A bill introduced by two Tennessee Republicans seeks to prohibit Tennesseans without permanent legal status in the U.S. from filing most lawsuits.
In 2008, Juana Villegas — nine months pregnant and with her two of her children in the car — was pulled over for a routine traffic violation.
Instead of receiving a citation, Villegas, who was originally from Mexico and had lived in Tennessee without permanent legal status since 1996, was arrested.
When she went into labor two days after her arrest, she was shackled to a hospital bed.
Returned to jail after giving birth, she wasn’t allowed to take a breast pump as medical devices were barred from the Davidson County Detention Center. Her breasts became infected. Her infant son got jaundice.
Villegas was detained for six days thanks to a partnership between Davidson County and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which allowed Davidson County sheriff’s officers to enforce immigration laws. The program is colloquially called 287(g) for the section of the Immigration and Nationality Act from which it stems.
Because of abuses like the racial profiling that landed Villegas in jail, the Obama administration suspended 287(g) in 2012.
Villegas’s case gained national attention and she filed a lawsuit against Metro Nashville, settling for $490,000 as the case horrified many who learned about the circumstances.
If Villegas had to be subjected to this cruel treatment, it was good that she was able to sue and gain restitution. Other immigrants may soon not be afforded the same opportunity
A bill filed by two Tennessee Republicans would bar Tennesseans like Villegas — those without permanent legal status in the U.S. — from pursuing most lawsuits, including seeking legal redress from local governments for negligence, compensation for medical malpractice, pursuing product liability claims or accessing the state’s crime victims fund.
The measure is one of a slew of bills filed in this legislative session to make life harder for immigrants in Tennessee and, as best I can tell, do nothing to improve life for other Tennesseans.
I reached out to Rep. Johnny Garrett, the Goodlettsville Republican — a lawyer by trade — who is sponsoring the two-paragraph bill, with questions about why he thinks it’s necessary.
Garrett didn’t return my emails or calls, nor would he speak to a reporter in the Tennessee Capitol.
In that vacuum of information, I’ll rely on my own interpretation, which is that this is a terrible policy from a human rights perspective. There’s no good reason to bar immigrants from seeking redress when they’ve been exposed to bad actors. Without legal recourse, immigrants may fall prey to exploitation by those who know they cannot be held accountable for maltreatment.
The bill also appears to violate the 14th Amendment, which was enacted at the end of the Civil War and says that no state shall “deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
“This bill not only risks creating a harmful precedent for other marginalized groups but also echoes a troubling historical parallel to pre-Civil War era laws that denied the humanity and legal personhood of enslaved people,” said Lisa Sherman-Luna of the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition. “By stripping individuals of their right to legal recourse based on immigration status, this legislation reopens wounds from our nation’s past, where the humanity of certain groups was denied under the law.” Rep. Johnny Garrett, a Goodlettsville Republican and a lawyer, is sponsoring a bill that appears to contradict the 14th Amendment. (Photo: John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout)
The measure also appears to be the only one in the country, according to the Niskanen Center, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, putting a fresh spin on Gov. Bill Lee’s catchphrase, Tennessee: Leading the way.
President Donald Trump has made demonization of “the other” — and in his second term, particularly immigrants — a major feature of his policy. Tennessee Republicans show themselves eager to follow in his footsteps, and Lee said in a statement before Trump was inaugurated that he would be “ensuring our state is ready to assist President Trump in carrying out his immigration enforcement agenda.”
The Trump administration has reopened the 287(g) program, and so far, the Greene, Knox and Putnam County Sheriff’s offices have signed up. Given the current political milieu, there’s no reason to expect the program will be run with more integrity than it was during its last iteration. State Sen. Bo Watson is going further, sponsoring a bill that would require law enforcement agencies to participate in 287(g).
If the bill passes, lawsuits challenging its constitutionality will follow.
The best outcome for Tennessee’s immigrants, particularly those here without permanent legal status, would be for legislators to show some human decency. But empathy can’t be legislated, so following the constitution and ensuring immigrants have the right to sue is the least we can do.
Tennessee Lookout is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Tennessee Lookout maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Holly McCall for questions: [email protected].
