Tennessee Lawmakers Seek Tougher Penalties for Transporting Illegal Immigrants

Illegal Immigrants

Tennessee lawmakers are poised to pass legislation instituting harsher penalties for those caught providing transportation to illegal immigrants in the state, but first plan to introduce amendments protecting “good Samaritans” and professional drivers from unknowingly violating the law.

The Senate Judiciary Committee considered SB 2802, which would impose a $5,000 fine for individuals caught transporting illegal immigrants in the state on Wednesday, when Senator Joey Hensley (R-Hohenwald) introduced an amendment to his bill he said closed existing loopholes within the law.

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Tennessee Considers Bill Restricting State Department of Child Services from Requiring Adoptive Parents to Vaccinate

Parents

The Tennessee General Assembly is considering a bill that would restrict the state’s Department of Child Services from requiring prospective adoptive or foster parents to get vaccinated.

The State House Children and Family Affairs Subcommittee voted to pass the State House version of the legislation today after discussion and testimony. It is now on the calendar for the State Senate for February 29.

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State Rep. London Lamar Says She Knows Who Really Vandalized Graceland, but She Refuses to Say More

State Rep. London Lamar (D-Memphis) said this week that Black Lives Matter and groups wanting to defund the police did not vandalize property in Memphis — presumably referring to Graceland — and she knows who really did it.

The Tennessee Star contacted Lamar’s office by phone and email Thursday and asked who she thinks really vandalized Graceland and what evidence she had to back that up.

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Attorney with Reported History of Ethics Problems to Chair Shelby County Democratic Party

State Rep. London Lamar, D-Memphis, won’t chair the Shelby County Democratic Party. Michael Harris, an attorney with a reported history of legal and other ethical problems will instead covet the position, according to The Daily Memphian. This, after a three-hour party convention this past weekend, according to the website. Officials suspended Harris’ law license in 2017 because of a number of ethics violations, including excessive fees, failure to perform services for which he was paid, unauthorized practice of law, dishonesty, and conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice, The Daily Memphian reported. “Harris was also ordered as part of his plea to the misconduct allegations to pay $22,975 in restitution to nine former clients,” the website reported. “Harris, compliance and employee relations director at Advanced Primary Care LLC, began making his case to the group by asking ‘everyone who has made one mistake’ to raise their hands and asking everyone in the crowd to look around the room.” Harris reportedly told people at the convention that he made a mistake, but his “heart was in the right place.” “Harris said he still owes $1,832 in restitution plus fees connected to restoring his law license,” The Daily Memphian reported. “He also…

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State Rep. London Lamar Reportedly Nominated to Chair Shelby County Democratic Party

State Rep. London Lamar, D-Memphis, wants to chair the Shelby County Democratic Party, according to The Daily Memphian. Someone recently nominated Lamar for the position, the paper went on to say. “I decided to run because I was asked by several elected officials and Democratic officials to help us to put our party in a position to thrive in 2020,” The Daily Memphian reported. “We had a landslide election in 2018. We wanted to make sure we could provide the county party leadership to continue to build on those victories – not only to maintain our power here in Memphis, but to be in a position to lead the state to a Democratic win in 2020.” Lamar reportedly revived the Shelby County Young Democrats organization and is currently finishing up her term as chair of the Tennessee Young Democrats organization, the website said. Lamar is one of two contenders for the position, The Daily Memphian reported. As The Tennessee Star reported last year, Lamar generated international attention after she declared in November, shortly after her election to the Tennessee House of Representatives that “Tennessee is a racist state,” as The Tennessee Star reported: … Lamar live streamed a 15-minute rant on Facebook…

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State Rep. London Lamar Wants to Talk to Gov. Lee About American Exceptionalism and ‘What This Particular Curriculum Looks Like’

State Rep. London Lamar (R-Memphis) told WREG on Wednesday she wants to talk to Gov. Bill Lee about his promise that “In this state our children will be taught civics education, character formation and unapologetic American exceptionalism,” which he delivered in Nashville on March 4 at his State of the State address and later that week in Memphis in his State of West Tennessee speech. “I want to have a conversation with the governor about what this particular curriculum looks like,” Lamar told WREG. WREG coverage of the story seemed to come from a particular point of view: But parents like Sharonda Walker have questions.. “Exceptionalism is a very strong term. It almost sounds elitist,” she said. “So we have to be careful as a country.” The mom of six says there are issues both in the past and present that she hopes any new curriculum would still acknowledge. “I had such a distorted view of history,” Walker said. “It wasn’t until I went to college that I started embracing history, that included people like myself. I thought, ‘Wow how did i miss all this?’” Lamar generated international attention after she declared in November, shortly after her election to the…

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Tennessee Independent Baptists for Religious Liberty Identifies General Assembly Bills to Watch

A Tennessee Independent Baptist lobbyist group has compiled a list of state legislative bills that may be of interest to its individual church members. The Tennessee Independent Baptists for Religious Liberty issued the list in an email newsletter Monday for Tennessee General Assembly bills. Some earned the organization’s approval, all filed by Republicans, while more earned disapproval – most, but not all, were filed by Democrats. The Tennessee Independent Baptists for Religious Liberty’s website is here. The organization was formed in 2016 and is supported by autonomous churches around the state. Bills receiving the organization’s approval, by topic, include: ABORTION HB0077   Rep. James (Micah) Van Huss (R-TN-06) Prohibits abortions from the point a fetal heartbeat is detected; requires fetal heartbeat testing prior to an abortion; creates exceptions. HB0078 Rep. James (Micah) Van Huss (R-TN-06) Increases by $500 the minimum fine imposed for a first or second violation of the requirement that a physician who reports suspected sexual abuse due to being requested to perform an abortion on a minor include in that report information regarding the sampling and preservation of embryonic or fetal tissue; increased fine amounts will be $1,000 and $1,500 respectively. (Another bill receiving the group’s support, HB0014, to…

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State Rep. London Lamar Reportedly Gets Leniency from State Board Over Campaign Violations

New State Rep London Lamar, D-Memphis, who made headlines last fall for calling Tennessee Republicans racist and uneducated, has reportedly gotten leniency from the state’s Registry of Election Finance for filing her disclosures late. Lamar was originally supposed to pay $8,175 in fines, as registry officials decreed in November, according to The Memphis Commercial Appeal. Lamar reportedly told registry officials this was her “first rodeo.” But registry officials reduced her fine to $300, the paper went on to say. “Lamar cited her inexperience in running for office, adding that her campaign treasurer ‘stopped coming around,’ which led to her disclosures being filed late,” The Commercial Appeal reported. “Lamar said she did not know about the delayed disclosures or the fines she was facing until she read her name in the newspaper. She vowed to file her future reports on time and noted that she was actively looking for an accountant.” As The Tennessee Star reported in November, Lamar said on a Facebook livestream that “Tennessee is racist, period.” On that video, she also complained about a base of people in the state who “don’t believe in sharing their wealth” and “believe you need to work for your own.” Newsweek, FOX News, The British Daily…

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Registry of Election Finance Fines London Lamar $8,175 For Filing Two Campaign Reports Late

New State Rep. London Lamar (D-TN-91) was hit with an $8,175 fine for filing two campaign reports late. Both Lamar and State Rep. Jesse Chism were fined by officials for issues related to their campaign finance disclosures, The Tennessean reported. Voters elected Chism and Lamar in this year’s Nov. 6 midterm election. Chism was fined $5,000 for filing a campaign finance report late. The Registry of Election Finance also levied two more fines, totaling $20,000 against Rep. Joe Towns Jr., D-Memphis, for not filing two reports. The list of delinquent report filers is online here. The Tennessee Registry of Election Finance was created by the General Assembly in 1989 as an independent entity of state government. Lamar earned international attention after The Tennessee Star reported the story of her Facebook video rant calling white Tennessee Republicans racist and uneducated. “Looking here at Tennessee, let’s just call a spade a spade,” Lamar said in the video. “Tennessee is racist, period. Period. And if you for one moment thought that white people in Tennessee were going to leave their own to jump over here and give us more access, they just told you last night it’s not happening,” Lamar said. As The Star reported, Lamar livestreamed her…

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Tennessee Republican Assembly Calls for TN Legislators to Censure London Lamar

Members of the Tennessee Republican Assembly (TNRA) on Thursday called upon state legislators to officially censure newly-elected State Rep. London Lamar (D-Memphis) for saying Tennessee is racist and its Republican voters are uneducated. As reported, Lamar livestreamed those controversial comments on her Facebook page last week. She removed the video a few days later, but only after The Tennessee Star broke the story last weekend. The story has since gone viral worldwide. A censure is a formal reprimand. In a press release, TNRA members said Lamar is guilty of “propagating racial divisiveness unbecoming any elected official.” TNRA President Sharon Ford told The Star she and other board members decided censure is appropriate. “We were all equally incensed that any elected official would portray a group of people in such a racist manner,” Ford said. Lamar did apologize, as reported, but Ford said it was “not effective.” “It was more like ‘Oh, I’m sorry you people got offended,’ Ford said. “People need to understand this has not gone viral in the traditional sense. It is on the British Daily Mail. It went right across the pond. This is not acceptable, and my concern is there won’t be due diligence done on it…

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State Rep.- Elect London Lamar Says She Spoke on Behalf of Constituents In Controversial Video Where She Said ‘Tennessee Is Racist. Period’

Newly-elected Tennessee State Rep. London Lamar, D-Memphis, said she merely summed up the thoughts and feelings of her constituents when she scolded white Tennessee Republicans as supposedly racist and uneducated. As The Tennessee Star reported, Lamar livestreamed her remarks during a 15-minute Facebook video last week. She removed the video from Facebook a few days later after it got attention she apparently didn’t want. The Star broke this story past weekend. The story has since gone viral worldwide, with Newsweek citing The Star’s work. FOX News, The British Daily Mail, CBS News, and The Washington Post, among many others, also did their own follow-ups. On Tuesday, Lamar took to her personal and professional Facebook pages to address The Star’s articles concerning her. “What was called a rant is actually a statistical analysis of the midterm elections based on my numerous years of political experience. After a review of the numbers after the midterm election, I felt the need to record a Facebook live video to discuss the numbers from both Tennessee and nationwide,” Lamar said. “My comments did not intend to make a generalization about every white person who voted Republican. The truth about a large number of those who…

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Lost Video Rant By State Representative-Elect London Lamar Saying ‘Tennessee Is Racist’ Retrieved

A livestreamed video showing newly-elected State Rep. London Lamar (D-Memphis) complaining Tennessee is full of racists and uneducated white people got removed from Lamar’s Facebook page Friday. But The Tennessee Star has a copy, which readers may find here:   The video was apparently originally published Wednesday morning, and includes Lamar’s analysis of the midterm election results. “Looking here at Tennessee, let’s just call a spade a spade,” Lamar said in the video, beginning at the 2:01 mark. “Tennessee is racist, period. Period. And if you for one moment thought that white people in Tennessee were going to leave their own to jump over here and give us more access, they just told you last night it’s not happening,” Lamar continued. “If we look at some of the numbers last night, white men voted Republican well over 60 or 70 percent,” the newly elected Democrat State Representative from Memphis added. “Obviously, that is a particular base of people who believe in superiority. They don’t believe in sharing their wealth. They don’t believe in sharing resources. They believe that you need to work for your own, and they went to the polls and voted,” Lamar added. Later in the video, at…

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New Tennessee State Rep. London Lamar Says State Full of Racists

UPDATE: The Tennessee Star has retrieved the video – see more details here. – – – The newly elected state representative for Tennessee’s 91st district livestreamed a 15-minute rant on Facebook Wednesday and, said, among other things, Tennessee is a racist state and full of uneducated Republicans. That newly-elected representative, London Lamar, a Democrat from Memphis, also reprimanded white men for wanting to keep more of the money they earn. Lamar also suggested allowing felons to vote will help elect more Democrats. “Looking here at Tennessee, let’s just call a spade a spade,” Lamar said in the video. “Tennessee is racist, period. Period. And if you for one moment thought that white people in Tennessee were going to leave their own to jump over here and give us more access, they just told you last night it’s not happening.” Lamar said her video was also “a letter to all our statewide political consultants and candidates.” She warned against “catering to Republicans.” “If we look at some of the numbers last night, white men voted Republican well over 60 or 70 percent,” Lamar said. “Obviously, that is a particular base of people who believe in superiority. They don’t believe in sharing their…

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