Weeks into the new presidential administration, the state and federal governments have quickly implemented legal mechanisms for arresting immigrants. Local elected officials, Tennessee’s newly established Centralized Immigration Enforcement Division and forthcoming legal challenges will determine the extent of this push within the Davidson County borders.
Trump built his politics on attacking immigrants, particularly those from Central and South America, and conflating American identity with whiteness. Through the years, he questioned the citizenship of former President Barack Obama (born in Hawaii), centered his first successful presidential campaign on a promise to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border and won his second presidential term promising mass deportations. Party acolytes, like ranking Republican officials in the Tennessee state legislature, have vowed to assist him.
Hours into his second term, Trump issued Executive Order 14159, which outlines a new domestic apparatus for arresting immigrants. The order replaced Biden-era policies for asylum seekers and legal pathways to residency in the U.S. with interlocking directives for identifying, arresting and deporting residents who have violated federal immigration laws. Concurrently, Trump is seeking to make immigration law more restrictive with measures that include ending birthright citizenship, a guarantee under the 14th Amendment of the Constitution.
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Tennessee lawmakers joined the effort during their January special session, which ran from Jan. 27 to 30. Both chambers passed a sweeping new immigration package that, among other statutes, created the Centralized Immigration Enforcement Division, a new state body to facilitate compliance with Trump’s immigration crackdown. Lawmakers also instituted a class-E felony penalty for officials who back “sanctuary city” policies, which has provoked imminent legal challenges from the ACLU and local governments on constitutional grounds.
“On the floor during the special session, a lot of Republicans cited the electoral success that they’ve had at the federal level when we pushed back against these policies,” says state Rep. Gabby Salinas (D-Memphis). “But elections don’t change the Constitution. The things they have been pushing, I think it’s un-American. That’s one of the reasons why I shared my story — to put a face to these issues. For them, it’s just speaking points.”
During January’s special session, Salinas appealed to colleagues with her own immigration story about coming to Memphis as a 7-year-old in the 1990s for cancer treatment. She relied on legal help from Tennessee’s then-U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson, a Republican, and became a naturalized American at 19.
“ We got help from everyone,” Salinas tells the Scene. “ We didn’t speak the language, and the reason we made it was because of the Tennesseans that were around us, Republicans and Democrats, who said, ‘We’re going to make sure you are OK.’ Those are my Tennessee values.”
Both the executive order and Tennessee’s new immigration laws encourage, but do not compel, formal cooperation from the Davidson County Sheriff’s Office, led by six-term Sheriff Daron Hall. The state’s new immigration package even includes $5 million in grants to counties that opt into federal statute 287(g) — so far only Knox and Greene counties in East Tennessee — which establishes a working agreement between local law enforcement and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
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The 287(g) policy authorizes ICE to delegate “immigration officer functions” to local law enforcement, extending the federal agency’s reach, power and capacity. In early 2007, Hall signed on to 287(g), generating pushback from the city amid civil rights concerns. Hall cut the agreement five years later. The focus on immigration arrests from Trump and Bill Lee have renewed the possibility of a 287(g) agreement.
“The decision to participate in 287(g) would be one the city, as a whole, must make — as it would take council approval to enter into an [memorandum of agreement],” says Jonathon Adams, a DCSO spokesperson. “Currently, there are no discussions or plans to do so.”
Regardless of shifting legal policy, it’s a perpetual risk for a noncitizen immigrant to come in contact with law enforcement. Fingerprints or other identifying information could tip off ICE, and begin the removal process from the United States. A push for more deportations, including dedicated Centralized Immigration Enforcement officers, means more enforcement in more places with fewer protections.
“ With the executive orders, definitely one of the overall themes is an increase in detention and an increase in deportation,” says Emily Stotts, attorney and legal director at Tennessee Justice for Our Neighbors. “That has been, for most of my clients, the overwhelming concern: whether or not they could be picked up. And if they’re picked up, what do they do. The current risk is that immigration officers are being told and are expected to increase the amount of people they’re detaining. The initial rhetoric was that the administration was going after people who pose public safety threats. That’s not what’s happening. People who have no criminal history are being caught up in this. People with kids here. That’s what’s happening, and no one is safe.”
All people, regardless of citizenship, have rights in private places, Stotts explains. Immigration agents must legally respect constitutional protections — though, Stotts says, law enforcement may ignore procedure or otherwise violate an individual’s civil rights to precipitate an arrest. Immigration agents have already detained at least three undocumented Nashvillians at routine check-ins, as reported by the Nashville Banner’s Laura Dean. An uptick in immigrant detention also means lucrative profit for Brentwood-based private prison contractor CoreCivic (formerly Corrections Corporation of America), which is well positioned for good business from the Trump administration, according to recent statements from CoreCivic CEO Damon Hininger. Hininger donated $300,000 to Trump’s campaign last year, and has contributed to other Republicans running for state office.
The city has already begun preparing its public spaces, like schools and libraries, for increased ICE activity. A Jan. 31 email to Metro Nashville Public Library employees explains city protocol for dealing with an ICE agent, including checking for identification, a warrant or subpoena, and contacting a Metro attorney.
Meanwhile, city leaders are still responding to the new felony threat to criminalize “sanctuary city” support, which goes into effect July 1. If challenged by the ACLU or Metro attorneys, as expected, many anticipate it would fail constitutional muster in court.
“The law itself is outrageously unconstitutional,” says District 6 Metro Councilmember Clay Capp, also an attorney. “It rips the heart out of the First Amendment, and it criminalizes the representative relationship. This state law is an attempt to create a permanent underclass on American soil and put local representatives in jail for speaking and voting. For those reasons, I really, truly expect this law will be struck down. I think we’d all be better off if we just stick to the U.S. Constitution — that’s what I intend to do, and I will not be intimidated by these attempts to criminalize my speech and my votes.”
In four parts, we explore what new legislation means for the local immigrant community
