U.S. District Judge Eli Richardson on Wednesday denied the request by two illegal aliens to issue an injunction blocking House Bill (HB) 1704, the new Tennessee law that makes it a Class A misdemeanor for illegal aliens to remain in the Volunteer State more than 60 days after a final deportation order is issued.
The plaintiffs, two pseudonymous individuals who purport to be illegal aliens and are identified within the filings as Lucy and Benjamin, asked Richardson to authorize a class certification for all illegal aliens, as well as an injunction blocking Tennessee state and local law enforcement from enforcing the law while the case was decided.
Denying their request for an injunction, the Trump-appointed judge found that the plaintiffs presented no evidence Tennessee had enforced the law against them or any other illegal aliens, and noted that neither Lucy nor Benjamin received notice from law enforcement that they would be prosecuted.
In making his decision, Richardson also determined there is nothing about HB 1704 that makes it more likely to be enforced than the rest of Tennessee’s criminal laws, including the ability for a grand jury to consider the charge.
Though he denied their request for an injunction and deferred his decision on whether to grant their requested class certification, the judge granted pseudonymous status to both plaintiffs, noting that the state did not oppose their request.
Lucy was previously identified in legal filings as a 58-year-old foreign national who legally entered the United States around 2000 but illegally overstayed her authorized period of stay. Lucy was ordered deported in 2005, and exhausted her appeals in 2006.
The filings similarly state that Benjamin is a 35-year-old foreign national who was brought into the country “very young” and later overstayed the visa. His family was denied asylum “when he was a teenager,” and his deportation order has been final since 2006.
HB 1704 was among the seven bills passed earlier this year in order to make Tennessee a national “model” for cooperation between states and the federal government on immigration enforcement. Others included HB 2219, which requires county sheriffs to enter cooperation agreements with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and HB 1705, which requires state and local government entities to verify new employees’ immigration status using E-Verify.
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Tom Pappert is a 2025 recipient of the Dao Prize and the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star. He also reports for the Star News Network. Follow Tom on X. Email tips to [email protected].
