Thread: TN-Finney backs immigration bill

Finney backs immigration bill

BY NICHOLAS BEADLE
NBEADLE@JACKSONSUN.COM
• May 27, 2010

State Sen. Lowe Finney says he backs local counties' involvement in a Senate immigration bill after the bill was amended this week.



The bill, scheduled for a vote today, would require sheriffs to contact federal immigrations enforcement if the citizenship of a person in their custody cannot be confirmed within three days.

Finney was unavailable for an interview Wednesday, but said in a statement that the bill changed significantly Monday and noted that 50 counties were at one point exempt from the bill because of the work of both Republicans and Democrats.

He said in statements this week that concerns he heard from sheriffs and county officials about the bill were based on thin staffing and a lack of training on how to deal with illegal immigration. Previous drafts of the bill did not include needed standards or guidance on how to implement the legislation, Finney said.

"Unlike our leaders in Washington, I'm not going to send down mandates for our local governments without support," Finney said in a statement distributed Tuesday. "I will continue to fight the problem of illegal immigration and will ensure that law enforcement has the tools they need to enforce the laws we pass."

Former state Sen. Don McLeary, a Republican whom Finney bested in the 2006 election, criticized Finney in a statement and at a forum in East Madison County on Monday for at one point supporting exemptions for Madison, Carroll and Gibson counties in the bill.

McLeary faces Jim Harding in August in the GOP primary for Finney's seat.

"Clearly the problem of illegal immigration is not going to be addressed by President Obama or Speaker Pelosi or any of the Democrats in Washington anytime soon," McLeary said in a statement. "So if D.C. is not going to act, the state of Tennessee will have to, provided we have elected officials with the courage to stand up."


http://www.jacksonsun.com/article/20100 ... 8/1002/rss

We need some activists to look into this quickly today.

Is this bill very similar to the AZ bill? If so, we could add TN to the national list of states.

Please look into it and let me know.

W