Eva Fresca holds a sign to protest anti-immigration bills at the Tennessee State Capitol in Nashville on March 25, 2025. (Photo: John Partipilo)
A bill making it a crime for any individual without legal immigration status to set foot in Tennessee cleared a House subcommittee Tuesday.
The legislation, criminalizing the act of being in Tennessee without legal immigration status, would come with both jail time and an eviction notice from the state. Judges would be required to issue 72-hour warnings to leave Tennessee to anyone charged or convicted of the crime.
The first offense would be a misdemeanor, but would rise to a felony if someone is charged a second or subsequent time.
“This bill is a measured, responsible step towards protecting Tennessee communities, enforcing the rule of law and demagnetizing our state to illegal immigration,” Rep. Lee Reeves, a Republican from Franklin, told members of the House Departments & Agencies Subcommittee.
Sen. Jack Johnson, also a Franklin Republican, is the measure’s other sponsor.
Jack Johnson, R-Franklin. (Photo: John Partipilo)
Immigrant rights advocates called the measure an “incredibly inhumane bill that puts lives and families at risk” and undermines the U.S. Constitution.
“It takes people who have been living here peacefully and contributing to their communities, sometimes for decades, and puts a target on their back based on who they are, where they are from, and whether the federal government has decided to give them a pathway to citizenship or not,” Judith Clerjeune, advocacy director for Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition said in a statement.
Immigration enforcement is a federal responsibility. State and local law enforcement may enter into agreements with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to enforce federal immigration laws, but a Supreme Court ruling more than a decade ago established that states cannot usurp the federal government’s exclusive power to enact immigration enforcement laws.
The bill is considered a trigger law. If approved, it would only going into effect if one of three things happens:
If the Supreme Court overturns its decision in Arizona v. United States, the 2012 case that found Arizona’s attempt to create novel state immigration crimes was unconstitutional, the law would automatically take effect on the next January 1 or July 1.
Alternatively, the bill could take effect after the ratification of a U.S. Constitutional amendment giving states the right to regulate immigration.
The third condition — if other states enact similar illegal entry laws that have been allowed to remain in effect for 60 days — would also trigger the measure to take effect in Tennessee.
The substance of the bill, originally filed as a so-called caption bill with placeholder language, was revealed in an amendment filed Tuesday.
Republicans on the House Departments & Agencies Subcommittee approved the measure with no questions or debate in a 7-1 vote along party lines. It has yet to be scheduled for its next committee hearing.
