By Logan Langlois
NASHVILLE, TN — An over 500-person strong crowd marched its way peacefully under the musical accompaniment of a small band up Deaderick Street and to the War Memorial Plaza last week in protest of the recently passed anti-immigration bill HB2124/SB2576. Sponsored by Rep. Rusty Grills, R-Newbern, and Sen. Brent Taylor, R-Memphis is meant to mandate local law enforcement to work with the federal government in separating and detaining illegal immigrants and their families. The protest organized by the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC) consisted of immigrants, refugees, friends, family, and allies who called the bill inherently racist, and encouraged Governor Bill Lee to veto the bill for the good of all Tennesseans.
TIRRC’s Campaigns and Advocacy Director Judith Clerjeune said this bill does nothing to help with the immigration issues the United States is currently facing. She said instead, bills such as this make immigrant communities feel unsafe around police because of their ethnicity, which results in these communities not being as likely to report crimes or help with investigations.
“These policies are … xenophobic, they are trying to divide our communities, divide the state based off nationality, based off the language that you speak, based off the color of your skin,” Clerjeune said.
Clerjeune said this year TIRRC has especially heard legislators call immigrant communities “every name under the sun” while discussing policy. She said these policies are largely finding support among those Tennesseans who may be afraid of their changing world and surrounding environment.
“When people who are coming to this country seeking opportunity, or fleeing violence and trying to seek safety, instead of meeting people and talking about people as human beings, and offering people welcome and dignity, they are instead choosing to demonize them,” Clerjeune said.
Clerjeune said individuals from everywhere have been coming together to fight the bill under the recognition that people need to feel safe and that they have opportunities in their environment for their communities to thrive. She said many immigrant communities from different nationalities have been uniting to fight against the bill, as exemplified by this past march which TIRRC co-hosted with the American Muslim Advisory Council (AMAC), Casa de la Cultura, Conexión Américas, Poder Popular, Tennessee Justice for our Neighbors (JFON), and Workers’ Dignity.
“Our lives, our communities, are not disconnected,” Clerjeune said. “We are interconnected and it’s important that we show up for each other.”
Clerjeune said though we may not see the immediate effect this bill will have on Tennessee, there is no way to guarantee that law enforcement will enforce the new bill the same way across county lines. Clerjeune said the enforcement of federal laws is not only not the responsibility of local law enforcement, but that said enforcement should also not be coming out of local tax dollars that could instead be going to social programs to improve the lives of all Tennesseans. Clerjeune said immigrant communities are also afraid of the possible race-based confusion the enforcement of HB2124/SB2576 may cause police, which could damage minority communities.
Clerjeune said immigrants have already faced well-documented racial profiling in the past, and this bill could easily just add to this phenomenon. Clerjeune said anyone looking to get involved can do so by visiting tnimmigrant.org or tirrc.org, where they can be kept up to date with future news and actions.
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