A coalition of immigrant rights advocates has filed a federal lawsuit challenging a new Tennessee law set to go into effect July 1 that would make it a crime for certain noncitizens with final deportation orders to remain in the state.
Signed by Governor Bill Lee in April, Section 1 of House Bill 1704 creates a new state criminal offense for adults who are subject to a final federal order of removal and intentionally fail or refuse to leave Tennessee within 90 days. Violations would be classified as Class A misdemeanors, carrying penalties of up to 11 months and 29 days in jail and fines of up to $2,500.
The 17-page lawsuit, filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, argues that HB 1704 unlawfully intrudes on the federal government’s exclusive authority over immigration enforcement and deportation.
Plaintiffs argue in the complaint that Section 1 of HB 1704 “purports to give Tennessee state officials the unprecedented power to regulate the removal of noncitizens” by creating a state crime that applies only to certain immigrants with final removal orders.
The lawsuit argues the law effectively allows Tennessee to establish its own immigration enforcement system, separate from the federal system.
“Removal from the country is a quintessentially federal authority,” the complaint states, arguing Section 1 of HB 1704 violates the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution. “Courts have long and repeatedly recognized the dominant federal interest in removal, which flows directly from the sovereign powers of the federal government—powers that the states do not have.”
The challenge was brought by the National Immigration Law Center, the American Civil Liberties Union’s (ACLU) Immigrants’ Rights Project, and the ACLU of Tennessee on behalf of two “longtime” noncitizens residing in the Volunteer State, who both have previous final removal orders with current pending immigration applications.
The lawsuit asks the court to declare Section 1 of HB 1704 unconstitutional under the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution and to block Tennessee officials from enforcing the law before it takes effect next month.
– – –
Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network.
