Republican state House District 65 candidate Michelle Foreman is taking a hardline stance against illegal immigration, calling it a top legislative priority and what she sees as the biggest issue for voters she's met on the campaign trail.
Foreman addressed the issue during Wednesday's District 65 forum and elaborated on her views on Thursday morning when she spoke to about a dozen members of a conservative women's group in a Brentwood living room, fielding questions before sitting down with The News.
“The women in this room are connected all over the county, and they hold a lot of weight,” Foreman said, calling the intimate opportunity “huge” for her campaign.
Foreman said that she believes that comprehensive federal immigration reform is needed, adding that she doesn't support “any amnesty at all” and believes that mass deportations are needed with participation by the state government.
“Whether that's back to their country of origin or back to the border, on the other side of it, either way, and the state needs to play a role in working with the federal government and getting that done,” Foreman said.
Part of her position includes her intent to see the state ban undocumented children from attending public schools, a proposal that would hinge on her hope of seeing the 1982 U.S. Supreme Court case Plyler v. Doe overturned.
That decision ruled that “a state cannot prevent children of undocumented immigrants from attending public school unless a substantial state interest is involved.”
Foreman argues that the financial burden illegal immigration creates on Tennessee taxpayers would qualify as a “substantial state interest.” She also expects that a lengthy legal battle would ensue and make its way to U.S. Supreme Court, which is currently made up of a conservative majority.
“I think that's an opportunity for illegal aliens to plan,” Foreman continued. “I don't want anybody just ripped out of their home, I don't want that, but it does give them an opportunity to plan accordingly.”
Foreman also advocates for making it a felony to knowingly provide housing to or employ an undocumented person, as well as strengthening E-Verify requirements.
When pressed about the harsh reality and logistics of mass deportations, Foreman argued that undocumented people would be free to travel to a state that would accept them, while also advocating for deportations at a national level.
“In 2024, it's not as difficult to pick up and move as it was 100-plus years ago, so I really don't see anything other than an inconvenience for an illegal alien if they want to stay [in the U.S.]”
During Wednesday’s forum, Foreman said that her criteria for determining whether or not to sponsor a bill would be based on the following items in the following order: “Is the bill ethical and moral? Is it constitutional? Is it necessary, and do the voters want it?”
When asked how barring public education for undocumented children is “ethical and moral,” Foreman said that undocumented children and their undocumented parents "still broke the law."
“When you reach an age of understanding of what you've done, and that you know that you're not here legally, you then cross that threshold, and you become aware that you have now broken the law, and whether that age is 12, 13, 14-Until then, it is the parents who have broken the law, and they are responsible for their children, so the responsibility needs to be accepted and taken,” Foreman said, calling it “unethical” and “immoral” for undocumented people to be in Tennessee to begin with.
Similar rhetoric has been present at the national level from former President Donald Trump and has sparked fears of hate crimes across the country.
When asked how concerned she is that her rhetoric could encourage extremist movements, such as when neo-Nazis marched through the streets of Nashville in February or when white nationalists marched through downtown again this month — both of which chanted anti-immigrant slogans — Foreman said that ignoring the extremist groups is the best choice.
“I think the best and most responsible thing we can do is ignore that,” Foreman said. “I think that's intentionally inflammatory, and if we ignore it, and move on with serving communities, serving immigrants who are here legally and keeping the focus there, that's the direction we need to go.”
On Feb. 21, The News asked U.S. Sen. Bill Hagerty the same question after his trip to the U.S.-Mexico border. In 2022, Hagerty endorsed Foreman in the District 59 race.
Other issues
Foreman is against school vouchers, in favor of allowing teachers to be armed, and thinks states should set their own abortion laws.
She added that while she believes that “life begins at conception,” the only exception she would support are pregnancies that endanger the life of the mother, such as an ectopic pregnancy. She does not support abortions in the case of rape or incest.
She argues that the “progressive Democrat” brought the current state of abortion on themselves by fighting for federal abortion protections, which led to the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that protected the right to have an abortion until 2022.
“These are the unintended consequences,” Foreman said. “You brought the government in [to reproductive healthcare] then.”
In reality, state governments have been restricting abortions before Roe v. Wade ruling.
Foreman lists “election integrity” among her top issues, and the pro-Second Amendment candidate is concerned about what she characterized as the potential weaponization of red-flag laws against lawful citizens.
“You're not only running up against a constitutional right to carry a firearm, you're running up against issues of safety for the individual, potentially having their firearm removed, and then not being able to protect themselves. So the question becomes, how do you balance all of this?” with Foreman adding that she believes that there is a lack of attention given to and, funding for, mental health care.
“At the root of the problem is not the firearm," Foreman said. "It is the person who's carrying the firearm and the mental state that they are in."
Endorsements, the courts and the critics
Foreman, a registered nurse and licensed attorney since 2023, has been endorsed by local musician John Rich, District 61 state House Rep. Gino Bulso (R-Brentwood), and Tennessee Stands.
Foreman is a Trump delegate who not only shares the former president’s view that he's been the victim of a weaponized judiciary, but claims she's also been targeted by the courts.
That claim stems from her numerous lawsuits, of which she has been both a defendant and a plaintiff, including a 2023 case where she was ordered to pay $100,000 in sanctions to former Metro Nashville Councilmember Dave Rosenberg, who she sued for alleged defamation and lost in court. Foreman lost to Rosenberg in the race for the District 35 metro council seat in 2019.
The Tennessee Lookout reported that a judge found that “Foreman’s actions constituted a strategic lawsuit against public participation, known as a SLAPP suit,” a lawsuit meant to intimidate or burden someone.
Foreman said she's appealing the ruling and insists that she was the victim of a “hit job on me by a liberal politician, a liberal judge,” while denying that she has weaponized the courts against her critics.
Foreman also sued another of her former election challengers, current District 59 state House Rep. Caleb Hemmer (D-Nashville), for what she argued were “libelous claims” about her in Hemmer's 2022 election ads. Hemmer defeated Foreman in that election, and the lawsuit was later dismissed.
“I know the judiciary is weaponized against conservatives," Foreman said. "I had it happen to me in Davidson County, and it was blatant. It was egregious.”
Foreman grew up in Williamson County and attended Brentwood Academy. She recently moved back into the district but insists that she didn't move to District 65 in order to run for the office currently held by state Rep. Sam Whitson (R-Franklin) who is retiring.
“I have always felt that I need to prepare myself for an office if it becomes available and there's not a better candidate, then run for it, but I'm not seeking an office to run for; I've never been that way," Foreman said.
Early voting runs July 12-27. More information about voting in Williamson County can be found online here.
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