What Tennessee's new sanctuary cities ban means for Shelby County

Ryan Poe , Ryan Poe | Memphis Commercial Appeal

Show Caption Hide Caption Raw video: Memphis immigration detention protesters arrested Memphis police detain activists who gathered to protest immigration detention policies on Tuesday, April 3, 2018.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam announced Monday that he will allow a bill banning sanctuary cities to become law without his signature, beginning a new era of mandated cooperation between federal immigration agents and local law enforcement.

Here are three things to know about what the law will mean for Memphis and Shelby County:

There are no sanctuary cities in Tennessee

The new law will ban sanctuary cities throughout the state — even though the state currently has no sanctuary cities.

Although Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland has described the city as a "welcoming" city to immigrants, Memphis Police spokespersons say they have little interaction with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

“Our legal team has reviewed the bill and determined it will not affect our operations," spokeswoman Ursula Madden said in a statement after Haslam's announcement.

However, Shelby County is a different matter. The county doesn't assist on ICE actions but regularly holds immigrants for ICE upon request.

The state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union released a statement from executive director Hedy Weinberg, who is concerned the law makes any local law enforcement officer a "de facto immigration agent." Here's more of the statement:

"By allowing this bill to become law, the governor has ensured that thousands of Tennesseans will be forced to live in the shadows, in fear of reporting when they are victims or witnesses to crimes and undermining local law enforcement's ability to use their discretion and resources in the way that they believe best protects public safety in their local community."

Shelby County commissioners sought veto

The Shelby County Commission voted 7-0 in April — the bare minimum of votes needed — to ask Haslam to veto the legislation. That movement was led by Republican Commissioner Mark Billingsley, who said the bill "invites racial profiling."

One of the six absent commissioners, Republican firebrand Terry Roland, decided to write his own letter to Haslam asking Haslam to ignore his colleagues and sign the law.

Billingsley also objected to the additional financial burden of working closer with ICE, although County Chief Administrative Officer Harvey Kennedy said the cost was nil.

The next county sheriff won't go rogue

Even though the state is threatening some fairly significant financial punishments for cities violating the law, a municipality could — hypothetically — bite that bullet.

But Shelby County won't, according to Democrat Floyd Bonner and Republican Dale Lane, the two candidates running for sheriff in the Aug 2 general election. In recent interviews, both men said they would obey the law if elected.

Reach Ryan Poe at poe@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter at @ryanpoe.