GOP Lawmaker Takes Cue from DeSantis, Brings the Immigration Crisis to Doorstep of Top Dems
State Rep. Bruce Griffey of the Tennessee General Assembly filed a new bill Wednesday that brings a spotlight to immigration issues.
The bill that Griffey filed, HB1994, proposes that illegal immigrants in the U.S should be relocated to the home states of President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, WZTV-TV in Nashville reported.
Griffey said illegal immigration was a key component of his campaign when he first ran for office in 2018 and has also been the focus of a number of bills that he has filed over the years he has been in the Tennessee House, the Gateway Pundit reported.
The bill aims to move illegal immigrants to the hometowns of the political leaders “responsible for our border crisis,” Griffy said, according to WZTV.
It’s not the first time Griffey has used national events as an inspiration for proposed legislation in the Volunteer State. On Jan. 18, he introduced HB1769, which would require the state to pay the legal fees of defendants accused of violent crimes who successfully argued justification for self-defense.
He called the bill “Kyle’s Law,” in honor of Kyle Rittenhouse, who was acquitted in November of killing two men and wounding a third during riots in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in August 2020.
This time, the general idea of Griffey’s bill was inspired in December by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
At a news conference to describe his plans for the upcoming session of the Florida legislature, DeSantis made the pointed suggestion of sending illegal immigrants to Delaware and Martha’s Vineyard, which is where prominent Democratic politicians live and have vacation homes.
“If you sent [them] to Delaware or Martha’s Vineyard, that border would be secure the next day,” DeSantis said in December, as Fox News reported.
Griffey’s bill went beyond just Delaware and Martha’s Vineyard, though.
The towns listed in the bill are Block Island, Rhode Island; Greenwich, Connecticut; Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts; Governors Island, New York; Rehoboth Beach, Delaware; Nantucket, Massachusetts; Newport, Rhode Island; Scarsdale, New York; Palo Alto, California; Yountville, California; St. Helena, California; and North Hero, Vermont.
President Joe Biden’s home state is Delaware, while California is the home of Vice President Kamala Harris, Pelosi and countless other liberals. Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary is from Greenwich, Connecticut. Vermont Sen Bernie Sanders has a vacation home in North Hero, Vermont.
Griffey’s bill calls on the Tennessee Department of Safety commissioner and the Tennessee Department of Human Services commissioner to develop and implement a system that identifies illegal immigrants and then moves them to the proposed states, according to WSMV-TV in Nashville.
“The Biden administration is quietly moving thousands of illegals to various states, including Tennessee, by putting them on planes and buses and transporting them in the middle of the night, and we should return them to their sender!” Griffey said in a news release published by the Gateway Pundit.
“I imagine that if we relocated them to the backyards of those responsible for allowing the flood of illegal immigration across our border, then those with federal power might be more apt to secure the border and secure it quickly.”
His bill states that “the commissioner of safety, in collaboration with the commissioner of human services, shall develop and implement a system to identify and relocate illegal aliens as soon as practicable upon arrival in this state on and after the effective date of this act.”
Griffey also argued in the release that illegal immigration is hurting the state of Tennessee and has to be addressed.
He cited the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which estimated that illegal immigration cost Tennessee taxpayers about $793 million in 2017. He said that number has certainly risen in the years since.
Griffey also pointed out that illegal immigration suppresses wages for Tennesseans.
Finally, it brings crime into communities since the drug cartels that are responsible for getting illegal immigrants across the border are also shipping drugs into the U.S. and operating human trafficking rings.
“Illegal immigration is just that – illegal – and I have a responsibility to my constituents to call for the enforcement of the law. We need law and order!” Griffey’s news release read.
“Instead, in my opinion, we have lawlessness that is intentionally being allowed to happen to benefit powerful, entrenched, wealthy corporate interests, who want cheap labor at the expense of national security, safe communities, and low-wage labor markets,” Griffey wrote.
“If Tennessee bands together with Governor DeSantis and Florida and other states follow suit, we might actually be able to effect change.”
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