A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit against Tennessee’s new immigration law, allowing the state to criminalize certain conduct by illegal migrants beginning July 1.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Tennessee’s new immigration enforcement law will take effect after a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit brought by pro-migrant organizations seeking to block the measure.
U.S. District Court Judge Eli Richardson ruled that the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Immigration Law Center lacked standing to challenge the law because the organizations themselves would not be subject to its provisions.
Richardson also described the case as an activist filing that appeared “more attorney-driven rather than client-driven,” according to the Times News. The judge denied the groups’ request to pursue the case as a class action.
The decision clears the way for Tennessee to enforce Bill 1704, which Republican Gov. Bill Lee signed in April as part of the state GOP’s “Immigration 2026” agenda.
The law, sponsored by House GOP Majority Leader Rep. William Lambreth, takes effect July 1. It makes it a Class A misdemeanor under state criminal law for noncitizens to intentionally remain in Tennessee more than 90 days after receiving a final deportation order from federal authorities.
The law also makes it a crime for illegal migrants to enter Tennessee after previously being deported from the United States.
A Class A misdemeanor in Tennessee carries a sentence of up to one year in jail and a maximum fine of $2,500.
Tennessee now joins several other states that have enacted laws making certain forms of illegal immigration a state crime.
In 2024, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed Senate File 2340, making illegal immigration a state offense. Texas passed a similar law the year before. That measure was challenged in court, but the U.S. Supreme Court allowed Texas to enforce it while legal challenges continue.
Mississippi, Louisiana and Oklahoma have also passed similar measures.
Tennessee lawmakers advanced the law after a state immigration report showed thousands of criminal charges involving people not lawfully present in the United States.
The Tennessee District Attorneys General Conference released its 2025 Immigration Report on Jan. 30. The report is required under TN Code § 4-1-425 and directs the conference to “collect and analyze data from law enforcement agencies on the number of persons not lawfully present in the United States charged or convicted of a criminal offense in this state during the previous year.”
According to the report, illegal migrants committed 2,183 violent offenses in Tennessee in 2025. The offenses included 41 homicides, 145 sexual offenses and 11 child rapes.
Republican State Rep. Dan Howell said the report’s findings shocked him and described the data as “really, really bad.”
“These are the criminals liberals want to defend while trying to defund ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement],” Howell said.
“Forty-one Tennesseans are dead at the hands of illegal immigrants and hundreds raped. This will not be tolerated in this great state and we will do more to keep you safe,” Howell added.
The dismissal of the lawsuit allows Tennessee to proceed with enforcement as state Republicans seek to expand immigration-related criminal penalties and align the state with other GOP-led states pursuing their own enforcement laws.