Case Explained: Tennessee governor leaves immigration enforcement out of final address • Tennessee Lookout – Legal Perspective

House Republicans continued their push to toughen immigration laws days before Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee made his final State of the State address. But the governor didn’t talk about immigration Monday night, heading into the last year of his two terms.

The omission was not lost on Democratic state Rep. Justin Pearson of Memphis, who opposes a massive deployment of Tennessee National Guard troops and state, local and federal officers to Memphis to cut down crime.

“I did think it was notable he didn’t mention immigration considering that Stephen Miller has pushed forward a legislative agenda for (House Speaker) Cameron Sexton and people here to push forward,” said Pearson, who is running for Tennessee’s Ninth Congressional District seat.

Miller, President Trump’s deputy chief of staff, is the architect of an aggressive national immigration enforcement strategy and met numerous times with Sexton and Tennessee officials to work on a set of bills designed to toughen state immigration laws. One that is drawing constitutional questions would create a new state crime for anyone who disobeys a federal deportation order.

Pearson pointed out, though, that Lee talked about the “occupation” of Memphis that many Black lawmakers from Shelby County oppose. 

“That occupation is detrimental to the economy. It’s led to the deportation of hundreds of people, and our community has never asked for it,” Pearson said.

Lee said Monday in his State of the State address that more than 5,500 criminals have been arrested in Memphis since the safe task force made up of local, state and federal agencies started operating there last September. In addition, Lee said the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and other agencies formed a Missing Child Unit that found 146 missing kids. News organizations have been unable to independently verify these figures. 

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

Touting “generational change” in Memphis, the governor announced plans to keep the momentum going by spending $80 million on safety grants for items ranging from technology to workforce training for downtown Memphis, as well as stationing 100 state troopers permanently in the city.

House Republicans issued a release Saturday morning, two days before the State of the State, about a District Attorneys General report on crimes committed in 2025 by immigrants who have no permanent legal documentation. The report classified 2,183 crimes as violent offenses, 41 homicides, 145 sexual offenses and 40 cases of aggravated kidnapping.

“I believe one victim is one too many,” said Sexton, who is leading the charge for immigration legislation along with House Majority Leader William Lamberth.

Compiled from information provided by local law enforcement, the report showed 12,193 driving-related offenses, including 2,920 cases of DUI.

House Republicans cited a 2023 analysis by the Migration Policy Institute in saying 186,000 immigrants without permanent legal documentation are living in Tennessee. 

Democrats challenged the Republican bill package last month, saying the state’s 466,000 immigrants make up 8% of the labor force and paid $4.4 billion in taxes in 2023. They also pointed out the 2024 report from the DAs Conference shows immigrants, including legal and undocumented, have much lower incarceration rates than native-born Americans.

Yet Republicans said the new report backs up the need to pass “model legislation” for the country.

When Republican leaders unveiled their immigration package, Sexton was unfazed about the potential loss of tax dollars if Tennessee goes through a major deportation effort. 

“What we are worried about is the number of illegal immigrants who have murdered, robbed, abused, raped people in the state of Tennessee and what that has done to victims and what that has done to dollars, and having illegals tarnish those who did it legally and lawfully,” Sexton said.

Asked Monday about Lee’s omission of immigration enforcement from his speech, Lamberth said he didn’t think it was out of the ordinary.

“No, not at all. He’s had seven years to work on a variety of issues. I think we heard a transcendent speech tonight that covered the last seven years of his administration,” Lamberth said. “It covered the next year, what he wants to focus on, and we in the legislature will focus on a vast number of topics as well.”

Even if Lee doesn’t support those Republican immigration bills, he isn’t likely to veto them. The governor has blocked only one bill in seven years, even though he has let numerous bills take effect without his signature.

Critics of the Republican legislation say Tennessee laws already restrict undocumented immigration. For instance, people in the state without documentation are prohibited from receiving public assistance such as TennCare, the state’s medical program for low-income women with children, the poor and elderly.

A bill by Lamberth that would allow public school districts to charge tuition to non-citizen students or prohibit them from enrolling is languishing because of constitutional questions that could cost the state more than $1 billion. Instead, House Republicans want to pass a measure that would require school districts to keep a census of undocumented students.

Democratic state Sen. Raumesh Akbari said Monday night she considers immigration enforcement a federal issue, even though Republican leaders are turning the state toward enforcement, including setting up an agency last year within the Department of Safety.

“I think that’s something being driven by the legislature, and I hope that we can focus on issues that effectively impact Tennesseans and not try and play to a national agenda that, quite frankly, is harmful,” Akbari said.