Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam allowed an anti-sanctuary bill (HR 2315) to become law without his signature. The measure strengthens current anti-sanctuary law by creating penalties for sanctuary cities and requiring police to honor ICE deportation detainers. The law takes effect on January 1, 2019.
Current Tennessee law prohibits written sanctuary policies but not informal practices. That enabled cities like Nashville, Memphis and Knoxville to prevent police from communicating with ICE about criminal aliens. Existing law also does not penalize cities that refuse to drop sanctuary policies or require the kind of cooperation with ICE the law outlines.
During his campaign for governor, Haslam told voters, "Tennessee is paying a price for the failure of the federal government to effectively secure our nation's borders and enforce our immigration laws." He promised to "enforce the state laws on the books and do everything within [his] authority to be sure that Tennessee does not attract illegal activity."
But Haslam was under great pressure to veto HR 2315 from pro-illegal alien groups, which threatened to litigate and boycott the state, and from the media. He appeared to be most worried about the bill’s ICE detainer mandate, which opponents called unconstitutional. The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals had deemed a similar measure under Texas law to be constitutional, however.
Announcing his decision, Haslam said, "We spent a lot of time looking at what are the legal ramifications of this, and we became convinced that really other than expressly stating what was already allowed (it) didn't change (much)…We want to make certain obviously that people are following the legal process…I honestly think at this point in time this is the best thing for the state."
Read more in The Tennessean.
