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Tennessee immigrant rights group condemns Gov. Lee’s commitment to support Trump deportations • Tennessee Lookout [1]
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Date: 2024-12-17
A nonprofit Tennessee immigrant rights group on Monday condemned Gov. Bill Lee’s commitment to “utilize every tool at our disposal” — including state law enforcement and the National Guard — to support President-elect Donald Trump’s promise to deport more than 11 million undocumented immigrants.
Lee and 25 other Republican governors signed a letter on Dec. 11 stating their united support of Trump’s “unwavering commitment to make America safe again by addressing the illegal immigration crisis and deporting illegal immigrants who pose a threat to our communities and national security.”
Lisa Sherman-Luna, executive director of the Nashville-based Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, said in a statement that Trump’s plan has been “deemed disastrous by business leaders, economists, faith leaders and legal experts” and all Tennesseans “deserve the freedom to live and work safely and without fear in our communities no matter the color of our skin, what’s in our wallets or how we came to call Tennessee home.”
TIRRC was founded in 2003 as an advocacy group led by immigrants and refugees aiming to make Tennessee more inclusive.
About 6.1% of Tennessee’s 6.9 million residents are foreign-born, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Of those, approximately 37.6% are naturalized U.S. citizens, and 62.4% do not have citizenship.
“Whether fleeing danger or seeking opportunity, immigrants enrich our state and strengthen our communities,” Sherman-Luna wrote. “Rounding up families is not just a moral disaster, but an economic one, crippling our businesses and agriculture and grinding production to a halt. Further, the state resources wasted on mass deportations could instead provide housing, healthcare, and education for Tennessee working families.”
Trump recently told Time Magazine that he would “go up to the maximum level of what the law allows” to deport undocumented immigrants. Federal law prohibits military force from being used against civilians in the United States, unless authorized by Congress in specific circumstances.
“It should concern every Tennessean that the Governor is threatening to rubber stamp local law enforcement and the National Guard to overstep their jurisdiction and forcefully detain our neighbors,” Sherman-Luna stated. “This sets a dangerous precedent for all Tennesseans.”
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[1] Url:
https://tennesseelookout.com/2024/12/17/tennessee-immigrant-rights-group-condemns-gov-lees-commitment-to-support-trump-deportations/
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