As President Donald Trump continues to roll out plans for a sweeping, nationwide immigration crackdown, Nashville elected leaders and immigrant-serving agencies delivered a sobering message to the city’s international residents.
“I think it’s important to be cautious,” Metro Nashville Council member Sandra Sepulveda said. “It’s important to know your rights, know what to do if an (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agent approaches you or your family members.”
“Be prepared,” said council member Zulfat Suara, who urged parents to make a plan now with their kids in the event of being detained and cautioned that immigration enforcement activities can sweep up legal as well as undocumented immigrants. “I think people should talk to children … tell them, ‘If you don’t hear from me, do x, y and z.'”
The remarks at Thursday’s news conference, organized by the Metro Council Immigrant Caucus, follow a flurry of executive orders issued by Trump during his first week in office.
The president’s orders include shutting U.S. borders against immigrants, blocking asylum seekers and deploying the U.S. military for immigration enforcement. A separate presidential executive order ending birthright citizenship was temporarily blocked Thursday by a federal judge who called it “blatantly unconstitutional.”
(READ MORE: Tennessee governor urges creation of central immigration enforcement bureau)
The president’s actions have also galvanized Gov. Bill Lee and Republican state lawmakers to prioritize immigration-related legislation.
The Tennessee legislature will take up a series of proposals, starting Monday, that are intended to “strengthen immigration enforcement across Tennessee,” a news release from Lee’s office said.
Advocates for Tennessee immigrants said proposed bills, which include creating a state “chief immigration enforcement officer” and issuing “visually distinctive markers” on license plates for certain non-citizens, will have had a further chilling effect on the state’s immigrants.
“The Tennessee legislature … has introduced bills left and right to seed suspicion, seed fear,” said Judith Clerjeune, advocacy director for the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition. The coalition has prepared resources outlining individual’s rights during enforcement activities and guidelines to create family preparedness plans, she said.
Nearly 6% of the state’s population is foreign-born. In Nashville, immigrants are 15% of the population, according to U.S. Census data that does not distinguish between the legal status of the foreign-born population.
Nashville elected leaders also sought to reassure the city’s immigrant communities that they will stand behind them. Council member Terry Vo said city officials would defend Nashville as a place “where every immigrant feels seen, heard and protected.”
Local leaders, however, are also a target of proposed state legislation that would make it a crime for any elected official to vote in favor of establishing a so-called “sanctuary city.” Sanctuary cities, which pledge to protect immigrants without legal status from federal enforcement actions, are already barred by a 2023 Tennessee law.
“Be prepared. Share that with your community. It’s hard for us to say you’re going to be okay, but we will be here,” Sepulveda said.
Read more at TennesseeLookout.com.