Immigration

Plain English Breakdown

The official source material does not provide specific details on funding, penalties for non-compliance, and exact impacts on resources and operations.

Tennessee Immigration Enforcement Act

This bill requires Tennessee law enforcement agencies to negotiate agreements with federal officials for participating in immigration enforcement programs and mandates officers' involvement in specific warrant service activities.

What This Bill Does

• Requires all Tennessee law enforcement agencies to negotiate memoranda of agreement with federal authorities regarding the enforcement of federal immigration laws.
• Mandates that these agreements include provisions allowing local police officers to participate in ICE's Warrant Service Officer program, which trains them to enforce administrative warrants on noncitizens.
• Specifies that participating officers must be U.S. citizens and pass background checks before joining the program.

Who It Names or Affects

• Tennessee law enforcement agencies and their officers
• Individuals who are not legally present in the United States

Terms To Know

Warrant Service Officer program

A program by ICE that trains state and local police to enforce administrative warrants on noncitizens.

287(g) program

An agreement between the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and local law enforcement agencies allowing them to enforce federal immigration laws.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill does not specify how it will be funded or enforced.
• It is unclear what specific penalties, if any, will apply for non-compliance with the new requirements.
• The exact impact on local law enforcement resources and operations remains to be seen.

Official Summary Text

Present law requires a
ll law enforcement agencies and officials
to
, in accordance with
federal law
, communica
te with the appropriate federal official regarding the immigration status of any individual, including reporting knowledge that a particular alien is not lawfully present in the United States or otherwise cooperate with the appropriate federal official in

the identification, apprehension, detention, or removal of aliens not lawfully present in the United States.

Present law authorizes a
law enforcement agency
to
negotiate the terms of a memorandum of agreement between the law enforcement agency and the ap
propriate federal official, concerning the enforcement of federal immigration laws.
This bill, instead, requires such agencies to negotiate such a memorandum of agreement, and requires such agreement to include
authorizing law enforcement officers of the
agency to participate in the warrant service officer program under the bureau of immigration and customs enforcement of the United States department of homeland security
(ICE)
.

The
w
arrant
s
ervice
o
fficer program allows ICE to train, certify
,
and authori
ze state and local law enforcement officers to serve and execute administrative warrants on noncitizens in their agency
'
s jail.

State and local law enforcement officers participating in
such program
must possess U.S. citizenship, complete and pass a backg
round investigation, and have knowledge of and have enforced laws and regulations related to law enforcement activities at their jurisdictions.

As of December 2024, ICE has
w
arrant
s
ervice
o
fficer program
agreements
with 75 law enforcement agencies in
Ala
ska, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, North Carolina, Texas, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

Current Bill Text

<BillNo> <Sponsor>

SENATE BILL 1364
By Watson

SB1364
001443
- 1 -

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 4;
Title 5; Title 6; Title 7 and Title 8, relative to
immigration.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:
SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 7-68-105(b), is amended by deleting
the first sentence and substituting:
Each law enforcement agency shall negotiate the terms of a memorandum of
agreement between the law enforcement agency and the appropriate federal official
authorizing the law enforcement agency to participate in the 287(g) program under 8
U.S.C. § 1357(g), concerning the enforcement of federal immigration laws, and
authorizing law enforcement officers of the agency to participate in the warrant service
officer program under the bureau of immigration and customs enforcement of the United
States department of homeland security.
SECTION 2. This act takes effect upon becoming a law, the public welfare requiring it.