NASHVILLE – Nashville can’t force its sheriff to comply with a proposed ban on volunteering city resources to support federal immigration enforcement, the city’s lead attorney said Tuesday.
The proposal already faces a backlash from Republican state leaders and gubernatorial candidates. Now, given, the legal opinion Mayor Megan Barry is urging the city council to reconsider before a final council vote on July 8.
Metro Nashville Director of Law Jon Cooper said the council can’t prohibit the sheriff, who was constitutionally elected to run the jails, from cooperating with federal authorities on immigration.
“If federal officials present the sheriff with lawfully committed persons for detention, he is authorized to receive and control their custody until they are discharged,” the opinion states. “The council cannot by ordinance alter this duty that is established by state law and the charter.”
The mayor said Davidson County Sheriff Daron Hall plans to continue honoring requests to keep detaining people until they can be picked up by federal authorities for immigration proceedings. Hall praised the opinion Tuesday, saying it validates his concerns that the proposal is overreaching.