More than 20 Chattanooga business owners have denounced the bill for demanding background checks for immigration for students in Tennessee public schools as “economically reckless.”
The Tennessee Small Business Alliance represents restaurants, real estate companies, retailers and other local employers operating within the district represented by Senator Botson.
Watson, a Republican, shares a common law requiring evidence of legal residence to get into public kindergarten and high school. The bill would also give public schools either to charge tuition fees to families of children who cannot prove that they are legally resident in the United States, or to completely deny their right to public education.
House leader Gallatin William Lambers is the co-sponsor of the bill and has received significant, but not unanimous, support from Tennessee Republicans. Unlike Watson, Lamberth’s version of the bill is optional rather than mandatory, to check student immigration status in all Tennessee public schools.
A bill banning certain immigrant children from Tennessee public schools
One of the most controversial bills to be considered during the 2025 legislative conference, the bill has great momentum as Congress ends the year, even if it portrays a raucous protest from time to time. The law will next be discussed in a House committee on Monday.
A statement issued by the Business Alliance described the law as “cruel, economically reckless, political stunts that are not entirely staged with local values.”
He said more than 430,000 immigrants in Tennessee paid $4.4 billion in taxes, citing estimates compiled by the American Council of Immigration, a nonprofit advocacy agency.
Watson said in an emailed statement from Chattanooga Public Relations Company Waterhouse Public Relations Company that his bill “supposes important questions about the financial responsibility of education.” Undocumented Students in Tennessee – Questions not being drowned for a long time. ”
The statement said the 1982 Supreme Court decision in Priler v. Daw, which established the right to public schooling for all children regardless of immigrant status, was “never been reconsidered in the context of today’s assignments.” Watson is working on “a transparent, fact-driven discussion of how Tennessee allocates educational resources and how federal obligations affect state budgets and priorities,” according to the statement.
Do our representatives believe that undocumented children who have not spoken about their status of immigration should be denied public education despite already paying taxes to fund our schools?
– Kelly Fitzgerald, business owner in Chattanooga
Watson previously said the law was partially spurred by the rising costs of English instruction in state public schools.
Democrats criticize the argument based on the inaccurate assumption that English learners lack the legal immigration status.
Kelly Fitzgerald, founder of the Chattanooga coworking business and one of 27 employers who signed the condemnation statement, criticized lawmakers. ”
“Do our representatives believe that undocumented children who have not spoken about immigration status should be denied public education despite already paying taxes to fund our school?” said Fitzgerald, whose child attends Hamilton County Public Schools.
“My kids have an incredible education in our public schools. I hope that every child has the same rights and opportunities as mine,” she said.
“In my opinion, this is not something our lawmakers should spend their resources when there are far greater issues in our current environment,” she said. “We should remove children from the conversation.”
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