NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Metro Legal provided a timeline of what they knew when about a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation in Nashville, where they later detained people from traffic stops.
Since May 3, the Tennessee Highway Patrol partnered with ICE for what they called a "public safety effort," which netted 369 traffic stops. Around 10 troopers were assigned to the operation, according to the THP. Those traffic stops resulted in the arrest of 94 undocumented people.
Traffic stops happened overnight Saturday into Sunday, resulting in around 150 stops in South Nashville. The THP said the traffic stops came in the form of hazardous moving violations, driving under the influence, child endangerment and felony wanted persons.
Wally Dietz, Metro Legal Director, released a letter indicating that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security only requested extra patrols on Brick Church Park Drive at the Nashville location for customs enforcement.
You can read that full letter by tapping here.
"They are concerned about the families having backlash on Sunday," said inspector Jackson Sanders, from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The call was recorded between him and the Department of Emergency Communications.
Dietz wrote the Metro Nashville Police Department didn't have anything to do with the traffic stops overnight Saturday into Sunday. A dispatch recording on Sunday indicated ICE asked for extra patrols every hour on the hour.
Police drove after the call was dispatched to the customs enforcement facility about the purpose of the call. Upon an extra patrol, a MNPD officer responded when he was the driveway to the facility was blocked by people who gathered, Dietz wrote in the letter.
"Officers monitored the ground of people from across the way until they relieved by the THP," Dietz wrote.
Dietz said after reviewing the calls and talking to all the departments involved, Dietz wrote there was no evidence to suggest MNPD was involved in the traffic stop operation.
Additionally, Dietz sent a letter to ICE in Nashville, New Orleans and Louisiana, requesting the names of the individuals taken into custody and where they are located.
"Two things are true: First, the Metro government fully supports efforts to arrest and charge violent offenders so they can have their day in court, face punishment, and then possible deportation based on lawful determinations of immigration status," Dietz wrote. "Second, while this office doesn't represent any individual detained your enforcement action, the Metro government supports the brave advocates in our community who are demanding that every person receives full due process rights. Families and friends are entitled to know where their loved ones are being detained."
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