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Immigration is usually a federal issue, but some Republican-led states are trying to play a bigger role in President Donald Trump's effort for mass deportation. Lawmakers from Florida to Idaho have proposed new ways to get involved. And Tennessee's governor got everything on his wish list in a special legislation session last week, as Marianna Bacallao of member station WPLN reports.
MARIANNA BACALLAO, BYLINE: Governor Bill Lee's immigration plan passed the state House Thursday with near unanimous support from his fellow Republicans, who control both chambers.
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BILL LEE: And now we stand ready to assist the president in his further agenda for public safety for our state.
BACALLAO: The bill creates a new state division to enforce immigration laws and $5 million in grants for local law enforcement to work with the federal government's Immigration and Customs Enforcement. And in a provision Democrats say is unconstitutional, local elected officials could face felony charges if they vote for sanctuary policies for immigrants. That's why State Senator Todd Gardenhire voted against it, the only Republican in either chamber to oppose it.
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TODD GARDENHIRE: We're telling an elected official, who pledged to do the best job and obey the Constitution of the United States and the state of Tennessee, you can't cast a vote. That, to me, is not part of being a republic.
BACALLAO: Democratic state representative Gabby Salinas and her family immigrated to Tennessee when she was a child with cancer seeking treatment. She says the late U.S. Senator Fred Thompson and others helped them stay in the country permanently after a car accident killed her father and paralyzed her mom.
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GABBY SALINAS: People like Senator Fred Thompson could be considered a felon with jail time and every single local politician that helped us.
BACALLAO: The bill's house sponsor, Republican William Lamberth, argued that he supports more pathways for legal immigration but that his bill is aimed at illegal immigration.
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WILLIAM LAMBERTH: There are terrorists, there are criminals, and, yes, for every immigrant that has a dream in a future that came here legally, there are hundreds who have killed American citizens.
BACALLAO: Supporters of immigration point to research showing immigrants are actually less likely to commit crimes than people born in the U.S. In Tennessee, they also worry now that part of this law creates a new driver's license design for migrants without legal status and that that will lead to racial profiling. For NPR news, I'm Marianna Bacallao in Nashville.
(SOUNDBITE OF MILKDRIVE'S "ORION'S WALTZ") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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