As children licked blue icing off cupcakes, sipped red juice and stared at video game screens in a cafeteria Thursday night, their parents asked whether they were going to get kicked out of the country.
Chattanooga Police Department Chief Fred Fletcher told them he couldn’t speak for the national climate or policies coming out of the White House. But, he said, his department will not be changing. He is not on a mission to deport immigrants who came to this country illegally, he said.
“Nothing has changed for the Chattanooga Police Department,” he said at East Side Elementary School, to a crowd of about 300. “We have never asked the immigration status of anybody we have ever encountered. And we have no plans to change that practice.”
After the meeting, sponsored by La Paz Chattanooga, Fletcher clarified that the issue of immigration is too complex for sweeping declarations. If U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents issue a detainer to deport somebody, local police must honor the demand. And if a judge issues a warrant, they have to honor that, too.
But as a general rule, the police department is not trying to hunt down those who are undocumented. During Thursday’s meeting, several parents asked about driving.