Tennessee transfers people from local jails into Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody at a higher rate than almost every other state in the country. Only Texas has a higher transfer rate, according to a nonpartisan report.
The study reveals that federal agents in Tennessee are relying more heavily on local law enforcement partners to enact President Donald Trump’s promise of mass deportations in contrast to other states where ICE agents have made more frequent public arrests.
The report, published by the Prison Policy Initiative — a nonpartisan think tank focused on criminal justice — found Tennessee was No. 5 for all immigrant arrests by federal agents after Texas, Florida, Utah and Arizona.
“This report highlights how sinister our current immigration system currently is,” Judith Clerjeune an advocacy director for the Tennessee Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition, said by phone. “Because when you get down to it, regular people who are going about their daily lives, raising their families, trying to make a living like the rest of us, can be stopped on their way to work, arrested because someone is driving without a license, which they’re legally unable to do in Tennessee.”