NASHVILLE, Tennessee ( AP ) — More than 100 people have been taken into custody by federal immigration officials in a joint operation with the Tennessee Highway Patrol, leaving many in Nashville’s immigrant community uncertain and worried.
“None of us have ever seen anything like this, ” Lisa Sherman Luna, senior director of the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition said Friday.
The Highway Patrol said Friday that it made 588 starts in the combined activity with ICE, which took guardianship of 103 under investigation for immigration violations.
The stops “led to the treatment of illegal medicines and firearms — taking risky parts off the road and making Tennessee safer, ” the Highway Patrol said. One man was wanted in a dying in El Salvador.
Tennessee’s Gov. Bill Lee just signed a law creating a section of emigration protection with the state’s Department of Safety and Homeland Security, which includes the Highway Patrol. He is one of a number of Republican leaders pledging to utilize state resources to carry out Trump’s programs.
However, city officials in the Democrat enclave of Nashville have disavowed presence and been critical of the arrests. Nashville Law Director Wally Dietz said the state-federal activity, which began May 3, caught people in town authorities by shock.
Responding to concerns about Nashville police presence outside an ICE business, Dietz said Wednesday that the town “routinely receives calls for more guards for a variety of reasons and listens to the level resources are available. ” He said he did n’t understand who was detained and that, when he requested more information from the Highway Patrol, he was told to record a public records request.
The Highway Patrol said prevents are based entirely on vehicle behavior. “We do certainly enter districts or stop cars based on who one is — we stop based on what they do behind the wheel, ” it said.
But immigrant right followers contend that the guards have focused on parts of the city where the majority of people are people of color.
“All indicators point to this being racial profiling intended to terrify the center of the immigrant and refugee group, ” Sherman Luna said. “ What we’ve heard is that THP is flagging persons down for items like a broken headlight or tinted windows. ”
Sherman Luna believes some of those being detained may be allowed to stay in the country if they were able to receive skilled legal picture at an immigration reading. Otherwise, she has heard that people are agreeing to be deported out of fear that they could spend months or years in immigration confinement.
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About 9 % of the Nashville metropolitan area population of about 2 million are refugees, with some from Mexico and Honduras, according to the Migration Policy Institute’s analysis of census information. The area also has a huge Kurdish community living alongside migrants from Sudan, Myanmar and other places.
“It’s a strategy to strike fear into our vibrant, diverse, beautiful neighborhoods, ” Sherman Luna said.
