A federal agent contacted Metro’s Department of Emergency Communications on May 1 to request additional MNPD patrols, giving the city more than two days’ advance notice about the detention and removal of immigrants by state troopers and ICE that took place across southeast Nashville over the weekend.
The city faces intense scrutiny for its role in the joint operation between the Tennessee Highway Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. While according to some eyewitness accounts, MNPD vehicles and officers were directly involved in apprehending immigrants, the Scene has not reviewed any photo or video evidence substantiating that claim. Local officers were present Sunday at the ICE field office off Brick Church Pike as buses departed the immigration facility. The city denies that police aided federal and state officers in detaining or arresting any individuals.
An unknown number of people were detained in traffic stops and surrendered to federal immigration authorities, then bused out of state
On Wednesday, Metro legal director Wally Dietz shared an audio recording of a phone call that took place on Thursday, May 1, between a DEC operator and Agent Jackson Sanders, who identifies himself as a former MNPD officer now with the Department of Homeland Security.
In the call, Sanders requests MNPD patrols from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Sunday, May 4, at ICE’s Brick Church Pike location due to anticipated backlash after ICE detentions.
“They are doing operations throughout the weekend and are concerned of the families having some backlash on Sunday,” explains Sanders. “Possibly showing up there, that kind of thing.”
The operator, who incorrectly interprets ICE as the "culture and immigration office," recorded the request, which was passed on to MNPD officers Sunday morning.
Emergency Communications director Stephen Martini joined Dietz at a specially called Metro Council meeting Wednesday afternoon to defend the city’s role in the ICE sweep. The meeting started with passionate testimony from Nashvillians calling on the city and the mayor to take a stand against the targeting and apprehension of immigrants by law enforcement.
Martini says that the warning call failed to raise any particular alarm until Sunday morning because additional patrol requests are common and frequent.
“This is uncharted territory for us for sure,” Martini told a raucous council chamber. “In my 21 years in Tennessee, I have not trained for or responded to a mass roundup of citizens. We don’t prepare for this, but we will now.”
Days later, dozens of people were apprehended and reportedly sent by bus to a federal immigration facility in Louisiana. Pictures show THP officers Andrew Perez and Patrick Binkley, as well as Homeland Security officer Russ Dingman, as part of the operation. One photo appears to show a uniformed federal agent smoking a cigar during the operation.
Local nonprofits and organizers are seeking donations to aid affected families and cover anticipated legal costs. Dietz said he is actively seeking a full list of those detained by ICE.
