Tennessee GOP Gubernatorial Hopeful Introduces Sanctuary City Ban

NASHVILLE, TN — Tennessee has no sanctuary cities and a state senator and Republican gubernatorial hopeful would like to keep it that way.

State Sen. Mark Green, Republican of Clarksville, has introduced a bill which bars law enforcement agencies, including campus police from engaging in so-called sanctuary policies, even if those policies are informal. Green's bill provides a relatively exhaustive list of what would be considered such a policy under his proposal and directs that cities engaging in them would be denied state funding.

The billdefines sanctuary policies as prohibitions on reporting immigration status to federal authorities, refusal to comply with detainer warrants, imposing condition or otherwise hindering the transfer of undocumented aliens to federal custody, and prohibitions on police from inquiring about someone's immigration status. While Tennessee law already requires police and local governments to comply with federal immigration law, some of the sanctuary policies laid out in the bill are not violations of the law. For example, federal law does not require law enforcement to check the immigration status of arrested individuals, but there are programs in place to encourage it.

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While there are no "sanctuary cities" as such in Tennessee — in fact, Tennessee is home to Mt. Juliet, believed to be the only city in America which has officially declared itself a "non-sanctuary city" — some local governments, Nashville included, have announced that their police forces do not serve as arms of federal immigration authority. Metro Nashville Mayor Megan Barry prefers to use the term "welcoming city" rather than the more politically charged "sanctuary city."

"I have seen press reports that have suggested that there is this quiet undertone in some cities: Don't enforce the rules," Green told The Tennessean. "This is not an illegal alien hunt."

Image via State of Tennessee