AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 4; Title 7; Title 38; Title 39; Title 55 and Title 67, relative to illegal immigration.
HB0010, titled the Tennessee Illegal Immigration Act, would require state and local law enforcement agencies to take several steps when they have custody of a person known to be unlawfully present in the United States. First, the agency must request an ICE immigration detainer as soon as practicable after taking custody. If ICE issues a detainer, the agency must hold the person for the maximum period allowed by that detainer or until federal custody is assumed, whichever happens first.
If no detainer is received in time, or if federal custody does not occur before the detainer period expires, the bill requires the agency to transport the individual to a city with a sanctuary policy of the individual’s choice, so long as the city is outside Tennessee and within 700 miles of the agency. The bill also requires agencies to track the actual costs of detention and transportation, report those costs monthly to the Department of Revenue, and seek federal reimbursement. If reimbursement is not received within 30 days, the Department of Revenue must withhold an equivalent amount of federal motor fuel tax remittances to the federal highway administration and then distribute the recovered funds back to the local agency.
The bill would add a new immigration-enforcement and reimbursement framework to Tennessee law, affecting local law enforcement procedures, the Department of Revenue, and the handling of federal motor fuel tax remittances. It would create a state-level mechanism for recovering detention and transport costs associated with individuals unlawfully present in the United States, and it would direct state officials to seek federal reimbursement and, failing that, offset those costs through withheld federal fuel-tax payments. The measure would also impose new reporting and recordkeeping duties on law enforcement agencies and could affect how agencies manage custody, release, and transport decisions in immigration-related cases.
The available voting history suggests the bill faced strong opposition in committee, as it failed in the House Departments & Agencies Subcommittee by a 0-3 vote. No committee transcript is available, so there is no recorded floor or committee debate to indicate support, but the vote outcome indicates the proposal was not broadly accepted at that stage. Overall, the bill appears to have been controversial and politically divisive, consistent with its immigration-enforcement focus.
The main points of contention are likely the bill’s mandatory detention and transport requirements, especially the provision directing agencies to transport individuals to a sanctuary city outside Tennessee if ICE does not take custody in time. That provision could be viewed as unusual, costly, and operationally difficult by opponents, while supporters may see it as a way to shift responsibility away from local agencies and pressure federal authorities. Another likely dispute is the funding mechanism: withholding federal motor fuel tax remittances to recover costs may raise legal, administrative, and federalism concerns. The failed subcommittee vote indicates the measure did not gain traction among committee members.