***Update 2.26.24 – HB1872 has been placed on the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee Calendar Subcommittee calendar for 2/27/24. To voice your support or opposition to this legislation, find the subcommittee member’s contact info HERE & reach out to them prior to their meeting.
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The Tennessee Conservative [By Paula Gomes] –
A Tennessee bill was introduced earlier this year that would put illegal immigrants who commit violent crimes behind bars for life.
House Bill 1872 (HB1872) sponsored by Representative Monty Fritts (R-Kingston-District 32) and corresponding Senate Bill 2770 (SB2770) sponsored by Senator Janice Bowling (R-Tullahoma-District 16) have been assigned to committees but there is nothing on the calendar in either chamber yet.
The proposed law aims to deter those who are coming across the southern United States border and making their way to Tennessee with the intention to engage in drug or human trafficking.
According to the bill, drug and human trafficking lead to violent crime and “enhancing the penalty for a crime will reduce the frequency of that crime occurring.” The bill also seeks to make schools safer from violent crime.
In addition to enhancement factors already prescribed under current law, the statutory penalty would be increased if this bill becomes law, authorizing a court to convict those found guilty of certain offenses to imprisonment for life without the possibility of parole.
This would apply to:
(1) Defendants being convicted for a violent crime if they were an illegal alien at the time of the offense,
(2) The use or display of a deadly weapon during a crime that an illegal alien committed,
(3) The conviction is for committing a violent crime and the offense occurred at a school (public or private elementary school, middle school, high school, college of applied technology, postsecondary vocational or technical school, or two-year or four-year college or university.)
If the bill succeeds in becoming law, the convictions of illegal immigrants for violent crimes and the use of deadly weapons would be required to be reported to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation’s Human Trafficking Advisory Council.
TBI would then determine any correlations between the arrests and subsequent convictions on incidents of human trafficking within the state.
Nine Republican co-sponsors have signed onto the proposed legislation in the House. The Representatives that support the bill are Jody Barrett (R-Dickson-District 69), Ed Butler (R-Rickman-District 41), Kip Capley (R-Summertown-District 71), Chris Hurt (R-Halls-District 82), Kelly Keisling (R-Byrdstown-District 38), Lowell Russell (R-Vonore-District 21), Chris Todd (R-Madison County- District 73), Todd Warner (R-Chapel Hill-District 92), and Mark White (R-Memphis-District 83).
About the Author: Paula Gomes is a Tennessee resident and reporter for The Tennessee Conservative.
You can reach Paula at paula@tennesseeconservativenews.com.
13 Responses
Who is going pay for the “life support” of these people????
Why not add “Capital Punishment” to some of these crimes.
Too many “Bleeding Heart Liberal” laws in place already.
When the cost is more than the profit, crime will slow down, but it will never stop.
SO very TRUE send them back to where ever they came from, why should our tax dollars be used to do any think for people who do not belong here. WE need to stop electing LAWYERS, they are killing our country, and no one follows to laws they come up with any way.
Let’s make public hangings great again. That would stop a lot of this mess.
If an illegal immigrant breaks a minor law, they should be deported and put on a banned list that shows up on every border, security, law-enforcement, database nationwide! If they commit a severe crime, like murder, child molestation, rape, then they should be executed. USA Taxpayers should not pay to cloth/feed/house/treat medically any illegal immigrant!
for the problems caused by ileagal immigration drastic measures are called for.
ANY infraction of ANY TN law …. Automatic deportation!! Period!!
Sending these criminals back to their home countries only allows them to come back.
I can’t believe Sims you only think about the money. How much money is a life worth?
Something has to deter these criminals. Life in prison should be a starting point.
We must not tolerate the immigrant conditions that have become common in California. There are groups of criminals who do nothing but prey on fellow immigrants. There also many illegal immigrant criminals among the “gotaways” who have no interest in talking to INS. If they violate our laws they must be caught and prosecuted. In California where I immigrated (refugee) to Tennessee from, the effect of “sanctuary” cities is to shield these criminals from apprehension.
Victory Davis Hansen describes life in California’s interior farmlands in his book “MEXIFORNIA”.
Solution; deport every single one for any crime, if they are caught here again for any crime, execution!
Very simple
I’m not paying my taxes to feed, house and care for their health.
Why should the tax payer food the bill for these trash criminals? Put them or any other Capitol murderer on Death row and carry out sentence immediately.
You are right on Doug and Illegal means you are breaking the law that our bleeding heart liberals overlook.
RAINEY you hit the nail on the head, we need to stop electing lawyers they are of no use at all. OUR government has been over run by LIBERLAS, and they will sit and let our country fall into a 3rd world country. IT does not take a blind man to see we are going BROKE, paying for other people wars, and millions of people who should have NEVER been let into our country.
These invaders committed a crime by illegally entering this country. We do not owe them three meals and a cot for life. Add some real punishment for their crimes such as immediate execution or deportation to outer Siberia. Come on Tennessee, don’t be another California.