Tennessee Senate passes bill requiring schools check immigration status of students

Yahoo

10-04-2025

Tennessee Senate Republicans passed legislation that will require all Tennessee schools to verify citizenship or legal immigration status from incoming students despite some GOP opposition and heated protests in the Capitol.
The controversial education measure would also allow Tennessee schools to charge tuition for students who can't prove their status and deny enrollment to students who can't pay.
The bill passed on a 19-13 vote after an at-times emotional debate, with multiple opponents of the bill asking lawmakers to refer to their Christian faith when making a decision about policy aimed at children.
Despite the support from high-ranking Republicans, support for the measure has not fallen neatly down party lines.
On April 10, seven Republicans voted against the measure. Sen. Todd Gardenhire, R-Chattanooga, and Senate Pro Tem Ferrell Haile, R-Gallatin, are among the GOP lawmakers who voted against the measure in committee and on the Senate floor, each resistant to the idea of drawing children into an immigration policy debate.
Haile rose on the Senate floor, where he sits next to Senate sponsor Bo Watson, R-Hixson, to oppose the bill, reciting a Bible verse from Ezekial that the "child will not share the guilt of the parent, nor the parent share the guilt of the child."
The senior Republican said he agrees with the fundamental goal of Watson's legislation, and thinks the state does need a way to determine how many students in Tennessee are in the country without legal status and if the population is "costing the state of Tennessee to educate those who are not legally present."
"I believe that we are punishing children for the wrongdoing of their parents," Haile said. "I don't think that's the proper way to do it. We need to address the issue itself, rather than using children as a pawn in this."
Sen. Page Walley, R-Savannah, said he believes parents of undocumented students should be held accountable if they've broken the law. But he opposes the bill due its impact on children.
"Children should not be part of these kind of policy debates," said Walley, who previously served as the Tennessee Department of Children's Services commissioner. "They should not be caught in the crossfire of that."
The Senate bill remains at odds with its House companion bill, which faces a final committee hearing the week of April 14 before it can go to a full House vote. As the legislature races toward an end to its 2025 legislative session, expected within the next two weeks, the immigration measure will likely face last-minute negotiations.
Watson insisted on the Senate floor the bill is "permissive," meaning schools can decide whether to charge tuition or block enrollment.
But the bill does contain a mandate on schools to verify citizenship or immigration status. The House sponsor, House Majority Leader William Lamberth, R-Portland, meanwhile, has repeatedly said he does not want to issue a statewide mandate.
Watson suggested on the Senate floor nonprofit organizations might step up to pay tuition costs for students who can't pay, stating children won't necessarily be blocked from education as a result of the bill.
"The bill does not prohibit private school, it does not prohibit home schooling, it does not prohibit individuals or entities from providing tuition. It doesn't prohibit any of that," Watson said.
Sen. Charlane Oliver, D-Nashville, warned of downstream community effects if children are blocked from an education.
"They didn't ask to cross over the border," Oliver said. "They didn't ask to be brought here. Let's not pick and choose which children are worthy of our protection."
The legislation has drawn repeated protests from education and immigrant advocates, and hundreds of protestors lined the halls outside the Senate chamber on April 10 as lawmakers inside the chamber debated the measure.
In the Senate gallery, protestors held aloft signs that read, "let kids learn" and "kindness is a virtue."
With final passage, Senate Bill 836 officially differs significantly from its companion House bill. Both House and Senate sponsors were initially on the same page about the measure, even issuing a joint press release when the bill was filed, but the bills have since diverged.
The Senate version would place a mandate on Tennessee schools to collect citizenship or immigration documents, though schools could then decide individually what to do with local children seeking to enroll. The House version would allow, but not require, schools to collect the same documentation.
If a version of the bill becomes law, it will almost certainly trigger a lawsuit.
Even Watson and Lamberth believe the measure would likely be initially blocked in the courts, given a long-standing federal precedent guaranteeing access to education to children despite their immigration status.
The sponsors in February explicitly said they hope to trigger such a lawsuit and set in motion a legal case that could rise to the U.S. Supreme Court, with the goal of challenging a 1982 case called Plyler v. Doe out of Texas.
Watson said on the Senate floor the Tennessee Attorney General's office would bear the costs of any lawsuit over the bill, not an individual school system.
In addition to hoping to trigger a landmark legal case, supporters of the bill have argued undocumented students have become a financial strain on Tennessee schools, where English language learning costs have grown in recent years.
Sen. Ken Yager, R-Kingston, said on the Senate floor Tennessee has an "oustanding education system" that takes a lot of money to run.
"In order to provide for all of our children the education we seek and need, we have to pay for it," Yager, the Senate Republican caucus chair, said. "This bill provides a permissive way for us to make sure we have equitable support for all who want to use our system."
Still, even undocumented immigrants in Tennessee are paying into local school systems, especially given the state's tax structure and its reliance on sales tax revenue.
Watson has acknowledged in committee hearings that there is no evidence there is a direct correlation between those costs and undocumented students. Education advocates have testified the majority to English language learners are U.S. citizen or legal residents.
Additionally, it's unclear if the legislation would result in any cost savings at all for Tennessee. Under a new funding formula requirement passed in concert with Gov. Bill Lee's new voucher program, school districts would be funded at steady levels even if they lose students.
The bill's fiscal note states the measure could threaten more than $1 billion in federal education funding if the state is found to run afoul of civil rights law.
Democrats have also warned about additional administrative burdens on local schools if they're required to wade through complicated immigration documents to ascertain legal status.
Though Watson has previously suggested it should be a relatively simple matter to prove legal immigration status, recent rules developed in the state's voucher program show how complicated the process can be.
The rules outline 10 different types of legal legal immigration statuses the state would recognize, ranging from refugees and asylum seekers admitted under certain federal laws to non-citizens granted at least temporary parole into the U.S. and trafficking victims who have pending applications for certain non-immigrant status.
Sen. London Lamar, D-Memphis, opposed the bill for "putting vulnerable children at risk," but also argued the logistics will turn schools into "checkpoints" for complicated immigration issues.
"I think it's going to be very difficult to actually do," Lamar said.
Rachel Wegner contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee Senate passes bill requiring schools check immigration status