Soros Funded Southern Poverty Law Center Challenging Governor Haslam on Anti-Sanctuary City Legislation

The Soros funded Southern Poverty Law Center has issued a legal throw-down to Governor Haslam challenging his campaign promises to “do everything within my authority to be sure that Tennessee does not attract illegal activity.” Working with the TN Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC), another Soros funded amnesty-for-lawbreaker advocacy organization, the SPLC has promised to provide legal representation to  illegal aliens arrested in the Bean Station workplace raid who are in detention and facing possible deportation. TIRRC and its allies want to stop federal immigration authorities from detaining and/or deporting criminal illegal aliens and instead, have them released from ICE detention and returned to Tennessee communities. Shortly after the election of President Trump, TIRRC issued a public call to all Tennessee communities to refuse cooperation with ICE. In other words, TIRRC wants Tennessee to operate as a sanctuary state. Approximately half of the 100 workers taken into custody in the Bean Station raid are in detention and 10 of them face federal charges for evading prior orders of removal. The FY2016 DOJ Executive Office for Immigration Review data for illegal aliens who were never detained, immigration court hearings held in absentia, meaning when the illegal alien fails to show up to court, increased…

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Iowa and Texas Anti-Sanctuary City Laws Are Strong Precedent for Haslam to Sign New Tennessee Legislation

Bill Haslam

Governor Bill Haslam should look to Texas, Iowa and the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to support signing Tennessee’s new anti-sanctuary city legislation which passed 64-23 in the House and 25-5 in the Senate. The Texas sanctuary city law signed last year, is the strictest in the country and more extensive than the Tennessee bill. In March, a unanimous three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals allowed all but one part of the Texas law to go into effect. Most importantly for Governor Haslam’s consideration, the provisions in the Texas law requiring local law enforcement to comply with ICE detainers, was upheld by the court. The only part of the Texas law blocked by the court was prohibiting public officials from endorsing sanctuary city policies, a provision not included in the Tennessee bill. The Texas law includes criminal penalties for refusing to comply with an ICE detainer request. Tennessee’s bill does not include any criminal sanctions. In ruling to uphold the Texas law on compliance with ICE detainer requests, the Court effectively dismissed the same Fourth Amendment arguments being put forth by the TN Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC) against the Tennessee bill. Citing to an earlier…

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DHS: Dozens Of MS-13, Other Gang Members Released By Sanctuary Cities

Hooman

by Will Racke   More than 100 suspected members of MS-13 and other gangs were released last year by sanctuary jurisdictions even though federal authorities had formally requested that they be held, according to newly released data from the Department of Homeland Security. Between October 2016 and June 2017, local law enforcement agencies released 142 gang members that immigration authorities were seeking to deport instead of transferring them to federal custody. The prisoners were subjects of active immigration detainers, which are formal requests made by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to local authorities to hold criminal aliens until federal agents can pick them up. The releases occurred in 37 separate jurisdictions, according to a Center for Immigration Studies report on the data, which was compiled in response to a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the rise of MS-13. With the exception of Maricopa County, Arizona, all are considered sanctuary jurisdictions because they refuse to honor ICE detainers that aren’t backed by a criminal warrant or, in some cases, notify immigration authorities of a criminal alien’s release date. About two-thirds of the releases occurred in California, which has a statewide sanctuary law that limits cooperation between local officials and immigration authorities. Santa Clara County led the…

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