Tennesseans for Responsible Immigration Policies

Contact your Tennessee State Senator here.

Contact your Tennessee State Congressman here.

Tennessee Laws:

Employing Illegal Aliens (not being enforced)
English as Official Language (not being enforced)

Tennessee State Government (in Spanish!!!) - another cost to taxpayers!

FOR LAWMAKERS:
The City of Hazelton, Pennsylvania has passed legislation to rid their town
of illegal aliens. The ordinances passed in Hazelton can be easily re-written
for other localities. To view/print these ordinances, please click here.

Tennessee Code Annotated Citation - Employing Illegal Aliens

50-1-103. Employment of illegal aliens.

(a) It is unlawful for any person, unless granted an exemption by the United States department
of labor pursuant to its rulemaking authority, to knowingly employ or refer for employment any
individual who has illegally entered the United States.

(b) For the purposes of this section, "person" includes any individual, partnership, association,
company, business or corporation regulated by, doing business in, or using the services of employees
in the state, and also includes any employment agency, contract labor provider, or organized
employee organization which refers prospective employees to employers.

(c) No person, employment agency, contract labor provider, organized employee organization who
refers prospective employees to employers, or corporation shall be considered to be in knowing
and willful violation of this section in any case in which a prospective employee presented a social
security card, driver license, birth certificate, vehicle registration or work visa which demonstrated
that such prospective employee is not an illegal alien.

(d) A knowing and willful violation of this section is a Class B misdemeanor. In addition, the license
of any person violating this section shall be revoked and such person shall be forever barred from
doing business in this state.

(e) (1) The provisions of this section shall be enforced by the department.

(2) The department is authorized to promulgate rules and regulations pursuant to the Uniform
Administrative Procedures Act, compiled in title 4, chapter 5, to effectuate the purposes of this
section. The commissioner of agriculture shall approve all proposed rules and regulations relative
to agriculture before promulgation by the department. For the purposes of this section, a nursery
is considered an agricultural employer.

[Acts 1985, ch. 245, § 1; 1986, ch. 847, §§ 1-3; 1989, ch. 591, § 112; 1999, ch. 520, § 41.]

While all state and local criminal penalties and civil fines for hiring
"unauthorized aliens" are pre-empted by federal immigration law, the very 
same provision [8 USC 1324a(h)(2), 
see http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode08/usc_sec_08_00001324---a000-.html]
expressly permits state and local governments to use licensing laws. 

Tennessee state law (T.C.A. 50-1-103) already deems hiring an unauthorized
alien to be an unfair labor practice and provides for revocation of business
licenses for those who hire illegal aliens, but the  Tennessee Department of
Labor under both the Bredesen and Sundquist Administrations has refused to
issue implementing regulations on the false claim of pre-emption:  While it
is true that the Tennessee statute contains a misdemeanor provision (a $500
fine) that is pre-empted, the revocation of business license provision are,
as noted above, explicitly allowed.  Typically when a statute contains an 
unconstitutional provision, it does not follow that the entire statute is 
invalid.  Rather, courts look to see whether the pre-empted provision can 
be "severed" from the rest of the statute without destroying its permissible
purposes.

TCA (Tennessee Code, Annotated)
Title 4, Chapter 1, Part 4

4-1-404. English - Official and legal language.

English is hereby established as the official and legal language of Tennessee. All communications and publications, including ballots, produced by governmental entities in Tennessee shall be in English, and instruction in the public schools and colleges of Tennessee shall be conducted in English unless the nature of the course would require otherwise.

[Acts 1984, ch. 821, § 1.]

Cite as "TCA, 4-1-404"

(please note that since the above law does not say 'ONLY English' that the Tennessee Supreme Court has decided that ballots and printed materials may be created in many languages to better accommodate those who come here and refuse to learn our language.)