Activists Protest ICE Call Center on Día de los Muertos

More than 60 immigration activists gathered in Donelson on Sunday to speak out against plans to bring an ICE call center to the airport-adjacent neighborhood.

The event began alongside the busy corridor of Donelson Pike, with a procession down Royal Parkway to the building that is planned to house the call center. Outside of 801 Royal Parkway — a nondescript three-story office building — activists set up an ofrenda, an altar that honors dead relatives in Día de los Muertos ceremonies. This altar was dedicated to those who died in detention facilities operated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement — a number that has nearly doubled in the past year.

Volunteers took turns bringing up photo frames that contained the names of those who have died in ICE custody, placing them on the altar afterward. Dozens of names — most but not all Spanish — sat upon the ofrenda, along with paper flowers, marigolds and tea candles. There was a long enough break in the day’s cold, rainy weather for the 90-minute event, which also included speakers and songs.

“This altar holds the grief of families pulled apart, of parents who cannot set a place at the table because they do not know where their child sleeps at night,” said advocate Brenda Perez, wearing calavera makeup and speaking in English and Spanish. “A call center is built to locate, to track and to remove. An ofrenda is built to welcome. One turns people into cases. The other calls them by name. One says, 'You do not belong here.' The other says, 'There is always a place for you at this table.'”

Attendees also called out the owner 801 Royal Parkway, Rick Fownes and MAC Partners LLC, demanding the lease be severed. Activists say Fownes, who is based in Massachusetts, and his property manager have ignored repeated calls from the community.

Koniag, a company owned by Alaskan natives, holds the contract for the call center with ICE and originally planned the site for Adams, Tenn. The location changed to Nashville in August, and soon sparked backlash.

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One speaker, who introduced herself as a teacher and longtime Donelson resident, stressed the trauma ICE has caused her students and their families. She said some of the kids she works with are missing school and foregoing assistance over fears about ICE.

District 30 Metro Councilmember Sandra Sepulveda has been a vocal opponent of the plan and attended the Sunday event. While she doesn’t represent Donelson, many of her constituents are immigrants, and she sits on the Metro Council’s Immigrant Caucus. 

“At the end of the day, these are people,” said Sepulveda after the event. “These are family members. These are loved ones, and they didn't come home.”

She added that councilmembers have been speaking to Metro Legal about options to address the call center.

Organizations that were represented at the Dia de los Muertos event included Music City MigraWatch, Nashville Organized for Action and Hope (NOAH), Sacred Resistance, and the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC).