Anti-illegal immigration bill passes Senate

By John Rodgers, Nashville City Paper
April 04, 2006

The state Senate passed a bill Monday that paves the way for the Tennessee Highway Patrol to have illegal immigration enforcement authority.

The measure requires the commissioner of the state’s Department of Safety to make an agreement with the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security to train Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP) officers in enforcing “federal immigration laws, detention and removals, and investigations of the state of Tennessee,” according to the bill and its amendments.

Currently, all THP officers can do is refer illegal immigration suspects to the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

“It’s time for the legislature to tell the Department of Safety that it’s time to start the training,” said Sen. Mark Norris (R-Collierville).

The state immigration reform comes while the U.S. Senate is mired in deep debate concerning one of the top issues in America today.

But critics of the measure say that for the THP to enforce illegal immigration laws, they would have to consider the person’s nationality before deciding to penalize or arrest them.

“It’s an open invitation to racial profiling,” said Joe Sweat, a lobbyist for the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee.

Senators Douglas Henry and Joe Haynes, both Democrats from Nashville, rose in opposition to the bill on the Senate floor, but when a final vote was taken, they abstained. The bill eventually passed 23-0 with five abstentions and five lawmakers not present.

Both Haynes and Henry, two lawyers, were concerned, among other things, that the state was giving the federal government too much authority and opening up the possibility for racial profiling of anyone who looks Hispanic.

“I’m a little bit concerned about the federal government sticking their noses in our business one more time,” Haynes said.

But Haynes is sponsoring another bill with Rep. Gary Moore (D-Nashville) that essentially does the same thing. When Norris brought Haynes’ bill to his attention, Haynes said it was a “permissive” bill that Moore had brought to him.

Gov. Phil Bredesen is also generally against the bill, not because of racial profiling reasons, but rather because of fiscal ones.

“I don’t think it’s appropriate for the state or we ought to be spending a lot of our money having the Highway Patrol expanded to go out and look for illegal immigrants or something,” Bredesen said last week, adding that he thinks immigration is a national issue.

Norris’ bill would involve the federal government, however, for both a portion of the funding and five weeks of training for about 32 THP officers.

The training would be paid for through grants from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security at an estimated cost of $100,000 in the program’s first year and $50,000 in subsequent years.

The state will only fund the operational costs of when a THP officer might be enforcing federal immigration laws that the ICE usually handles. It’s unknown how often a THP officer would enforce immigration, but it’s estimated at less than $100,000 per year.

While the bill passed the Senate, it still must clear hurdles in the House. The next one will be the State Government Subcommittee of the State and Local Committee.

There are currently more than 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States.