WPBN: A senator from the state of Tennessee has proposed a bill that would prohibit law enforcement from deporting illegal immigrants who have been charged of committing minor offenses to other countries and instead transfer them to sanctuary communities.
Prior to the beginning of the legislative session, the Tennessee Illegal Immigration Act was submitted by its Republican representative, State Representative Todd Warner. Furthermore, the legislation would guarantee that all law enforcement agencies would report unlawful migrants to the authorities in charge of immigration at the federal level.
In spite of the fact that the federal government would eventually be responsible for paying the costs of deportation, Warner stated that transferring migrants to a sanctuary city could end up costing the state less than sending them back to their home countries.
“It seeks to make Tennessee safer. It seeks to make the federal government, you know hold their feet to the fire and enforce immigration law and it seeks the state to recoup some costs back out of it,” he stated.
Law enforcement would assist in transporting an illegal immigrant to a sanctuary city in the event that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) failed to show up within forty-eight hours to pick up the individual who is being held in custody.
Warner stated that the agency responsible for the arrests would be the one to be responsible for moving the migrants who were detained.
The money that Tennessee collects for the federal government through the gas tax would be withheld, according to Warner, in order to support this expenditure.
According to the legislator, he intends to include an amendment that will make it clear that the bill will only apply to illegal immigrants who have been charged with a simple infraction. Individuals who have committed violent crimes would still be vulnerable to deportation.
“This is for victimless crimes. This is not for someone that has committed a terrible crime,” Warner stated.
Tennessee Justice for Our Neighbors’ Advocacy and Education Manager, Hannah Smalley, contends that the plan will needlessly split up immigrant families.
“The mere act of being transported away from your family is damaging,” she stated. “This means that people, including people who have not been charged with crimes, are going to be facing these really punitive consequences just on the basis of their immigration status.”
“When U.S. citizens commit crimes and we pay a fine or we go to jail,” she continued. “Immigrants are also doing that. So to then make this about someone’s immigration status, which is totally separate from any kind of crime that they would have committed, is not productive to our community as a whole.”
Warner stated that although he still needs to make some changes to the law, he hopes the legislature will support it with both parties.
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