NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — A lot has changed since Araceli Crescencio last walked into NewsChannel 5, but her return on Thursday was a reminder of the journalist who routinely advocated for sharing stories that are often forgotten.
Our former colleague and Nashville native, who now writes for our partners at the Nashville Banner, was tasked with finding the families impacted by the joint ICE and Tennessee Highway Patrol operation last May.
You can find Crescencio's reporting for the Nashville Banner here.
Crescencio and her colleague, Stephen Elliot, created a database as part of our joint investigation through names they gathered in public data.
“A lot of Facebook searches and phone calls, and I remember having spoken to folks during that weekend, so I had a lot of numbers saved,” Crescencio said.
Roughly 150 names were entered in the database, but Crescencio says only a handful felt comfortable enough to sit down for an interview.
“What do you remember about those interactions with those families,” we asked.
“I would say lots of heartbreak still especially for the people that are still in Nashville. One of the women we spoke with was Ana. Her son Selvin was deported to El Salvador and she’s just had a chain of unfortunate events since then. Her son would help pay her rent and bills and so ever since, she’s had to pick up more jobs,” Crescencio said.
The financial strain often matched the emotional toll families say they experienced after losing sons, daughters, grandchildren and spouses.
Crescencio recalled the story of Betzibet who’s partner, Junior, was bringing pizza back home when he was detained. Betzibet was pregnant at the time and later gave birth to their son prematurely, while Junior was in custody.
“He’s detained for so long and she’s all alone, so she finally decides that she’s going to go back to Venezuela on her own. She goes back and kind of beats them there because he’s still detained for months,” Crescencio said.
Betzibet said there’s just as much uncertainty after military intervention helped capture former president Nicolas Maduro. She says everything is more expensive, including baby formula. They’ve since had to resort to mixing formula with mashed vegetables to feed their child.
Crescencio also told us about Eduardo, a grandfather who was detained just minutes from his home. Eduardo said he was the main caretaker for his grandchildren, which Crescencio said made his arrest all the more heartbreaking.
“He was taken to Mexico City. He was given a card where he could buy a bus ticket and that’s as much help as he got. He had no way to call his loved ones. So like could you imagine someone who hadn’t been there for 30 years having to find his way back home,” Crescencio said.
Crescencio said at times she had to take breaks watching this footage, especially after watching the reactions from troopers and agents who were caught laughing or making fun of those they detained.
One trooper told a man named Marcos that they stopped him for driving 48 mph in a 40 mph zone. Marcos presented an ID, but ICE agents detained him and that’s when Marcos called for his brother to pick up his car.
What Marcos didn’t know is that troopers were already joking with one another about possibly detaining whoever was on their way.
“Hopefully they pull up in a big truck, a bunch of them and it’s like there’s 9, 10, 11, 12,” said one agent.
“Three. That’s my record. Three,” another agent responded.
Marcos, his brother and two other men are all taken away in handcuffs.
“So, the next time Eduardo is able to call his mom, he’s already in Louisiana when he was just supposed to be getting gas and he’s detained. So, for his mother, just imagine that worry for that first 24 hours where they’re not able to make contact,” Crescencio said.
Crescencio says all four men are later deported to Mexico, but that was only the beginning.
Of all the videos and all the tactics used that night, Crescencio says agents marking people with a marker was hard to watch.
“We’ve got to give them the mark of the beast. Team 6,” one agent said.
“Officers would mark people with Sharpie, like team six as a way to say that was the team that stopped them and kind of a way of racking up numbers like it was a competition to them,” Crescencio said.
The numbers will show you that more than half of those detained in this operation, never had a criminal record. Crescencio says this shows the operation was never about public safety and those who were detained are more than just a number.
“Obviously knowing the stories behind them now, as a daughter of immigrants, it hits home and this is my community. So, it’s sad,” Crescencio said.
You can find our prior reporting here.
OTHER REPORTING FROM THE COLLABORATION:
'Guilty until proven innocent?' Video from Nashville THP/ICE stops revives questions of racial profiling, NewsChannel 5
More than 50 hours of newly obtained footage from a joint operation by the Tennessee Highway Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement has revived questions about whether drivers were racially profiled as officers made more than 100 immigration arrests.
Read more: Summary of key findings of immigration investigation
License to Profile, Lighthouse Reports
Lighthouse Reports in partnership with Mother Jones, the Nashville Banner, Nashville Noticias, NewsChannel 5 and the Institute for Public Service Reporting spent six months collecting and analyzing data, including thousands of pages of ICE documents, hundreds of criminal court records and Tennessee Highway Patrol incident reports.
Tennessee Said Yes to ICE—and Turned Into a Deportation State, Mother Jones
The May operation in Nashville could become a template for future incursions into Democrat-run cities in Republican-controlled states. For nearly a week in early May, state troopers roved the city’s Latino neighborhoods at night, with ICE officers riding shotgun and undercover vehicles following behind, leaving fear and panic in their wake.
‘Huntin’ Time’ — How ICE and Troopers Targeted Immigrants, Inflated Safety Claims, Nashville Banner
An analysis of immigration records and more than 50 hours of footage contradicts law enforcement arrest statistics and claims that the operation was about targeting criminals to improve public safety, showing fewer arrests than reported by ICE and a pattern of profiling suspected immigrants. (Leer este artículo en español.)
‘My Life Has Been a Mess’ — The Aftermath of May 2025 Highway Patrol, ICE Operation, Nashville Banner
The Banner contacted those deported to El Salvador, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Jamaica, Mexico and beyond; their family members remaining in Nashville; and U.S. citizens caught up in the operation to better understand the role of the highway patrol and the experiences of those detained. (Leer este artículo en español.)
Risky, High-Speed Chases Explode Under Memphis Safe Task Force, Institute for Public Service Reporting, Memphis
An investigation by the Institute for Public Service Reporting found the Safe Task Force surge has created public safety threats of its own with dozens of risky, at times accident-triggering vehicle pursuits, often initiated following infractions as minor as a missing headlight or a broken taillight or driving without a seatbelt.
If you have any information you would like to share with Levi about this operation, you can email him at: Levi.Ismail@newschannel5.com.
