Immigration Crackdown Will Hurt Families
CHRISTOPHER BLANK: For WKNO News, I’m Christopher Blank.
Last March, state Sen. Brent Taylor of Shelby County proposed changing a key word in state law in an effort to crack down on illegal immigration.
BRENT TAYLOR SPEAKING ON THE SENATE FLOOR: So, what this bill does, Mr. Chairman, is it simply clarifies that sheriff’s departments are required to fully cooperate with the Department of Homeland Security.
CHRISTOPHER BLANK: The legislation requires — not just authorizes — local law enforcement agencies to report undocumented people to ICE, or Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Now, as Tennessee lawmakers look to further align the state with the Trump Administration’s new immigration policies, Erika Konig with WKNO and the Institute for Public Service Reporting says the new pressures on immigrant communities also have new complications.
ERIKA KONIG: Senate Bill 2576 did have opposition. Democratic state Sen. London Lamar from Memphis said it could lead to racial profiling.
LONDON LAMAR SPEAKING ON SENATE FLOOR: People can be discriminated against with this piece of legislation. People can be over-surveillanced because of this particular piece of legislation.
ERIKA KONIG: But Tennessee’s Republican supermajority passed it overwhelmingly. Sen. Brent Taylor told us in a text message that its language was aimed at municipalities that were not enforcing immigration law. Quote: “The permissive nature in effect allowed local governments to operate like ‘sanctuary cities’ ”.
He declined to be interviewed for this broadcast.
But Sally Joyner, executive director of Mid-South Immigration Advocates, says Taylor’s legislation had no substantial impact on law enforcement procedures.
SALLY JOYNER: Historically, all of our counties have cooperated with ICE in providing information on arrested people in their custody. They have been doing this since the ‘90s. And when this bill was proposed, the Tennessee Sheriff’s Association said that they didn’t know of any counties that were not already providing this specific information to ICE.
ERIKA KONIG: Rather than fight crime, Joyner says the bill has instead made immigrant communities more distrustful of local governments — police in particular.
SALLY JOYNER: It is a racist bill, and it is a bill intended to put people in fear and intended to make people’s lives worse than they need to be.
Criminal defense attorney Ann Schiller says just being out in public could lead to a traffic stop that in other situations might be considered unconstitutional.
ANN SCHILLER: Now if they look Hispanic and you suspect they might be here without proper documentation, you can pull that vehicle over. And so, it basically dismantles a lot of the basic protections that most people residing in, at least in this area, have against unreasonable searches and seizures and things like that.
For Susana Fajardo, a sense of anxiety has spread throughout her blended-status family from Mexico. Some of her relatives have legal status. Others do not.
SUSANA FAJARDO: (Translated from Spanish) I have a niece, who, unfortunately due to her legal situation, was afraid because her job was near an immigration facility. Perhaps they’d be around the area, so my niece stopped working for fear of being detained by an immigration official on the way to work.
ERIKA KONIG: Fajardo says her niece has struggled to find new work.
Matthew Orr, an immigration attorney at Latino Memphis, says this new law could actually protect criminals because victims or witnesses are less likely to come forward for fear of deportation.
MATTHEW ORR: I mean I’ve seen it in my own practice. Before this law was even contemplated, right, my clients frequently are hesitant to call the police if they suffer a crime, if their family member is victimized by a crime.
ERIKA KONIG: Joyner says, with nowhere to turn, vulnerable populations can be further exploited.
SALLY JOYNER: They are staying in abusive relationships and abusive households, they are allowing their kids to continue to be abused out of fear that if they contact police, they, as a victim, will be somehow reported to ICE and deported.
ERIKA KONIG: Advocates like Joyner say these problems could worsen under President Trump’s new administration.
His campaign promise of mass deportations has energized Republicans on border security. Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has called for a special session of the General Assembly this month to align the state with Trump’s intentions.
Rep. Todd Warner from Chapel Hill has proposed legislation that, in part,could require local law enforcement agencies to ship individuals not detained by the federal government to so-called sanctuary cities in other states. It resembles what the governors of Texas and Florida have done.
Warner did not respond to interview requests.
Some of these proposals frighten college student Ana Gonzalez.
Though she was born in Memphis, her parents are from Mexico and are living here illegally. She says deportations that start with a broken taillight or jaywalking could have big consequences for American citizens like herself.
ANA GONZALEZ: If my parents were to get deported, then you know, we don’t, I’m not really sure where we would go. It’s just a scary thought, you know?
A thought that now consumes many immigrant families facing the potential outcomes of these new state and federal policies. For WKNO and the Institute for Public Service Reporting, I’m Erika Konig.
