Federal immigration officials are making arrests from within Tennessee jails at a much higher rate than other states. A new report ranks Tennessee second only to Texas in the number of people ICE picks up from jail.
The data suggests more ICE agents in the state are relying on local police to carry out President Donald Trump’s promise of mass deportations.
The report, published by the Prison Policy Initiative, put Tennessee in the top five for ICE arrests per capita. That ranking is much higher for arrests that happen inside jails.
“What the data suggests is happening in Tennessee overall is that police are arresting people, either explicitly so that ICE can pick them up, or for other offenses … and then holding them until ICE comes and takes them away,” PPI spokesperson Wanda Bertram said.
Those kinds of arrests have been especially high in Knox County, where the number of people held for ICE jumped from 6 in January to nearly 50 in April.
MORE: A regional ICE detention center is coming to rural Tennessee
Bertram said that non-citizens are more likely to face jail time for minor offenses, like driving without a license.
“There are a number of ways that immigrants can be sucked into the jail system for things that I’m sure the Trump administration would like to paint as serious crimes, but are actually very minor offenses,” Bertram said.
ICE did not respond to WPLN’s requests for comment, but in a visit to Nashville in July, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem promised more federal agents would be coming to Tennessee, and to Nashville specifically.
“The rule of law needs to be enforced and enhanced here in the United States. That’s what the American people demanded, and that’s what President Trump is following through on,” Noem said.
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