If you look over the information below, you will quickly understand why this bill needs to be VETOED. Please use these new links to make these contacts and please be respectful.
Two weeks ago, the House and Senate barely passed SB2464/HB2309, a bill that will allow illegal aliens to obtain commercial or professional licenses in Tennessee.
Please ask the Governor to VETO this bill.
Republican support for the bill was very low; only 34 House Republicans and 15 Senators helped pass this bill.
The bill is now with the Governor, who will decide whether to sign it into law, allow it to go into law without his signature, or veto it.
Please consider using the talking points below and email the following individuals to respectfully urge that this bill be vetoed:
Call Governor Bill Lee's office - 615 741-2001 Send emails to these staff members: Joseph Williams, Chief of Staff - Joseph.Williams@tn.gov Christian Potucek, External Affairs Associate - Christian.Potucek@tn.gov
Reasons to veto SB2464-HB2309 - granting commercial and professional licenses to immigrants who do not have legal immigration status
The bill, passed with bare majorities in both the Senate and House, upends Tennessee law on rewarding illegal immigrants with state and public benefits by completely removing commercial and professional licenses from TCA 4-58-101, Tennessee's "Eligibility Verification for Entitlements Act".
In 2017, Tennessee's Attorney General opined that the 1996 federal Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act which defers to states on state or local public benefits, was "based on Congress' asserted interest in removing the incentive for illegal immigration provided by the availability of public benefits."
In addition to DACA grantees, the bill applies to individuals with Temporary Protected Status, immigrant populations which do not have legal immigration status and only temporary work authorization.
It is premature to award a state benefit to DACA grantees because the program is presently under federal review and, as noted by the Congressional Research Service, may be "reforumulat[ed]" including the possibility of removing work authorization from DACA grantees.
This bill will provide a benefit to illegal aliens currently crossing the border. Secretary of Homeland Security Mayorkas is preparing to launch a program for working-age Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC) currently crossing the border, the vast majority of whom are working-age males. The program issued in a March policy alert, dubbed by some as "DACA 2.0", will provide UACs with deferred deportation and work authorization.
This bill enables individuals without legal immigration status to obtain a license to practice law in Tennessee.
Tennessee's state government should not validate the illegal and unconstitutional federal DACA program. In July 2021, the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals held that the DACA program was "illegal" and conflicts with the provisions of federal immigration law, the Immigration & Naturalization Act. Many of the DACA "kids" were not brought to the U.S. as young children; they entered on their own or were smuggled into the U.S. as older teenagers.
The bill does not limit renewal of commercial and professional licenses or condition the licenses on continued valid work authorization. According to the Dept. of Justice, DACA grantees are not required to tell employers that their work authorization is temporary and employers are not allowed to ask about immigration status.
The bill sets a precedent for awarding state benefits such as in-state tuition to immigrants who have work authorization but no legal immigration status, communicating a disregard for legal immigrants who followed the law.
