Immigration policy fights expected to take center stage as Tennessee Legislature reconvenes

Immigration policy fights expected to take center stage as Tennessee Legislature reconvenes

Anita Wadhwani

Wed, January 14, 2026 at 11:01 AM UTC

5 min read

A young, light-skinned Black man, holds a large flag that says "Abolish ICE."

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State Rep. Justin Jones, a Nashville Democrat, has filed a bill called the "Stop American Gestapo Act," which would prohibit law enforcement officers from wearing face coverings. (Photo: John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout)

As the Tennessee Legislature reconvenes this week, Republicans have signalled that immigration, for a second year in a row, will be a central policy priority.

A Republican supermajority controls both the Tennessee House and Senate. On Monday House Speaker Cameron Sexton told reporters the Republican caucus plans to unveil a package of immigration-related legislation this week, crafted in collaboration with White House Homeland Security advisor Stephen Miller. Sexton offered few specifics.

Separately, and ahead of the January 30 bill-filing deadline, a series of bills already introduced highlight Republican priorities for policies aimed at immigrants living unlawfully in Tennessee, a population estimated at 160,000-190,000 or 3%-4% of the state’s population.

“Tennessee has long been a beacon for state-led immigration restriction and this session will be no different,” Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, an Oak Ridge Republican said in a statement to the Lookout.

“The federal government under President (Donald) Trump has put a priority on sealing our borders and hastening the return of illegal immigrants to their native lands. We will do all we can to assist in that effort,” he said.

The Tennessee Republicans’ immigration agenda is expected to draw intense pushback, as it did last year when throngs of protestors flooded the Capitol on a near-daily basis to protest a slate of bills targeting immigrants.

Tennessee lawmakers to take immigration cues from White House

On Tuesday, protests bookended the opening and close of the first day of the 2026 session as protestors condemning ICE commingled with those speaking out against anti-drag legislation.

“More Tennesseans than ever are ready to show up at the Capitol, contact their representatives, and defend their neighbors,” said Lisa Sherman Luna, executive director of TIRRC votes, the political action arm of the state’s largest immigrant advocacy group the Tennessee Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition.

“We won’t watch quietly while our communities are targeted for harm and while ICE escalates violence against the people we love.”

The group helped rally protestors for weeks at the Capitol in the spring in opposition to a host of immigrant related legislation including a measure to bar children without lawful status from public schools.

While the measure failed to pass last year, House Leader William Lamberth, a Portland Republican, did not rule out reviving the bill this year.

Despite protests, Republicans last year easily passed measures targeting immigrants and those who aid them, including creating a new crime for those who “harbor” immigrants and new law giving law enforcement the power to order observers to stand back 25 feet. Both laws are currently being challenged in court.

Legislation enacted in 2025 also included the establishment of a state-level immigration enforcement office to coordinate with the federal government, $5 million in grants to local law enforcement that enter into agreements with ICE and markers on license plates to identify legal immigrants who are not citizens. Immigrants without legal status cannot obtain a Tennessee drivers’ license.

Immigration bills introduced thus far in 2026 include SB1466, measure by Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson, a Franklin Republican, to shield information about immigration enforcement operations from public view, including the identities of local and state law enforcement officers involved in them.

Tennessee House passes immigration enforcement bill; ACLU plans legal challenge

The bill is widely seen as aimed at the actions of Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell during a mass immigration dragnet in Nashville during May that led to the detention of about 200 people during traffic stops.

O’Connell continued to enforce a longstanding executive order requiring city departments to report interactions with immigration officials, posting them publicly. The public posts temporarily revealed the names of federal immigration officials – inadvertently, the mayor’s office said. But the postings drew blowback from Trump administration officials as well as Republican lawmakers.

Johnson’s bill would create felony charges for public officials who release such information, punishable by six-year prison terms and fines.

Johnson also introduced a bill, SB1587, creating a misdemeanor crime for immigrants without lawful presence to operate commercial vehicles in the state and requiring notice to immigration authorities.

Sen. Brent Taylor, a Memphis Republican, introduced SB1486 to require jails to keep immigrants without lawful presence in custody 48 hours beyond their release date to allow for federal immigration officials time to pick them up.

Democrats have also introduced several bills weeks ahead of the filing deadline.

A day after Minneapolis resident Renee Good was shot by an ICE agent, Rep. Gabby Salinas filed a bill, HB1482, that would prohibit ICE personnel from going onto the grounds of public schools and churches without notice.

In a statement Salinas said the bill was in response to “countless reports of ICE officers patrolling and surveilling neighborhoods, schools and church communities” since the Memphis Safe Task Force convened by President Donald Trump in September dispatched more than 1,000 federal law enforcement agents, including ICE and Border Patrol, to Memphis.

“No child or person should fear being abducted or risk having their family ripped apart when they leave their home,” the statement said. “We are losing friends, neighbors, caretakers, and community members daily.”

On Tuesday, Nashville Democratic Rep. Justin Jones filed legislation titled the “Stop American Gestapo Act,” which bars federal, local and state law enforcement officers from wearing face coverings while on duty, with certain exceptions for health and safety reasons. The bill, HB1442, also requires law enforcement to clearly display their names and badge numbers.

More immigrant-related bills are expected to be introduced by members of both parties in the weeks ahead.

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