Tensions run high among officials, community organizations after ICE enforcement in Nashville

Metro Nashville and state officials continue to seek information about a Sunday immigration enforcement action, even as several city council members question what role city law enforcement may have played.

During a Monday press conference, Mayor Freddie O’Connell reiterated the traffic stops and resulting detentions were a result of a coordinated effort between federal and state agencies and that the Metro Nashville Police Department was not involved.

“What’s clear today is that people who do not share our values of safety and community have the authority to cause deep community harm,” O’Connell said. “We are working to determine more about what happened over the weekend  but what we know right now based on public statements is state and federal officials coordinated without us to engage in traffic enforcement clearly intended to target immigration concerns.”

In a public statement, the Tennessee Highway Patrol called the detentions — which followed approximately 150 traffic stops in a South Nashville area heavily populated by immigrants — as a “public safety operation that targeted areas of suspected gang activity with a history of serious traffic crashes.”

Metro Legal Director Wally Dietz said he has sent a letter to the Tennessee Highway Patrol asking for the names of those arrested and what those people were charged with. Officials with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency, he added, have been “totally opaque in responding.”

But members of Metro Council’s Immigrant Caucus expressed skepticism about O’Connell’s claims Metro Police weren’t involved.

“The lack of transparency around coordination with federal agencies has raised serious questions,” said Councilmember Terry Vo, caucus chair.

Outrage from Davidson County’s state delegation 

O’Connell said he spoke with Gov. Bill Lee briefly about the detention action.

“I flagged that this seems like a moment of significant tension increase between local and state,” O’Connell said. “He’s aware of the complicated landscape.”

In a letter sent to the heads of Tennessee’s Department of Homeland Security and the Highway Patrol, members of the Davidson County legislative delegation were more pointed.

“By all appearances, government officials racially and ethnically profiled residents, requested driver’s licenses, inquired about tattoos, left cars abandoned on roadways creating traffic hazards, and tore at least one mother from her children,” reads the letter, which is signed by all members of the delegation except for Sen. Mark Pody, a Lebanon Republican who represents a portion of eastern Davidson County and Democratic Rep. Justin Jones.

Questions raised in the letter include those about which agency initiated the action, what — if any — interaction occurred between Metro Nashville officials and state agencies and how the action fits with the scope of the THP’s statutory authority.

In a separate statement, Nashville Democratic Sen. Jeff Yarbro, in whose district the immigration sweep took place, denounced the action as “a sloppy attempt to round people up” in “what can only be described as a dragnet targeting Nashville’s largest Latino neighborhood.”

“Belonging Fund” launched to aid immigrant families 

Hal Cato, CEO of the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee, joined O’Connell at the Monday press conference to announce the creation of the “Belonging Fund,” set up to provide emergency assistance to immigrant families — and particularly those affected by Sunday’s enforcement action — in times of crisis.

Cato noted the funds can be used for housing, food, transportation and child care, but not for legal fees.

The Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, Tennessee Justice for our Neighbors and Conexión Américas are supporting the “Belonging Fund.”

A special meeting of the Metro Council’s Public Health and Safety Committee is scheduled for 4 p.m. Wednesday in council chambers at the Metro Courthouse.