Tennessee Republicans unveil ‘Immigration 2026’ agenda as ‘model’ for rest of nation

House Speaker Cameron Sexton and Lt. Gov. Randy McNally announcing a package of bills targeted at immigrants on Thursday. (Photo: John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout)

Tennessee Republicans on Thursday unveiled a slate of legislation targeting immigrants without legal status, crafted in cooperation with the White House, that could require public schools, vehicle registration centers, city governments and public health departments to verify, track and report immigration status. 

Few details about the package of bills — eight or nine will ultimately be filed, Republicans said — were released Thursday and lawmakers said they were awaiting White House and Department of Education guidance on legislative language implementing immigration checks in public schools. Lawmakers could not give an estimate of the bills’ costs to the state.

House Speaker Cameron Sexton said the legislation was written after months of close collaboration with White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, a key architect of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. Tennessee Republican leaders said the legislation would serve as a “model for the rest of the nation.”

“The problem is you’ve seen over the country, whether you’re in Minnesota, you’ve seen fraud, abuse and waste by people here illegally,” Sexton said. “You also have seen crimes committed by people who are here illegally.”

“And so we’re going to lay out a path that’s transparent, that checks legal status, that protects taxpayers and also not allow locals to have weak compliance with state law,” he said. “We’re going to do what we can to make sure that if you’re here illegally, we will have the data, we’ll have the transparency, and we’re not spending taxpayer dollars on you unless you’re in jail.”

Immigrant rights advocates were swift to push back on the Republican agenda, criticizing lawmakers for sowing division with legislation crafted at the direction of Miller, instead of focusing on kitchen table issues that impact all Tennesseans. 

“It’s obvious that Tennesseans are facing rising costs of groceries, of healthcare, of housing, and families across the state are struggling in this economy,” said Lisa Sherman Luna, executive director of TIRRC Votes, the political arm of the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition. 

“Yet, once again, the bills championed by our elected leaders and the supermajority do nothing to address the problems faced by everyday Tennesseans,” she said. Sherman Luna also cited the increased administration burden on state and local agencies across Tennessee performing immigration checks.

Immigrants in Tennessee, rather than being a drain on taxpayers, contribute $1.4 billion in combined state and local taxes in Tennessee, she noted.

Legislative Democrats accused Republicans of using undocumented immigration as an election-year tactic and distraction from high costs, saying they didn’t hear Tennesseans mention “illegal immigration” while canvassing the state last year.

“Immigration is part of the American story, and, as the daughter of an immigrant, it’s part of my American story, too,” Senate Democratic Caucus Leader Raumesh Akbari said in a statement. “Our immigration system is broken — but fear-based crackdowns and dangerous dragnet operations don’t fix anything. These policies separate families, endanger Americans and distract our leaders from the issues that matter most to Tennesseans.”

Republican leaders said the bills are needed for a litany of reasons, but mainly to stop crime committed by immigrants without legal status. In a press release, it said nearly 2,720 people not lawfully present in the country were charged or convicted of crimes in Tennessee from October through December 2024, according to the Tennessee District Attorneys General Conference.

The same report by the DAs conference says the immigrant population has a much lower rate than native-born Americans.

While President Donald Trump initially said his goal was to remove the “worst of the worst” from the country, lawmakers are focusing on anyone without legal documentation.

One bill creates a new state crime for immigrants who remain in Tennessee after receiving a federal deportation order, a measure that would likely face legal challenge. Only the federal government has the power to set and enforce immigration violations, which have been treated as civil violations.

State and local courts would be required to cooperate with ICE agents. Another measure would require all local law enforcement agencies to enter into so-called 287(g) agreements to work with ICE. More than 50 local law enforcement agencies have currently entered into the agreements, but some cities, including Nashville, have declined to participate.

Republicans also alluded to legislation designed to close “loopholes” in the state’s existing ban on sanctuary city policies, a measure widely seen to take aim at majority-Democrat Nashville. 

Tennessee lawmakers to take immigration cues from White House

The measure will require state and local governments, including public health clinics, to mandate referrals to ICE and Tennessee’s centralized immigration enforcement division when individuals’ lawful immigration status cannot be verified. The Tennessee Attorney General would be empowered to withhold shared sales tax revenue from “non-compliant municipalities.”

Another would require law enforcement conducting traffic stops to detain truckers and others with commercial drivers licenses who cannot verify their legal status, then immediately turn them over to federal immigration officials. 

Doctors, nurses, teachers and others seeking professional licenses would also be required to provide proof of lawful immigration status. 

And written driver’s license tests, now offered in scores of languages, would be offered only in English, with a one-year grace period that lawmakers said is intended to accommodate international companies operating in Tennessee. 

Another bill would mandate the use of an E-verify system for all new state and local government hiring. State law requires Tennessee’s private employers with 35 or more full-time workers to use the federal system to verify whether a person is eligible to work. Businesses with fewer employees can follow a different set of rules.

Republicans released few details about what might be the most controversial and impactful legislation: a bill requiring Tennessee schools to verify the immigration status of students. Details about how the information will be guarded or shared with federal immigration authorities are still being worked out, Sexton said.

“We’re doing the details right now,” Sexton said, noting he was awaiting guidance from the White House and the Department of Education. 

A bill last year by Sen. Bo Watson of Hixson and House Majority Leader William Lamberth of Portland to deny enrollment to K-12 students without legal status stalled amid questions of whether it would risk $1.1 billion in federal funding. The bill passed the Senate last year and could be brought back in the House this session.