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Language
en
Format
text
Source
scrappa
Auto-generated
Yes
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N/A
Created
2026-10-22 12:24
Transcript Content
So, did Tennessee legislature just pass a law that scares judges into treating immigrants differently? What am I talking about here? I'm talking about HB 1707. It's a house bill in Tennessee that has just recently passed and it's gone to the governor for his signature. And what it basically says is that judges can be removed from their seat if they don't assist ICE or immigration officials in deportation issues or dealing with immigrants. So, I had one judge that called me to the bench this week. She said, "Mr. Ridings, you send a lot of people to this DUI education center to do their alternative jail time. If this law goes into effect, we may not be able to let you send immigrants to this rehabilitation center because they might think that we're helping them avoid jail time. The law is so vague that it makes it really difficult to pinpoint what is the violation of this law. I don't think that sending an immigrant to an alternative jail solution is interfering with immigration officials. We're treating everybody equally in Tennessee. And immigrants deserve alternative sentencing just as much as a US citizen does."
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