As a constituent of Senate District 11, I was disappointed to learn that my state senator, Bo Watson, seems more concerned with making the lives of immigrants worse and not on improving the lives of the residents in his district.
Senator Watson is sponsoring a bill that would allow Tennessee schools to deny enrollment to undocumented immigrants, which decades ago was ruled by the Supreme Court to be unconstitutional. He’s also sponsoring a bill that would make English the only language that Tennesseans can use when undertaking the written test to obtain a driver’s license. This bill is clearly targeting Tennessee’s immigrant population for no good reason.
These two pieces of legislation would not only hurt immigrants in Tennessee, but the state as a whole. Imagine the kids in our communities who will lack an education and the unimaginable harm that will have on their futures. They will have much difficulty contributing to our state’s economy, therefore negatively impacting us all in varied ways.
As for Watson’s other bill, it will basically incentivize people who don’t speak English as a first language, to drive without obtaining a license. Who does this discriminatory bill benefit? It definitely wouldn’t benefit drivers in Chattanooga.
It would be great if Senator Watson would sponsor bills addressing the fact that 44 percent of Tennessee households can’t afford the basic living necessities. Or bills addressing the fact that our state has the second-highest rate of inflation in the nation. Or maybe bills that would address the rising poverty rate for children in Tennessee, the high costs of childcare, or the leading cause of death for Tennessee children: gunshot wounds.
But no, Bo Watson would rather waste time and money on hurting immigrants, than help us, who he was elected to serve.
Brandon Denley