Concern about a new state sanctuary city bill sparked protests in Nashville over the past few weeks, with educators and religious leaders on the forefront, opposing the legislation that would ban sanctuary cities in Tennessee.
The bill is likely to become law this week as a majority of the Tennessee House and Senate supporting the legislation.
Sen. Richard Briggs (R-Knoxville) explains sanctuary cities as any city whose government or law enforcement doesn't comply with ICE in regards to questioning or holding illegal immigrants.
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He said that's against federal law, and the state needs to follow the law, regardless of the humanitarian consequences.
Sanctuary cities are common throughout the country, offering immigrants a safe haven in the united states, with less fear of ICE agents.
Current legislation already bans sanctuary cities in Tennessee.
House Bill 2315, which is sitting on Governor Haslam's desk now, strengthens that.
"This reinforced the idea that state nor local governments nor state or local officials could not obey federal laws," said Briggs.
Briggs said laws are meant to be followed, and federal laws trump all other legislation.
But countless opponents of the bill said the affects on immigrant families are more important than law. One of those people is Dr. David Linge, founder of the Welcoming Immigrant Faith Network.
"Our current immigration policy is terrorizing people and destroying families," said Linge. "I'm currently concerned myself about the affect on families."
Briggs said families are separated all the time by other crimes, and illegal immigration should be no different.
"We can't have individuals or we can't have cities deciding that they're just not going to obey laws," said Briggs. "It's a bigger issue than just immigration. They may decide they don't want to obey other laws, and that's just not how things should work in this country."
Briggs expects Governor Haslam to pass the bill, but Linge is hoping he'll consider the hurt he says the legislation will bring to immigrants in Tennessee.
"This legislation takes bad immigration policy in practice, and universalizes it, therefore making it far worse," said Linge. "It's mean-spirited, vicious. It won't work. It doesn't make us safer."
An early draft of HB 2315 would require every law enforcement agency in the state to have their officers do the work of ICE agencies.
An amendment now makes it optional for cities to do so, but not required.
Right now, the Knox County Sheriff's Office is the only agency in the state to do so.
The bill also states if a city does become or act as a sanctuary city, they will not be eligible for an economic and community development grant. Briggs said that is the penalty for breaking the proposed legislation.