NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — The crackdown continues to escalate on immigration enforcement everywhere.
In Nashville, ICE agents are busy taking far more inmates from the jail for deportation so far this year over last. The Davidson County Sheriff says he's doing nothing different, but ICE agents certainly are when you look at the numbers.
To date this year, ICE agents have now taken more than four times as many people from the Davidson County jail as they did last year and the pace is picking up.
"A year ago in February out of the entire month, 11 times that month they came and picked someone up. This February 44 times. It's four times more than a year ago," said Davidson County Sheriff Daron Hall, who added that in March it was eight times the number from the year before.
These are inmates at the jail in Nashville released to Immigration and Customs Enforcement or ICE agents.
The sheriff says this is not the result of more arrests.
It's pretty much the same population as last year, and it is still business as usual at the jail.
"None of our procedures have changed. We are not doing anything differently as an agency."
The difference is that ICE agents are now much more proactive in seeking to take inmates — who are also undocumented immigrants — into custody to begin the deportation process.
When someone is arrested for a crime their fingerprint is shared with ICE, which then checks to see if that individual had been arrested in the past as undocumented and did not leave the country as ordered.
When that flags, they are taken.
"When you see them picking these people up, what's triggering them to do that is the immigration history. The criminal history is what brings them to jail. But what is more important is they know you are an immigration violator."
The nature of the crime doesn't matter.
An accused murderer if convicted will serve a sentence here and then be deported.
But lesser crimes, like DUI or theft can flag the immigration status, triggering the deportation proceedings. In many cases, those involved are simply accused of the crime but haven't been convicted.
Sheriff Hall said there are only a handful of ICE agents in Nashville, but they are now getting help with immigration enforcement from other federal agencies like the FBI and DEA.
You can email me at Nick.beres@newschannel5.com
The line ''see something, say something" took on new meaning recently in Bowling Green. Two alert neighbors helped tip police to stolen Corvettes from the nearby assembly plant. That led law enforcement to find 8 stolen Corvettes worth over $1 million. We may all be able to learn a little lesson from this.
-Lelan Statom
