US EditionLawsuit Challenges Tennessee Immigrant Harboring Law Days Before ...
- A new Tennessee law, effective July 1, 2025, criminalizes the act of knowingly providing shelter or assistance to immigrants without legal status, classifying such conduct as a felony under certain conditions.
- The law resulted from a bill signed by Governor Bill Lee on May 9 aimed at targeting human smuggling and penalizing sanctuary city supporters.
- The law broadly defines harboring to include providing shelter with any financial benefit, raising concerns it could criminalize landlords, nonprofits, churches, and families offering aid.
- A coalition including the Evangelical Lutheran Church, landlords, and a family fearing prosecution filed a federal lawsuit seeking to block enforcement, arguing the law is vague, unconstitutional, and violates religious freedoms.
- This legal challenge highlights fears of widespread arrests of Tennesseans providing humanitarian aid and warns the law could cause confusion as immigration enforcement is federally controlled.
20 Articles
20 Articles
Volokh v. Williamson County Challenges Tennessee's Restriction on Non-Tennesseeans Accessing Court Records
From our motion for a preliminary injunction, filed today by my lawyers, Susan L. Kay, Jennifer Safstrom, and Ryan Riedmueller of the Vanderbilt Law School Stanton Foundation First Amendment Clinic: American citizens enjoy a First Amendment right of access to judicial records that state and local governments may not restrict unless the restriction withstands constitutional scrutiny. See Detroit Free Press v. Ashcroft, 303 F.3d 681, 700 (6th Cir.…
Lawsuit challenges Tennessee’s new ‘human smuggling’ law
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — A coalition of religious groups, a Tennessee landlord, and a Tennessee resident whose son-in-law is seeking asylum are suing over a new state law that makes providing shelter to an undocumented immigrant a crime. The Southeastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and the two individual plaintiffs, claim the law is unconstitutional and violates: the Fourteenth Amendment "because it is impermissibly vag…
Cherokee Tribune Ledger News
Lawsuit seeks to thwart one of Tennessee's immigration bills
(The Center Square) – A lawsuit filed by religious organizations and two individuals could stop a new Tennessee law that would make harboring foreigners in the country a crime.
News Facts Network - Lawsuit Seeks to Block Tennessee Law Criminalizing Aid to Undocumented Immigrants
A federal lawsuit filed Friday aims to block a Tennessee law that would make it a felony to “harbor” immigrants without legal status, citing constitutional and religious freedom violations. The law, set to take effect July 1, defines “harboring” broadly and includes providing shelter “for commercial advantage or private financial gain.” Filed in the Middle…
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