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Suit seeks to block Tennessee law that makes it a crime to “harbor” certain immigrants • Tennessee Lookout [1]
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Date: 2025-06-24
A federal suit seeks to invalidate a new Tennessee law that would make it a felony to “harbor” immigrants without legal status.
The legislation set to take effect July 1, the suit argues, is unconstitutional, infringes on religious freedom and is written vaguely enough to ensnare churches that act as “safe zones” for school children during weather emergencies, landlords whose tenants take in roommates living illegally in the United States and family members living in mixed immigration status homes.
Filed Friday in the Middle District of Tennessee, the lawsuit seeks an immediate injunction to prevent the law from taking effect while litigation plays out in court. It also seeks class action status going forward.
The suit was brought on behalf of the Southeastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, whose Tennessee-based churches provide shelter, sanctuary, English instruction and other services to immigrants regardless of status.
Other plaintiffs include a landlord whose tenant took in roommates without legal status and a father who has legal immigration status but family members in his home who do not.
“This law forces religious organizations to choose between following their values or falling in line. It forces family members — spouses, siblings, even parents — to fear that simply living under the same roof as a loved one without legal status could land them behind bars,” read a statement by Spring Miller of the Tennessee Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition, which is among a group of organizations providing legal representation.
“This isn’t just unintended consequences of a bad policy. This is using the law to inflict cruelty and control,” Miller’s statement said.
The law, introduced by Sen. Brent Taylor of Memphis and Rep. Chris Todd of Madison County, both Republicans, creates a new felony offense for any individual who “intentionally conceals, harbors, or shields from detection” a person known to be residing illegally in the United States for “commercial advantage or private financial gain.” It defines the offense as “human smuggling.”
The felony carries a punishment of one to six years in prison and a fine of up to $3,000.
At the time the bill was introduced, Taylor said it was designed, in part, to hold non-governmental agencies, or NGOs, accountable for their roles in providing services that keep immigrants without legal status in Tennessee communities.
Taylor included churches, noting that “even Heaven has an immigration policy.”
“There’s a very specific way you come into heaven to become a resident of heaven,” Taylor said in a February interview with the Lookout once the bill was introduced. “They’ve got a very strict immigration policy, and I don’t think it’s unreasonable for Americans to have an immigration policy that people follow.”
The legislation drew pushback from clergy and immigrant advocates as it wound through the legislative process.
As written, the legislation defines the term “harbor” as to “provide shelter” but does not define shelter, which “thus purports to criminalize a broad range of innocuous everyday activities providing shelter to immigrants,” the lawsuit alleges.
Those activities include parents providing housing to an undocumented child who helps pay the bills, a charity that accepts contributions to provide shelter to immigrants without legal status, or churches that rely on donations to give English-as-a-second-language instruction.
Todd, the measure’s cosponsor, said Monday he would be surprised if the legislation would ultimately be found unconstitutional.
“I don’t know how punishing a crime could be unconstitutional,” Todd said. “I mean literally smuggling people, many of which are being smuggled into human trafficking and this just gives law enforcement and our DAs another tool to try to prevent innocent folks from being put into trafficking situations more than anything else.”
Todd also disputed the law could be applied to churches or clergy providing shelter, or individuals housing family members without legal status.
“I don’t know many charities that make money off of hiding people and harboring people,” he said. “So I just don’t think that’s a thing.”
The lawsuit alleges Tennessee’s law is also a violation of the First Amendment rights of Lutheran Synod churches, pastors, staff and congregations, who provide shelter and other services to immigrants regardless of immigration status as an “expression of their faith.”
The Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) in 2015 adopted a commitment to “accompany migrant families today and in the future,” the lawsuit said. The ELCA has “declared that walking alongside immigrants and refugees is a matter of faith” and “a crucial expression of baptismal identity.”
The suit takes issue with the law’s definition of an unlawful immigrant as based on a determination by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a law enforcement agency that does not, on its own, make determinations of an individual’s immigration status. And it alleges that the state is illegally usurping the authority of the federal government, which alone is charged with immigration enforcement.
Attorneys filing the suit are with the American Immigration Council, Tennessee Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition and the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection at Georgetown University Law Center
The legislation was among a slate introduced by Tennessee Republican leaders in support of President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration during the Tennessee General Assembly’s most recent legislative session.
Republican lawmakers also approved a proposal by Gov. Bill Lee to create a Centralized Immigration Enforcement Division to coordinate with the Trump Administration on immigration enforcement and encourage local authorities to partner with the federal government in enforcing immigration law. A bill that would have allowed public school districts to deny admission to children who could not show proof of lawful immigration status failed to pass after widespread and vocal protests at the State Capitol.
Sam Stockard contributed to this report.
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