Eva Fresca holds a sign in protest of anti-immigrant legislation at the Tennessee State Capitol in Nashville on March 25, 2025. (Photo by John Partipilo.)
A bill making it a crime to enter Tennessee without legal immigration status passed a House subcommittee on Tuesday.
The legislation, which criminalizes the act of being in Tennessee without legal immigration status, would result in both jail time and an eviction notice from the state. Judges would be required to give anyone charged or convicted of the crime a 72-hour warning to leave Tennessee.
The first offense is a misdemeanor, but if charged again, it becomes a felony.
“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, a Franklin Republican, is the measure’s other sponsor. Immigrant rights advocates dubbed the bill a “incredibly inhumane bill that puts lives and families at risk” and a violation of the US 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 form partnerships with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement to enforce federal immigration laws, but a Supreme Court decision more than a decade ago established that states cannot usurp the federal government’s sole authority to enact immigration enforcement laws.
The bill is considered a trigger law. If approved, it will only go into effect if one of the following three things happens:
If the Supreme Court overturns its 2012 decision in Arizona v. United States, which found Arizona’s attempt to create new state immigration crimes unconstitutional, the law will take effect on the following January 1 or July 1.
Alternatively, the bill could take effect following the ratification of a US Constitutional amendment granting states the authority to regulate immigration.
The third condition, that other states enact similar illegal entry laws that are allowed to remain in effect for 60 days, would also cause the measure to take effect in Tennessee.
An amendment filed Tuesday revealed the substance of the bill, which was originally filed as a “caption bill with placeholder language.”
Republicans on the House Departments & Agencies Subcommittee approved the measure 7-1 across party lines, with no questions or debate. It has yet to be scheduled for the next committee hearing.
