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The Tennessee Conservative [By Olivia Lupia] –
Last month, Vanderbilt Law’s George Barrett Social Justice Program hosted the Director of Legal Strategy for the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC) to lecture students on the “legal challenges” facing immigrant communities and lawyering strategies TIRRC and other organizations are using to “hold the line” in a “time of crisis”.
According to its website, the George Barrett Social Justice Program “aims to promote a dynamic atmosphere in which issues of equality, access, and service are openly and regularly explored by faculty and students from inside and outside the classroom.” The program sponsors guest speakers, conferences, workshops, and other activities and helps connect students to potential “public interest” employment opportunities during law school and beyond.
The program’s October’s speaker featured TIRRC’s Spring Miller as the 2025-26 Distinguished Practitioner in Residence Lecture. Miller previously served as assistant dean for public interest at Vanderbilt Law School after beginning her legal career with Southern Migrant Legal Services and later as the managing attorney for Texas RioGrande Legal Aid’s sect dedicated to representing human trafficking victims. She became Director of Legal Strategy for TIRRC in 2023.
During her presentation, Miller, who spoke in a personal capacity and not on behalf of TIRRC, criticized the Trump administration’s use of the “flood the zone” strategy which seeks to “overwhelm and exhaust the opposition” through “relentless” policy changes. She also used the term to refer to the joint Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP) operation which resulted in the detention and arrest of hundreds of illegal aliens over the summer.
“A flooded zone feels like an apt metaphor for this space that immigrant rights advocates have been working in this past year,” Miller said. “That’s true across the country, and I think it’s particularly true here in Tennessee, where our state government and many local officials have actively endeavored to advance this administration’s mass deportation agenda.”
Miller stated Tennessee has one of the fastest-growing immigrant communities in the country, and 2023 data from the American Immigration Council shows around 430,000 Tennessee residents are foreign-born, with approximately 157,000 of those residents classified as “undocumented”, though she also said the term “undocumented” is “an imperfect and kind of misleading term”.
As this data is at least two years old, the numbers are likely now higher, especially as new reports show Tennessee is number two in the nation for illegal alien arrests per capita and has seen a roughly 50% increase in the influx of migrants over the last 15 years. Record high numbers of illegal border crossings under the Biden administration also contribute to an unknown number of undocumented “got aways”, estimated to be in the millions.
Miller further critiqued the federal immigration system, particularly the tightening of legal pathways to citizenship in 1996, saying it is “outdated and brittle, and it doesn’t align with domestic or global economic and social realities.” She praised the Obama and Biden administrations for their prioritization of “national security and recent border-crossers” while leaving those with long-term residence and no serious criminal history largely alone and their expansions of asylum and temporary protection programs.
“It’s not an exaggeration to say that our immigration legal system has been upended at every level since January, from reinterpretations of not just existing statutes, but what had also been considered settled constitutional law with regard to the rights of noncitizens in the U.S.,” she said. “Here in Tennessee, what we’ve experienced since the inauguration in January is a sort of amplification, force multiplier of this federal assault on immigrant rights through the use of state and local authorities and resources.”
In response to these increased immigration enforcement efforts across the state, both through legislative efforts and local law enforcement initiative, Miller said TIRRC focuses on impact-cases with the intent to expose “broad systemic abuse”. The coalition’s actions have included filings of constitutional challenges to new state laws, public records petitions from the THP for “accountability”, and other legal defense actions for those detained or arrested in Nashville and Memphis.
The coalition has also worked to subvert law enforcement activities relating to illegal immigration and has worked with or supported initiatives which distribute resources and aid to immigrants, like Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell’s controversial Belonging Fund.
“I think the best description for our approach to legal work at TIRRC is that we are movement lawyers,” Miller elaborated. “We work alongside our colleagues on organizing, policy, and narrative teams, and in conjunction with our members and constituents to deploy legal strategies to both respond to community needs and build immigrant community power over the long run.”
While not reflective of the entire Vanderbilt Law School curriculum, the Social Justice Program’s course and lecture offerings appear to show some anti-immigration enforcement bias, which could also raise questions about the school’s adherence to state Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion laws.
About the Author: Olivia Lupia is a political refugee from Colorado who now calls Tennessee home. A proud follower of Christ, she views all political happenings through a Biblical lens and aims to utilize her knowledge and experience to educate and equip others. Olivia is an outspoken conservative who has run for local office, managed campaigns, and been highly involved with state & local GOPs, state legislatures, and other grassroots organizations and movements. Olivia can be reached at olivia@tennesseeconservativenews.com.
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Isaiah 3:12
As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths.