Immigrants group (TIRRC) endorses five pro-llegal immigrantion candidates for at-large.

Zulfat Suara

Fabian Bedne

The Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition has endorsed five candidates for the council at-large seats. They are Burkley Allen, Fabian Bedne, Bob Mendes, Gicola Lane and Zulfat Suara.

Allen, Bedne and Mendes are incumbent council members. Bedne and Zulfat Suara are first generation immigrants. Cicola Lane was the primary leader of the effort that led to the adoption of Nashville's police Community Oversight Board.  Should Zulfat Suara be elected she would be the first Muslim to serve in the Council.

Council Mendes was the sponsor of two bills in the Council that that would have came close to making Nashville a sanctuary city.  Technically, Nashville may still not  have fit the definition but
we would have been close.  No doubt if the bills would have passed there would have been push back from the State.

One of the bills would have required Metro to terminate its contract with the U.S. Marshals Service to hold  illegal aliens charged with federal crimes. The other ordinance would have required that, unless required by federal or state law or a court order, Metro may not use its money, resources, or facilities to assist in enforcing federal immigration laws, or to share information about a person’s custody status or court dates. It also would also prohibited Metro requesting

Gicola Lane

Bob Mendes

Burkley Allen

information about a person’s immigration or citizenship status and it would have prohibited Metro from honoring an immigration-related voluntary detention request unless it is accompanied by a federal criminal warrant. Both bills failed. (To learn more about these bills, see  here and here.)

In making their endorsements, TIRRC highlighted Mendes' push in the council, with the support of Allen, Bedne, to end Metro cooperation with federal immigration enforcement agencies. "We’re proud to endorse this slate of progressive candidates who will ensure the Metro Council better reflects our community and our values," said a spokesman.

That these five candidates got the endorsement of an organization which opposes enforcement of immigration laws, is reason enough to oppose them. (The source of the quotes came from this Tennessean article.)

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