In the months since the shocking weeklong operation in May that saw nearly 200 Nashvillians arrested and whisked out of state by federal immigration agents, a less visible side of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation effort has remained active at Davidson County jails.
Since federal officials announced the end of that operation on May 13 — revealing that fewer than half of the people detained had prior criminal convictions or pending criminal charges — Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have taken 216 people out of Nashville jails for deportation proceedings, according to Davidson County Sheriff’s Office (DCSO) records obtained by the Banner. In all, ICE has taken 365 allegedly undocumented immigrants into custody in this manner since Trump was sworn into office on Jan. 20.
Unlike the May operation, in which ICE agents collaborated with Tennessee Highway Patrol troopers to stop and detain people in predominantly Latino Nashville neighborhoods, the ICE activity at Nashville jail facilities is not unusual — at least in kind. When a person is arrested in Davidson County, the booking system used by the sheriff’s office automatically sends their information to ICE, NCIC and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. At that point, ICE officials can make what’s known as a detainer request on undocumented individuals, asking local officials to hold them “for up to 48 hours beyond the time they would ordinarily release them,” to allow immigration agents to take them into custody. This legal process has played out under presidents from both parties.
But under Trump, according to sheriff’s office records, this type of enforcement activity has increased in both scope and scale. Between Jan. 20 and Oct. 27 of 2024, under then-President Joe Biden, the DCSO received 466 detainer requests for people in local jails. During that same time period this year, under the Trump administration, the sheriff’s office has received detainer requests for 486 people. The more significant change can be seen in the number of people ICE officials actually take into custody for deportation proceedings. They’ve picked up 365 people from Nashville jails since Trump took office, compared to 259 people during the same period under Biden last year.
Still another change, noted by local attorneys and immigrant advocates and reflected in the numbers, is the number of people being taken into ICE custody after local arrests for minor, non-violent offenses. The group of people jailed in Nashville and later picked up by ICE does include dozens of people accused of violent crimes like assault — the sort of allegedly dangerous criminals Trump spent much of his campaign claiming his administration would target. But it also includes people like a man who was arrested on Sept. 2 and charged only with driving without a license. That charge was dismissed the next day, but by the day after that, ICE had taken him into custody. Earlier this month, another man was booked into jail for failure to appear in court on a charge of driving without a license. He was taken into custody by ICE two days later. Neither man has a criminal history in Nashville, according to court records, although it’s possible they have a record elsewhere. Others have been taken into ICE custody after arrests for driving under the influence or public intoxication.