House Republicans continued their push to toughen immigration laws days before Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee made his final State of the State address. But the governor didn’t talk about immigration Monday night, heading into the last year of his two terms.
The omission was not lost on Democratic state Rep. Justin Pearson of Memphis, who opposes a massive deployment of Tennessee National Guard troops and state, local and federal officers to Memphis to cut down crime.
“I did think it was notable he didn’t mention immigration considering that Stephen Miller has pushed forward a legislative agenda for (House Speaker) Cameron Sexton and people here to push forward,” said Pearson, who is running for Tennessee’s Ninth Congressional District seat.
Miller, President Donald Trump’s deputy chief of staff, is the architect of an aggressive national immigration enforcement strategy and met numerous times with Sexton and Tennessee officials to work on a set of bills designed to toughen state immigration laws. One that raises constitutional questions would create a new state crime for anyone who disobeys a federal deportation order.
Pearson pointed out, though, that Lee talked about the “occupation” of Memphis that many Black lawmakers from Shelby County oppose.