Tennessee to test Stephen Miller's plan of enlisting states for immigration enforcement

"Earlier this month, the Knoxville News Sentinel reported that Miller had been meeting in Washington DC with Tennessee speaker of the house, Cameron Sexton, to craft model legislation for states around the country. A few weeks later, the speaker announced a suite of eight bills that would turn state and local police officers, judges, teachers, social workers and others into an auxiliary extension of the federal immigration system."

"And it mandates that officials report the presence of undocumented persons to ICE, while criminalizing disclosure of information about immigration enforcement activities to the public. The president's behind us, said Knoxville-area representative and deputy speaker, Jason Zachary, on a video taken from a talk with a conservative group, describing Sexton's contact with Miller. The president has promised his support on social media for us, and we are being told Tennessee will go first."

"Last year, Tennessee also established an immigration enforcement division under its department of safety and homeland security, and made the records collected by the chief immigration enforcement officer exempt from Tennessee's already limited public records access laws. Confidentiality extends to records for grant programs administered by the department, preventing watchdogs from examining what local law enforcement agencies do with federal grant money for immigration enforcement."

Federal authority holds the power to enforce immigration law. Stephen Miller is promoting state coordination with federal immigration officials and has met with Tennessee leadership to craft model legislation. Tennessee announced eight bills to make state and local personnel—including police, judges, teachers, and social workers—an auxiliary extension of federal immigration enforcement. The bills criminalize the presence of undocumented people with final deportation orders, require officials to report undocumented persons to ICE, and criminalize disclosure about immigration enforcement activities. Tennessee also established a state immigration enforcement division and exempted related records from public records laws, with new legislation further mandating confidentiality and penalties for disclosure.

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