Lutheran clergy seek to temporarily block new law making it a crime to ‘harbor’ immigrants

Tennessee community groups, faith Leaders and Immigrant advocates spoke ahead of federal court hearing in a challenge to a Tennessee law criminalizing “harboring” immigrants without legal status on Wednesday Sept. 10, 2025. (Photo: John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout)

A legal challenge to a new state law that criminalizes the act of concealing or sheltering individuals illegally in the country had its first day in court Wednesday as a federal judge weighed a motion to temporarily block portions of the legislation as the case goes forward.

The Southeastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America filed suit against the Tennessee law just days before it took effect July 1.

The denomination argued the law, passed as part of a Republican effort to align state policy with the Trump administration’s immigration crackdowns, puts pastors and church members at risk for criminal charges in carrying out their faith-driven mission to offer shelter and sanctuary to individuals regardless of immigration status. 

Lawyers for the Synod argued that the law is an infringement on religious freedom, vaguely written and illegally sets immigration policy, a responsibility that falls to Congress. 

A Nashville landlord, concerned about criminal charges for renting to an immigrant without legal status, and an unidentified immigrant from Mexico are also plaintiffs in the suit. 

An attorney defending the measure argued that pastors had a “needless fear of the law.”

Suit seeks to block Tennessee law that makes it a crime to “harbor” certain immigrants

The law makes it a crime to harbor immigrants “for the purpose of commercial advantage or private financial gain” and is intended to apply to “professional smuggling operations,” not churches that accept donations to provide services to those in need, argued Miranda Jones, senior assistant attorney general. 

U.S. District Judge William Campbell, Jr. urged lawyers on both sides to agree on a compromise that would spell out that the law, at least temporarily, would not be enforced against members of the Lutheran Synod.

That effort failed once Jones told Campbell her superiors in the Tennessee Office of Attorney General would not agree; the state’s position is the law won’t target houses of worship, making a written agreement between the two parties unnecessary, she said.

“It doesn’t make a lot of sense to me,” Campbell responded. “It’s difficult to understand the harm.” 

Campbell instead required the attorneys to report to the court if any individuals represented in the suit faced arrest or prosecution under the new law. 

Thus far, no one has been charged with a crime under the new law, Jones said.

Campbell deferred a decision on the request to temporarily halt the portion of state law that makes it a felony offense to harbor immigrants in the country illegally, saying he would “take it under advisement.”

Separately on Wednesday, 21 Republican attorneys general filed a brief in the case supporting Tennessee’s law. 

“Many States have enacted state crimes that complement federal immigration laws like the law enacted by Tennessee that Plaintiffs seek to enjoin,” they wrote. “Those complements are no conflict or obstacle to federal immigration law. Instead, they help States support federal immigration enforcement goals.”

Tennessee immigrant harboring challenge – Amicus Curiae