Tennessee lawmakers voted Wednesday to move forward with a bill requiring public K-12s and charter schools to verify student immigration status and allow children who cannot prove legally reside in the United States. Unless they pay the tuition fee.
Despite Congress’s own financial analysis, the 5-4 vote by the Senate Education Committee said the proposed law “may put federal funds at risk to federal and local governments” and violated federal civil rights laws. Three Republicans voted “No” for the only Democrat on the committee.
Shortly after the vote was held, screams of “so shameful” and “it’s trash” erupted in the hearing room. Others, including school-age children present, surged out of the room in tears.
Tennessee’s GOP bill targets public school education for immigrant children without legal status
bill(HB793/SB836) Sen. Botson, a Hixon Republican, and William Lambers, leader of the House of Representatives majority, said he “requires” him to provide one of three forms of document to students in his local school district and public charter schools.
Students who lack one of the three forms of documents can be prohibited from being registered by their local school district unless their parents pay the tuition fee.
Watson, sponsor of the bill, said it brought measures in response to increased costs to the state of providing English instruction as English.
“Remember, we’re not talking about people who are legal here,” Watson said. “What I’m trying to argue here is the financial burden that exists on what appears to be an increasing number of people who are not legally here.”
Watson responded to questions from Sen. Raumesh Akbari of Memphis, the panel’s sole Democrat, and said he has not received a formal request from school officials to implement the measure.
“In official capabilities, this is one of those issues people aren’t talking about,” Watson said. “This is a very difficult bill to present. It’s very difficult to have all these eyes on you.”
“Will people mention this issue with me in an informal ability at many events? Absolutely,” Watson said.
Akbari replied: “I’m from the state’s largest school district. I’m not having those conversations.”
“I’m angry at this law,” Akbari said. “I feel that is very opposite to the very foundation of this country.
Plylerv, 1982. A Tennessee Senate hearing for a bill that seeks to overturn Doe was packed Wednesday. (Photo: John Partipilo)
The bill’s sponsors acknowledge that if the measure is enacted, they are likely to face legal challenges. The proposed law was Plylerv of the Supreme Court. He said the aim is to serve as a means of potentially overturning Doe’s decision. The 1982 decision was decided by a 5-4 vote, Watson noted.
“Many 5-4 decisions published in court today may have different outcomes,” Watson said.
The proposed legislation is part of the unprecedented slate of immigration-related bills introduced in the Tennessee Legislature this year, as Gov. Bill Lee and the General Assembly GOP supermajority are trying to match the Trump administration’s immigration policy.
Last month, Lee set up the state’s Immigration Enforcement Bureau to work with the Trump administration, to create clear driver’s licenses for non-citizens, and signed law laws to collect felony charges from local elected officials who vote in favour of sanctuary policies.
I realized that it is against the very foundation of this country… This is a baby you don’t deserve to be an education – you start school at the age of 5.
– Senator Raumesh Akbari, D-Memphis
Among the other roughly 30 immigration-related bills, what is still under consideration is requiring hospitals accepting Medicaid payments to report the status of patients’ immigration. Another bill would provide charities, including churches, with housing services to individuals who do not have permanent legal immigration status and open to lawsuits if the individual continues to commit a crime.
Following Wednesday’s hearing at the Senate Education Committee, hundreds of people gathered in the corridors of Congress to chant “education for everyone” and pledge that the bill will return as it passes the committee’s process.
The bill “instills fear and despair in these students,” said Ruby Aguilar, a Nashville teacher who testified against the bill at the hearing. “Education is not just a privilege, it is a shared human right that all children can access.”
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