Panel: Nashville should inform mayor of immigration contacts

Published 9:07 am Tuesday, December 17, 2019

NASHVILLE (AP) — A Nashville panel recommended Friday that the local government’s agencies adopt a uniform policy about reporting communications with U.S. immigration authorities to the mayor’s office.

In a report released Friday, Mayor John Cooper’s immigration task force found Nashville’s departments and offices currently lack policies about reporting those contacts with federal immigration authorities to the mayor. Cooper said he’ll review the report and consider policy decisions.

Cooper announced the panel’s formation in October when he removed an immigration executive order by ex-Mayor David Briley.

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The group took shape amid local fears about high profile immigration conflicts in Nashville.

In October, Nashville’s school district had said “immigration officials” previously visited an elementary school seeking student records and were turned away. The district later said it hadn’t confirmed the visitors were immigration officials after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement challenged the claim.

In September, an ICE agent shot a Mexican man who was fleeing a traffic stop and, according to ICE, attempted to run over the agent. The man was charged with illegal reentry after four previous deportations.

And in July, an immigration agent gave up trying to arrest a Tennessee man who, aided by neighbors, refused to leave his vehicle with his 12-year-old son for four hours.