Gov. Bill Lee wants to create a new state division to enforce immigration laws, mirroring a push from President Donald Trump to expel a record-number of migrants from the country.
The proposed Centralized Immigration Enforcement Division would coordinate federal and state efforts to detain and deport people without legal status, led by a governor appointee.
“President Trump has made it clear that states will play a major role in partnering with his administration to enforce immigration laws and keep communities safe, and Tennessee is heeding the call,” Lee said in a statement.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement already has means of deputizing local law enforcement to act as ICE agents through its 297(g) program, but as of last month, only sheriffs’ offices in Greene and Knox counties were participating. The governor’s proposal would use grant funding to incentivize the program, which would cost Tennessee $5 million for the first year, according to a state fiscal review.
The new division, which comes with a $545,700 price tag, is just one part of an omnibus immigration bill before lawmakers during this week’s special session. The legislature’s focus will be narrowed to disaster relief, immigration and the governor’s signature school voucher program, which the law makes clear will not be offered to undocumented students.
Under Lee’s larger immigration proposal, state officials could be removed from their positions if they institute “sanctuary” policies for immigrants, a practice already prohibited by state law. Another provision would create a separate driver’s license design for Tennesseans without citizenship.
That could worsen racial profiling, said Judith Clerjeune with the Tennessee Immigration and Refugee Rights Coalition.
“Part of the goal is to terrify folks,” Clerjeune said. “We’re seeing kids just not show up to school, and a lot of parents and families are afraid for their safety.”
Students protesting after the Antioch High School shooting criticize the governor’s timing. Josselin Corea Escalante, 16, who lost her life in the attack, fled Guatemala with her family.
“Are they going to be doing anything about the guns?” college student Jermaine Cole Jr. asked a crowd of protestors on the steps of the Capitol. “No. Because they’d rather attack our immigrant and refugee neighbors.”
Lee has said that Trump’s win is a mandate for tighter restrictions on immigration. In a video posted to X, formerly Twitter, Lee said that all three of the special session’s focuses are “things that the vast majority of Tennesseans have said that they want us to do.”
A recent Vanderbilt poll found that roughly half of Tennesseans support general deportations, regardless of the individual’s criminal record.
If ICE agents request access to students or their records in Nashville, it will be fielded by the district’s lawyers, Metro Nashville Public Schools spokesperson Sean Braisted told WPLN News. Parents would also be notified if a request was made.
