Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam announced that he will pass a law to prevent any local governments in the state from blocking cooperation with federal immigration officials and organizations.
The law will ban cities and municipalities from passing legislation to allow the obstruction of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Haslam, a Republican, told reporters that he would not sign it into law himself. In Tennessee, however, if a bill is not signed or vetoed by the governor within ten days of its passage in the state’s legislature, it is automatically adopted into law.
Therefore, this bill banning sanctuary cities will be passed if it is neither signed nor vetoed after a certain period of time.
According to The Hill, Haslam said, “I think the best thing for the state to do with this decision is to move on from it,” Haslam reportedly said.
The sanctuary cities ban was passed by veto-proof margins in the state House by a 63–23 vote and the state Senate by a 27–5 vote, according to the Tennessee General Assembly website.
A Nashville councilman, Fabian Bedne, was opposed to the bill.
I am going to start looking into what legal recourse we have as a city to stop this unfounded mandate that is unsafe, inmoral and fiscally irresponsible. https://t.co/8Jsmv9gCjX
— (((Fabian Bedne))) (@bedne) May 21, 2018
Haslam is a lame duck governor because Tennessee has term limits for governor that does not allow a person to serve more than two consecutive four-year terms in office, and Haslam won races in 2010 and 2014.
Congresswoman Diane Black is a GOP candidate for the 2018 governor position. She has come out supporting this bill and plans to keep it in the event she wins the race, according to the Washington Examiner.
Bill Lee, another GOP candidate for the position, has also backed the bill.
Glad to see the anti-sanctuary city bill will become law. This is a good step for Tennessee. As governor, I will make sure our law is enforced and that no city in Tennessee will be a sanctuary for lawlessness.
— Bill Lee (@BillLeeTN) May 21, 2018
The bill is expected to take effect at the beginning of 2019.