This story was originally published by the Nashville Banner. Sign up for their newsletter at nashvillebanner.com/newsletters.
Newly released footage offers insight into how the Tennessee Highway Patrol and ICE managed an immigration sting in Nashville in early May, although redactions and an interruption to the body camera footage raise concerns about transparency surrounding the operation.
Dashboard and body-worn camera footage reviewed by the Nashville Banner as part of a public records request provides an additional perspective and an extended version of an incident reported this summer, in which the Tennessee Highway Patrol took over a routine traffic stop by Metro Nashville Police. As a result, a man was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. It also captures a conversation about the sting between a Seattle-based ICE agent and a state trooper, whose identity the state refuses to disclose.
The Highway Patrol made available this week an incident report, along with dashcam and bodycam footage of the incident, which was originally requested in May. The THP footage was released three months after and had heavier redactions than the comparable Police Department video, with the faces and names of all law enforcement personnel being blurred in the THP video.
In the footage, Highway Patrol commandeers the Metro Nashville Police stop after a brief conversation with the police officer, who initiated the stop due to an expired vehicle registration. The unnamed driver is then quickly arrested by ICE in one of around 500 similar stops in South Nashville that week, resulting in the arrest of nearly 200 people. The identities and status of the detainees are still largely unknown.