Another State Bans Sanctuary Cities - Tennessee
By Preston Huennekens on May 1, 2018
Tennessee is the latest state to pass legislation banning the establishment of sanctuary cities. House Bill 2315 passed the House 64-23 and the Senate 25-5 and now awaits the signature of Republican Governor Bill Haslam.
Introduced by Rep. Jay Reedy, the bill mandates that Tennessee law enforcement comply with detainer notices from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). It further attempts to prevent the future creation of local sanctuary policies by barring such jurisdictions from receiving "any state moneys until the sanctuary policy is repealed, rescinded, or otherwise no longer in effect."
According to the Center's sanctuary city map, Tennessee does not currently have any sanctuary jurisdictions, and neither ICE nor the Department of Justice identified any Tennessee localities with such policies.
Tennessee follows Iowa and Texas as the most recent states to ban sanctuary policies state-wide. The opening text of the bill says that "allowing illegal immigrants to reside within this state undermines federal immigration laws and state laws allocating available resources." With the passage of HB 2315 Tennessee has made clear their state's commitment to enforcing federal immigration law.
https://cis.org/Huennekens/Another-S...nctuary-Cities
Black urges Haslam to sign controversial anti-sanctuary cities legislation
May 3rd, 2018
by Andy Sher
NASHVILLE - Tennessee Republican gubernatorial hopeful Diane Black on Thursday urged Gov. Bill Haslam to sign a controversial anti-"sanctuary city" bill that threatens local governments with loss of new state economic development grants if they don't cooperate with federal immigration officials.
"The voters of Tennessee want our leaders in Nashville to get tough on illegal immigration," said Black, a congressman running in the multi-candidate GOP gubernatorial primary on Aug. 2, in a statement. "Sanctuary cities have no place in our state, and Governor Haslam should sign the anti-sanctuary cities legislation passed by the General Assembly – the duly elected representatives of the people of Tennessee."
She called it a "common-sense bill that supports law enforcement and prohibits local governments from rewarding illegal immigration. It needs to become a common-sense law."
Haslam's office had no immediate comment.
When asked about the legislation last week, the term-limited governor told reporters "on that bill in particular we want to look at any constitutional issues that might exist as well as real issues for local law enforcement."
"We literally haven't seen the language," said Haslam, noting provisions "took a couple of turns there in the end."
Although Tennessee already has a 2009 law barring cities and counties from adopting so-called "sanctuary" policies regarding undocumented immigrants, proponents say the bill, sponsored by Sen. Mark Green, R-Clarksville, and Rep. Jay Reedy, R-Erwin, applies to unwritten policies and practices and has economic consequences.
The bill requires local sheriffs and police to go along with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement requests to hold immigrants suspected of entering the country illegally.
The requests, under what is known as a "detainer" or "immigration hold," are used by federal authorities to have local and state law enforcement agencies detain people suspected of being in the U.S. illegally who've come into contact with police.
Under President Donald Trump's administration, federal officials are moving more aggressively on deportation efforts.
During committee hearings, Terry Ashe, executive director of the Tennessee Sheriffs Association, told lawmakers that sheriffs typically comply with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainer requests to keep detainees for 48 hours. That often runs longer because the limitation doesn't include weekends and holidays.
But Ashe said sheriffs need flexibility to release people mistakenly identified as being in the U.S. illegally. Law enforcement currently has discretion to do that, Ashe said.
http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/b...lation/469969/