Tennessee state Rep. Todd Warner is seeking to introduce an alternative to President-elect Donald Trump's mass deportation initiative, proposing to send migrants accused of minor crimes to sanctuary cities rather than expelling them from the country.
Warner, a Republican, filed the bill called Tennessee Illegal Immigration Act ahead of the legislative session. The proposal would also ensure that all law enforcement agencies report unauthorized immigrants to federal immigration authorities.
The state representative argued that sending migrants to sanctuary cities, rather than deporting them, could cost the state less even if the federal government would eventually take on deportation costs, he told Fox 17. Under his plan, if Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) doesn't show up 48 hours after a migrant is detained, law enforcement would help send that person to a sanctuary city.
"It seeks to make Tennessee safer. It seeks to make the federal government, you know, hold their feet to the fire and enforce immigration law, and it seeks the state to recoup some costs back out of it," he said.
The Republican lawmaker also sought to differentiate the levels of crimes, explaining that he plans on adding an amendment to the bill that only those with a minor offense would be able to qualify for this measure. By contrast, those who have committed violent crimes, he said, would be subject to the judicial system and deported.
"This is for victimless crimes. This is not for someone that has committed a terrible crime," said Warner.
The bill has been met with some pushback from immigration advocates who worry the measure could separate families.
"The mere act of being transported away from your family is damaging," said Hannah Smally, the Advocacy and Education Manager at Tennessee Justice for Our Neighbors. "This means that people, including people who have not been charged with crimes, are going to be facing these really punitive consequences just on the basis of their immigration status."
The bill comes as sanctuary cities have made headlines ahead of President-elect Donald Trump's mass deportation plans.
Since Trump declared victory right after the November elections, some Democratic-led cities and states have "Trump-proofed" their jurisdictions in efforts to prevent mass deportation from ravaging their neighborhoods.
Most notably, Los Angeles passed a law that prohibits its resources, including city employees and the police department, from being used to carry out federal immigration enforcement. Similarly, the Los Angeles Unified School District declared itself a sanctuary for migrants, adopting resolutions that reassert schools as safe havens from immigration enforcement and that prevent employees from voluntarily sharing the immigration status of children and their families with federal agents.
By contrast, another long-time sanctuary city for migrants, New York City, has been in the spotlight, as its mayor, Eric Adams, has touted at reversing the practice, saying it has gone "too far," and cozying up to the Trump administration and its proposed mass deportation efforts.
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