FAIR's Hannah Davis talks state laws making illegal immigration a state crime
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Transcript
13 segmentsMidterms right around the corner, you know, you would hope that the election integrity has been cleaned up around our country? Not so much. We just saw what happened in Los Angeles, counting those mail-in ballots after the mayor's primary race there in runoffs. I mean, seriously, I mean, so much skepticism in my brain over this. It's ridiculous. And now, Tennessee is at the center of a major legal fight over state power and immigration enforcement here. Joining us to talk about this, Hannah Davis, Federation for American Immigration Reform. Hannah, welcome in. for being here. Thanks having me back on. So not only is the SAVE Act something that's still being talked about, still needs bipartisan support to get through. Now it's being used as a pawn as far as what's happening with FISA. So first it was Bill Pulte, the controversial intelligence acting director there. They've moved on from him. They've got another guy. So hopefully that little political pawn move to block FISA from being renewed will go away. But now the president. and says, well, I want the SAVE Act as part of this. See, once again, I'm anti-tying different subject matters to the point at hand, and this is FISA. But in talking with this whole situation concerning immigration now, you know, They're still not on board with no matter what America things. 72% of everybody out there, including all independents, Democrats, and Republicans, say this makes sense to show an ID. Well, I mean, it's outrageous. This isn't moving forward. But with that said, now in Tennessee, apparently now the ACLU is challenging the law up there making illegal immigration a state crime. Why wouldn't it be a state crime? What's wrong with that? That's exactly right. Tennessee is taking a step to defend their state, creating state-level criminal penalties. If you've been deemed deportable and you live in Tennessee, if you don't leave up to 90 days later, you're facing one year in jail and or over a $2,000 fine. And I think what it's doing, you know, Tennessee has this broader immigration agenda. They said it last year that they were going to be pushing things like this and they were going to be focusing on things like this. And it doesn't matter what they do because the ACLU has come in and said, hey, no, immigration enforcement. That's only for the federal level. States can't be making these laws. And I just think that's really asinine if you think about it. We allow states to create sanctuary laws, right? We allow states to incentivize illegal immigration into their state. But we can't allow states to defend their sovereignty, their inherent sovereignty. We don't allow states to de-incentivize illegal immigration into their state. So it'll be interesting to see how this plays out. It's a lawsuit the ACLU has signed off on as well as the National Immigration Law Center. Well, you know, it's just really mind-boggling to me that, you know, you said it. They can go ahead and make sanctuary cities legal. They can deem it to mandated. They have governors and mayors telling people, look, we're a sanctuary place. Don't cooperate with law enforcement. Let these people be. I just don't understand how, you know, when you allow this to continue, the Biden madness that went on for four years. Where is the common sense in all of this?
And it's spilling into, you know, safety issues. We've certainly seen that around this country. And yet these idiots continue to double and triple down that illegal immigration is not such a bad thing. I mean, what is like if you cross the border and get here and tag home, like the kickball game used to play as a kid in the backyard, you're safe and nobody can bother you. No. The majority of countries around the world have immigration laws. You're not going to get away with this anywhere else for the most part. Look what it's done to the countries that allowed this to happen. I mean, London, hot mess in London and other places like this. So the common sense, I just don't get it. What is going on as far as legislation to force, you know, these Democrats? to follow federal law. We have laws in place, and if you don't, why aren't we holding them accountable? The governors and the mayors and the judges and the DAs that are soft on enforcing immigration laws that are on the books. We need to do that. Yeah, I agree. And, you know, I believe the Trump administration ran on this concept that the DOJ, the Trump DOJ, would be looking into sanctuary jurisdictions and going after them and suing them for what they're doing. They're derelict of duty. They're ignoring federal immigration law and federal immigration authorities. I haven't seen much on that front, unfortunately. But I think, you know, going back to the Tennessee issue, they're not alone, and I think that's worth noting. Under the previous Biden administration, other states like Texas passed similar laws that granted state authorities more power to respond to illegal immigration and illegal aliens as a whole. And I do know Texas SB4 was probably the most high profile example, and they faced a long legal battle, which I anticipate Tennessee having to go through the same hurdles. But at the end of the day, Texas's SB4 was passed into... law and is now enforceable as of this year. So there is hope. There is hope that Tennessee can follow their path. All right. Very good. Hannah Davis, Federation for American Immigration Reform in D.C. Thank you, Hannah. I appreciate the update.