We read with interest Thursday of a bill making its way through the Tennessee General Assembly that would make it a crime for anybody without legal immigration status to set foot in the state.
Do the sponsors, state Rep. Lee Reeves, R-Franklin, and state Sen. Jack Johnson, R-Franklin, we wondered, realize thousands of illegal immigrants are already here building houses, mowing lawns, frying hamburgers and attending school?
It reminds us of the movie “Gone With the Wind” when excitable Aunt Pittypat Hamilton exclaims, “Yankees at Tara! How did they ever get in?”
The Franklin legislators’ measure would mean the about 150,000 illegal immigrants in Tennessee (according to an analysis of American Community Survey data by the Migration Policy Institute nonpartisan think tank) already were committing a misdemeanor, for that’s what the first offense would be if the bill passes. Of course, that’s on top of entering the U.S. illegally, a federal crime for which there are penalties that may include fines, imprisonment and potential deportation.
Judges, according to the bill, would be required to issue 72-hour warnings to anyone charged or convicted of the crime to leave the state.