Disruptive members of the public were reportedly removed from the Tennessee State House gallery on Wednesday shortly after State Representative Justin Jones (D-Nashville) delivered a speech urging Republicans not to vote for legislation that would empower citizens to recall local politicians who vote to make their communities a sanctuary city.
Lawmakers are currently convened in Nashville for a special legislative session to consider the Education Freedom Act, a universal school choice proposal that would create 20,000 scholarships to empower families, as well as a package of relief legislation for those affected by Hurricane Helene and immigration legislation to support the federal government under President Donald Trump.
It was the immigration portion of the special session that drew a disruption on Wednesday, shortly after Jones urged lawmakers to block a vote for several immigration proposals.
“This is not about immigration.” Jones accused his colleagues, “This is about fear-mongering, this is about giving red meat, and it’s acting like you’re doing something when it’s just about targeting both elected officials and individuals in our district because people are afraid that America’s changing and becoming more diverse.”
The Nashville Democrat continued, “this diversifying of America is not a threat to any of us, it’s something that makes this nation great, and if we want to vote on all these provisions, we might as well take down that lady in the harbor that says ‘Give me your poor, your tired, your huddled masses,’” referencing the Statue of Liberty in the New York harbor.
He added, “would you please present to me your grandparents’ immigration papers when they came? Let’s check the record of where they came from,” before concluding his speech.
A voice vote defeated Jones’ motion to prevent the legislation from coming to a vote. About one minute later, Representative William Lamberth (R-Portland) was interrupted by an audience member who spoke loudly enough to divert his attention, prompting Representative Chris Todd (R-Madison County) to order the removal of four protesters.
“Sergeant at Arms, would you remove the lady that’s talking. And the next snapping? You’re leaving as well. This is not a participatory sport,” said Todd.
NewsChannel 5 reporter Chris Davis wrote in a post to the social media platform X that the audience members were removed, then advised they could return later in the day, but warned that future disruptions could lead to an arrest.
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.
