Commercial Litigation Update

In February 2025, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee signed a bill into law strengthening immigration enforcement in the state. We previously wrote about this law here.

The law created a Centralized Immigration Enforcement Division at the state level that coordinates directly with the Trump administration on federal immigration policies, establishes a new driver’s license distinguishing U.S. citizens from lawful permanent residents, and through provision of grants, encourages local governments to participate in enforcing federal immigration authorities.

The law also made it a felony for elected officials to vote for so-called sanctuary city policies, punishable by up to six years in jail, a $3,000 fine, and the law requires removal of any official who violates the law “as soon as practicable.”

Immigration-related cases have recently been highly controversial and much in the news.

Thus, it should be unsurprising that the U.S. Supreme Court was sharply divided in the case of Monsalvo Velázquez v. Bondi, the central issue of which has to do with whether a 60-day deadline for the voluntary departure of a person who had entered the United States unlawfully should be interpreted as referring to consecutive calendar days, or whether the period should be extended when the deadline falls on a weekend or holiday.

Followers of this blog will likely say offhand that there should be nothing controversial about that question. After all, most of my readers are lawyers who file court papers and deal with case filings, the deadlines of which are, by rule, generally and automatically interpreted to allow filings beyond the designated numerical deadline to the first business day following a weekend or holiday. Nevertheless, a question so apparently simple, here in the context of the voluntary departure deadline of 8 U. S. C. §1229c(b)(2), produced a 5–4 decision, with Justice Gorsuch writing for the Chief Justice and Justices Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson, with a variety of mix-and-match dissents filed by Justices Thomas, Alito, Kavanaugh, and Barrett.

While much attention has been given to the Trump Administration’s early federal policy objectives to increase immigration enforcement, clients should also be aware of similar increased enforcement policies at the state level.

Last month, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee signed into law a bill passed by the state legislature during a recent special legislative session. The new Tennessee law attempts to strengthen immigration enforcement in Tennessee with the following measures:

1. Creates a Centralized Immigration Enforcement Division at the state level, to be led by a Chief Immigration Enforcement Officer (“CIEO”) appointed by the Governor. The CIEO will coordinate directly with the Trump Administration on federal immigration policies and implementation.