Illegal immigrants in Tennessee who fail to leave the state after being issued a final federal deportation order may be charged with a crime for not leaving the state.
The Tennessee State Senate passed Senate Bill (SB) 1779, which would create a misdemeanor crime for illegal immigrants who stay in the state after a final federal deportation order is issued against them.
State senators voted 26 to 6 in favor of the bill on Monday. The bill heads to the State House for consideration.
SB 1779 says if illegal immigrants are issued a deportation order, they need to leave the state within 90 days of it being issued by a judge.
If they stay in Tennessee, illegal immigrants will face a Class A misdemeanor charge, which could result in over 11 months in jail and up to a $2,500 fine.
If illegal immigrants are appealing the deportation order under federal law, a state court will need to pause the case until the appeal is finished.
SB 1779 also makes it a crime for illegal immigrants to re-enter the state after being deported. This crime applies to someone who has been denied admission to America, removed from the country, and left the country while a removal order was still active.
The bill proposal creates a Class A misdemeanor charge for this crime.
If illegal immigrants are appealing a case at the federal level, the state court must pause the criminal case, according to the bill proposal.
For the reentry part of the bill proposal to take effect, the Supreme Court must overturn its 2012 Arizona v. United States case, which struck down an Arizona law that sought to increase state enforcement of federal immigration laws.
In the ruling, the justices said the federal government, rather than the state government, controls immigration law.
Another way this part of the bill can take effect is if Congress changes federal law to allow states to enforce immigration status.
Illegal immigrants who could be charged under this bill have to be 18 years or older, SB 1779 says.
Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson (R-Franklin) said Tennessee law does not “clearly address” how the state responds to people who remain in the state with final federal immigration removal orders or people who reenter the country illegally.
Johnson said the bill proposal would “align” state law with federal law.
It does not create any “new immigration classifications or expand state authority to independently determine lawful presence or bypass federal law,” according to Johnson.
Johnson said the first part of the bill would “withstand judicial scrutiny.”
An opponent of the bill, State Senator Jeff Yabro (D-Nashville), said SB 1779 would lead Tennessee into “constitutional litigation.”
“The people of Tennessee send us here to adopt laws, not to just create new lawsuits.”
He added that this bill proposal does not improve the lives of Tennesseans.
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Zachery Schmidt is the digital editor of The Star News Network. Email tips to Zachery at zschmidt1717@gmail.com.
