Tennessee is the latest state to pass legislation banning the establishment of sanctuary cities. House Bill 2315 passed the House 64-23 and the Senate 25-5 and now awaits the signature of Republican Governor Bill Haslam.

Introduced by Rep. Jay Reedy, the bill mandates that Tennessee law enforcement comply with detainer notices from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). It further attempts to prevent the future creation of local sanctuary policies by barring such jurisdictions from receiving "any state moneys until the sanctuary policy is repealed, rescinded, or otherwise no longer in effect."

According to the Center's sanctuary city map, Tennessee does not currently have any sanctuary jurisdictions, and neither ICE nor the Department of Justice identified any Tennessee localities with such policies.

Tennessee follows Iowa and Texas as the most recent states to ban sanctuary policies state-wide. The opening text of the bill says that "allowing illegal immigrants to reside within this state undermines federal immigration laws and state laws allocating available resources." With the passage of HB 2315 Tennessee has made clear their state's commitment to enforcing federal immigration law.