Non-citizens in the U.S. must be easily identifiable, according to the geniuses in our supermajority state legislature.
Bills were passed that our state will create drivers licenses specifically for documented non-citizens - your friends with green cards, DACA, etc. That means that when they get pulled over or need to show their license for anything, a single glance will disclose that they aren’t citizens.
Why not just make them wear gold stars?
Sue Carol Elvin
* * *
As per usual those who oppose the sanctity of the USA protecting its borders offer a glib and what, I am assuming, believe to be a dramatic proclamation.
I am always perplexed by people who can't confront the serious issue that presents itself when people deny the right of a sovereign nation to set criteria for who can and cannot claim the right to occupancy.
It has become tedious to read intellectual lightweights weigh in on national security with their tears for recent and vicious criminal immigrants while similarly offering no viable solutions or no sympathy for victims of their crimes.
Leah Geraghty
* * *
Hi, Leah. Because you’re concerned with the “recent and vicious criminal immigrants” in our community, I wanted to give you some numbers on crimes committed in Tennessee.
In the recent Tennessee 2024 Immigration Report, a study from October-December found 2,719 reports of crimes (either charged or convicted) by people who were not lawfully present in our state. (For reference, Tennessee has 7.2 million citizens.) Hamilton County reported only 114 offenses by those not lawfully present. The top four offenses statewide by those not lawfully present related to driving or traffic issues, not violent crimes.
According to the TBI, during the period of October-December 2023, the overall number of crimes committed by legal citizens in Tennessee amounted to 120,515.
While you can draw a number of conclusions from these numbers (and I encourage you to dig deeper into the statistics provided by our state), you can see that we have a larger percentage of our legal citizens committing crimes, many of them violent, than the number of those who are not lawfully present.
It’s important to deal with facts to keep us from slipping into emotional rhetoric, which can be both divisive and unproductive.
Elizabeth Renneisen
* * *
Ms Renneissen, had you read my recent post in this forum, you would have seen the figure of 3,854 charges placed against illegal aliens in Tennessee according to WTVC (1/31/25). That’s 1,000 more than the figure you quote. You cited offenses in Hamilton County as being mostly driving or traffic offenses. That’s 114 more than should have been were it not for a breakdown of our sovereignty as Ms. Geraghty correctly indicated.
WTVC also reported 447 violent crimes, 11 being homicides, by illegals in Tennessee. Not all traffic offenses or crimes in general are reported or receive citations. Just because a vicious crime by an illegal hasn’t happened yet here is no guarantee it won’t. Our law enforcement personnel have enough to deal with keeping us safe without adding to it.
You indicate having the facts keep us from slipping into emotional rhetoric. I agree but they must be accurate and not detract from the original point, the need for our nation’s sovereignty and safety of its citizens. The inept Biden administration is responsible for this breakdown and these posts.
Ralph Miller
* * *
Ms. Renneissen’s figures are accurate because they were taken from the same report. There were 2,719 people charged with crimes vs. 3,854 individual charges. The report says that some people had multiple charges for the same incident on the reporting form. But squabbling over these numbers isn’t relevant.
I’m very confused by this discussion and the word “sovereignty” righteously being thrown around with lots of coded meaning. I’ve also never understood the crux of the issue when talking about how immigration and crime are related. Sovereignty in the modern sense means a nation’s authority to govern itself (or that’s at least how I understand the meaning). The responses above use sovereignty in a Medieval sense: a castle surrounded by stone walls and a moat. If someone sneaks across the moat and climbs the castle walls, then they breached our sovereignty. This is plainly xenophobic (and racist in my opinion) and has nothing to do with our self-governance or self-determination as a country. Using it in this sense paints everyone who is from outside the castle walls as violent and dangerous by nature, part of a rampaging horde that is an automatic threat.
If safety really is the issue here, then the focus should be on reducing crime, not where the perpetrator came from. When presented with facts about the number of crimes committed by people who are not legal citizens compared to crimes committed by legal citizens, a downright sad and frail response is given: "Just because a vicious crime by an illegal hasn’t happened yet here is no guarantee it won’t.” What guarantee would quiet your outrage about sovereignty and public safety? That when a crime is committed, it better be committed by an American and not some foreigner?
Will Hays