Legislators in Tennessee still plan to write immigration law like Arizona's

By Nicole Young, The Tennessean

Despite a federal judge's ruling that put most of Arizona's controversial immigration law on hold Wednesday, Tennessee lawmakers still plan to introduce a similar law when the legislature returns in January.

A group of eight Tennessee legislators will visit Arizona on Friday in a show of support for the law, which requires non-citizens to carry identification papers at all times and instructs police to check the immigration status of anyone suspected of being in the U.S. illegally.

The group, which includes state Sen. Jack Johnson, R-Franklin, Sen. Bill Ketron, R-Murfreesboro, and Rep. Joe Carr, R-Lascassas, will meet with sponsors of the Arizona legislation and attend a seminar detailing provisions of the law.

"We're absolutely going to introduce something similar if not identical to the Arizona legislation in Tennessee next year, and this ruling isn't going to change that," said Johnson, whose district includes parts of Davidson County. 

"The people of the United States have had enough and are sick and tired of the federal government abdicating its responsibility of securing the border and dealing with the people who are in this country illegally, especially when those people are committing crimes."

All four major candidates for Tennessee governor said Wednesday they support Arizona and that states must act if the federal government fails to stop illegal immigration.

For now, opponents of the law have prevailed: The provisions that angered them will not take effect today, including sections that required officers to check a person's immigration status while enforcing other laws.

U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton also delayed parts of the law that required immigrants to carry their papers at all times, and made it illegal for undocumented workers to solicit employment in public places. She also blocked officers from making warrantless arrests of suspected illegal immigrants.

Hedy Weinberg, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee, said she sees Bolton's ruling as a first step toward finding all the key provisions of the Arizona law unconstitutional.

"It's important that those who once supported this law begin to understand that it interferes with federal authority and encourages racial profiling," Weinberg said.

"Hopefully (this ruling) will be a reminder to other states that they should not pursue this type of legislative strategy."

Arizona Republican Gov. Jan Brewer said the state is likely to appeal.

Carr said Wednesday he sees the issue ending up in the U.S. Supreme Court. "I believe she's in error, and I believe the appellate court will agree," he said. "But I don't see either side backing down from the issue."

Jackson beer distributor Mike McWherter, the only Democrat running for governor, said he would work with other governors to take action on immigration if the federal government does not.

"Today's ruling reinforces why I am opposed to the federal government's lawsuit against the state of Arizona, this is a federal issue," McWherter said in a statement. "We must control our border and crack down on employers that hire undocumented workers."

Republican candidate and Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam agreed.

"I'm sympathetic with the state of Arizona," he said in a statement, "and other states, including Tennessee, will continue to look for alternative solutions if Washington doesn't do its job and fix the problem."

U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp said Arizona's law should be upheld.

The ruling "should be quickly challenged because we must stop the influx of illegal immigrants into this country," Wamp said in a statement. "Arizona is right. If the federal government won't enforce the law, then as governor, I will."

Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey said he was disappointed with the injunction.

"I stand with Tennesseans in steadfast support of Gov. Jan Brewer, the Arizona legislature and the people of Arizona who are daily suffering under the scourge of illegal immigration at the hands of drug cartels and violent illegal criminals," Ramsey said in a statement.

"I remain in favor of a similar law for the state of Tennessee and when I become the next governor you can bet that we will have an illegal immigration law like Arizona's to address the very serious issue of illegal immigration within our state."

According to a recent poll conducted for The Tennessean and other media outlets, 72 percent of voters say they would support enacting a law similar to the one passed in Arizona.

"I would be very concerned if I were in the legislature and I didn't listen to what 72 percent of the people want," Davidson County Sheriff Daron Hall said.

"I'm not in the immigration conversation really, but there is frustration about immigration, and I think that frustration comes from people knowing they are expected to pay taxes and live by the laws. They think people who come here should do the same." 

Hall and other police here check immigration status only after a suspect is arrested. Arizona's law differs in that police can check immigration status on traffic stops.

"The legislators pass the laws and we enforce them," Hall said. "What we're doing now is working, and it's doing what we set out for it to do. We face similar criticisms from folks, but the big difference is that we are in contract with the federal government to do what we need to do.

"They decide who gets deported. I don't."

'In the best interest'

Opponents argue that an Arizona-type law in Tennessee would lead to racial profiling, conflict with federal immigration law and distract local police from fighting more serious crimes.

"(Bolton's) ruling is in the best interest of all of us and can be summed up in one sentence: The Arizona immigration law is in fact un-American," said Stephen Fotopulos, executive director of the Tennessee Immigration and Refugee Rights Coalition.

"In America we do
not condone warrantless arrests. In America we don't allow police to treat someone with suspicion just because they look or sound foreign born."

Fotopulos said the best solution is to fix the country's legal immigration process. "We depend on ... hundreds of thousands of workers per year and yet we only give out 5,000 visas worldwide," he said.

Vanderbilt assistant political science professor Efren Perez said the system "is in tatters."

"Basically it's a supply and demand issue," he said. "If we had more legal immigration slots, some of this wouldn't be a problem, but politicians have figured out that this issue pays dividends.

"More border patrol and agents is good for press, but there hasn't been much emphasis on the issue of legal immigration."

PROVISIONS PUT ON HOLD

? The section that requires an officer to make an attempt to determine the immigration status of a person stopped, detained or arrested if there's reasonable suspicion he or she is in the country illegally.
? The section that creates a crime of failure to apply for or carry "alien-registration papers."
? Language that makes it a crime for illegal immigrants to solicit, apply for or perform work. (This does not include a section on day laborers.)
? The part that allows for a warrantless arrest of a person where there is probable cause to believe he or she has committed a public offense that makes them removable from the United States.

- THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC