Elliott Ozment with a family he represented
Elliott Ozment, a Nashville attorney who tirelessly advocated for the rights of immigrants and famously defended an undocumented woman who was shackled during childbirth, has died at 71 years old. He suffered a stroke weeks ago, and close friends confirmed his death Tuesday night.
Ozment was a man whose righteous outrage on behalf of the marginalized seemed to flow from his warm neighborliness, and his work long predates the debates, policies and protests that have riled the nation in recent years. But Ozment's relentless defense of immigrants, and the weight of this loss, is all the more poignant now, when immigrant families are being separated by government policy and face the ire of President Donald Trump and many of his supporters.
Tricia Herzfeld, a Nashville attorney who got to know Ozment while she worked at the ACLU and later worked in his office for five years, described him as a man with access to the full strength of every emotion.
“He was just an incredibly authentic person," she says. "He was quite loud when he was angry, passionate when he was arguing, smiled and laughed so boldly and wonderfully. And he cried easily.”
Herzfeld says few people knew how many cases Ozment took pro bono. She recalls one case in which a woman showed up with vegetables as her means of payment for Ozment's legal representation.
Conexión Américas co-founder Renata Soto calls Ozment's passing "a loss for the cause of justice."
"Elliott, in his fights on behalf of the common people, commanded forceful outrage and immense humanity in equal measure," she tells the Scene. "Outrage towards unjust immigration policies — and their proponents — that were ripping families apart. And the warmest humanity toward each client and family he represented — and helped to remain together."
Raised in East Nashville, Ozment served a term in the state House representing District 60 in the 1970s. But as an attorney, he is best-known for his representation of Juana Villegas and his legal challenge of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement program through which the Davidson County Sheriff's Office screened detainees for immigration violations.
Villegas was nine months pregnant and living in the country without documentation in 2008 when she was arrested after a traffic stop. Because of Davidson County Sheriff Daron Hall's agreement with ICE, she was detained without bond for six days. During that time, Villegas gave birth to a baby boy while chained to a hospital bed.
With Ozment representing her, Villegas' case and her ensuing lawsuit against Metro Nashville attracted national attention. In 2013, the city settled the case for nearly half-a-million dollars, and Villegas later obtained legal documentation allowing her to stay in the United States.
Ozment went on to challenge the DCSO's participation in federal immigration enforcement, challenging the legality of the so-called 287(g) program in 2011. In 2012, Hall announced that his office would not renew the agreement with ICE.
"It’s hard to express in words the intellectual and moral force that Elliott lent to the fight against 287(g) (Hall’s deportation machine, as he called it)," Soto says.
For a younger generation of advocates and activists, Ozment was a mentor and a guiding light.
"I had the honor of working with him throughout many pivotal moments in our movement’s history," says Leticia Alvarez, organizing director for the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition. "When we responded to the ICE raid in the Clairmont Apartments or against the immoral treatment of Juana Villegas, I had the opportunity to learn from Elliott and partner with him to win justice for immigrants. Elliott has left an indelible legacy on activists like me, on countless immigrant families in our community, and our entire city."
Ozment enjoyed starting more lighthearted trouble, too. On multiple occasions, he used the sign at his Murfreesboro Pike law offices to send comical — and pointed — messages to the president. When Trump came to town in 2016, the sign read, "Donald Trump, Make Nashville Great Again — Please Leave Soon." The next year, when Trump returned amid questions about his ties to Russia, Ozment's sign read, "Donald Trump: Putin America First."
But if the signs showed Ozment's playful streak, the inside of his office revealed a quirky reverence for civil rights advocates that had gone before him. He'd turned his work space into a veritable museum. Hallways, conference rooms and individual offices were filled with artifacts and photos from American history — particularly the civil rights era, and other pivotal moments in an unending fight for equality and justice. Ozment would happily give a tour to a visitor.
We're told the firm that bears his name will remain open in the office on Murfreesboro Pike, with the items hanging on its walls, commemorating those who have fought for the downtrodden. In the meantime, someone should make room for a picture of Elliott Ozment.
