The Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC) announced it is organizing Tennessee’s immigrant community against the immigration legislation in the Tennessee General Assembly and against the immigration agenda outlined by President Donald Trump.
First releasing a statement on Monday that said immigrants are “here to stay,” and pledging TIRRC will “continue educating, fighting [and] organizing for a stronger, more inclusive [Tennessee],” the group announced a “statewide community call” for Tennessee activists on Tuesday.
“Join our community call where we will talk about how to organize and take action on Tennessee legislative proposals, federal immigration changes, and our Your Rights, Your Power campaign,” said the group in an advertisement posted to social media, referencing TIRRC’s campaign to educate illegal immigrants about the Constitutional rights afforded to them while in the United States.
According to a translation of material on a sign-up page for the call, the Your Rights, Your Power campaign, “aims to provide our communities with the tools they need so that together we can learn how to protect our families by responding with information, not panic.”
TIRRC is the same group that emails released last year by the Tennessee Attorney General’s office revealed TIRRC was approached by the Biden administration to help facilitate the release of illegal immigrants from a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in New Orleans to Tennessee.
The plan was ultimately foiled after ICE contacted Governor Bill Lee to inform him of the plan, prompting outcry from the governor, as well as Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Bill Lee (R-TN), and leading to a successful lawsuit from Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti.
Public documents reveal TIRRC received more than $850,000 from government sources during the year it was approached to assist with releasing illegal immigrants, and in 2024 the group planned to receive nearly $900,000 from government sources.
Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell also recently highlighted his city’s long standing relationship with TIRRC in response to questions about federal immigration enforcement in Tennessee, which he said represents a “segment” of the immigrant community “that is very, very concerned about changes in federal [immigration] policy.”
Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to pappert.tom@proton.me.
Photo “TIRRC Demonstration” by TIRRC.
