Tennessee has enacted a groundbreaking regulation that makes harboring unlawful immigrants a punishable crime.
Signed into impact by Governor Invoice Lee in Might 2025, Senate Invoice 392, which took impact July 1, sends a transparent message: Tennessee is not going to be a secure haven for many who flout federal immigration legal guidelines.
The brand new regulation targets landlords, enterprise homeowners, and “sanctuary sympathizers” who knowingly harbor unlawful aliens in trade for hire or providers — a Class E felony punishable by as much as six years in jail and fines as much as $3,000.
For circumstances involving youngsters below 13, the penalty escalates to a Class A felony, with potential sentences of as much as 60 years.
A coalition together with the Southeastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, TIRRC, ICAP, and the American Immigration Council has sued in federal courtroom to dam the regulation, citing First Modification and Supremacy Clause violations.
Extra from Newsmax:
A coalition led by the Tennessee-based Southeastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America filed the lawsuit on June 20, joined by a Nashville landlord and a Mexican immigrant within the state. They alleged that the regulation is unconstitutionally obscure, oversteps federal authority to manage immigration, and will place church buildings, landlords, and immigrant communities within the state’s crosshairs.
“This regulation isn’t just dangerous, it’s unconstitutional,” Elizabeth Cruikshank, senior counsel for the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Safety at Georgetown Regulation, which is a celebration to the lawsuit, mentioned in a news release. “Immigration enforcement is a duty of the federal authorities, not one thing that states can decide up and weaponize nevertheless they select.”
The criticism additionally acknowledged that the regulation infringes on the First Modification freedom of the church’s members to specific their religion by offering providers to migrants.
“These sorts of state legal guidelines have the likelihood to be actually destabilizing to communities as a result of they create an environment of worry for individuals concerning the standing of immigrants inside their communities,” Invoice Powell, an legal professional for the plaintiffs, informed the Publish.
Tennessee state Sen. Brent Taylor and Rep. Chris Todd, each Republicans who sponsored the invoice — no Democrats voted for it — mentioned it was geared toward stopping human trafficking, not prosecuting landlords or spiritual teams.
