed in an amendment submitted Tuesday.
Republicans in the House and agency approved the measure without questioning or debating on a 7-1 vote along the party line. It is not yet scheduled for the next committee hearing.
