RELEASE:Tennessee Republican Supermajority's Anti-Immigrant Agenda Shows Their Disconnect from What Tennesseans Actually Want

RELEASE:Tennessee Republican Supermajority's Anti-Immigrant Agenda Shows Their Disconnect from What Tennesseans Actually Want

TIRRC Votes Press

media@tirrcvotes.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 19, 2026

Tennessee Republican Supermajority's Anti-Immigrant Agenda Shows Their Disconnect from What Tennesseans Actually Want

NASHVILLE— The growing protests against ICE expansion across Tennessee are just another example of how the Tennessee Republican Supermajority's anti-immigrant agenda is completely disconnected from the reality of Tennesseans and they policy they actually want championed by their elected leaders.

Lisa Sherman Luna, Executive Director of TIRRC Votes stated, "The response and outcry from our communities across Tennessee against an expansion of ICE in the past few days has been swift and crystal clear. From the growing number of ICE walk outs at local high schools, including Mt. Juliet and Ravenwood High Schools, and Hardin Valley Academy in Knoxville, in addition to hundreds more showing up in Wilson County to oppose the idea of an ICE detention center in their community, we can see that Tennesseans are opposed to these expansions of ICE. Yet what is the Tennessee Republican Supermajority doing? They are promoting a coordinated slate of over 40 anti-immigrant bills to turn Tennessee into their vision for Tennessee, where neighbors turn each other into ICE, where we become a surveillance state where we all have to bring proof of citizenship to go to the doctor or sign our kids up for school, and where our immigrant neighbors and friends are afraid to take their kids to school or get essential medical care.

"But this is note the future that Tennesseans want. Tennesseans need fully funded public schools, safe home and communities, and neighbors who show up for each other. We know this because they are speaking out and showing up in numbers bigger than ever. On Tuesday, hundreds of people came to the Departments and Agencies Subcommittee to demand that these members vote against such a dangerous and dehumanizing surveillance bill. Yet these Republican lawmakers continue pushing this agenda forward with their vision regardless of what voters want. They think they can distract and divide us so that will fight with each other instead of holding them accountable.

"But it's clear Tennesseans aren’t standing for it and will keep showing up to demand our leaders listen to the people and enact policy that we actually want, including fully funded public schools and affordable medical care, not the fear and division they are constantly sowing."

Background:

While a Tennessee Lookout article reported an ICE’s spokesperson’s assertion that the agency had purchased a facility in Lebanon to detain immigrants, that assertion turned out to be untrue.

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TIRRC Votes was launched in 2018 to strengthen and expand our democracy by building power in immigrant and refugee communities and advocating for equitable and inclusive public policy. TIRRC Votes is affiliated with the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC).