Image Credit: ICE / Facebook
The Tennessee Conservative [By Olivia Lupia] –
According to new data from the Deportation Data Project, requests from ICE asking local law enforcement agencies to alert the federal department and hold a suspect in jail, also known as a detainer request, have increased 86.5% in Tennessee since last year.
The Deportation Data Project uses public, anonymized government immigration enforcement datasets for use by journalists, researchers, lawyers, and policymakers. Primarily obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests, the project also uses data proactively posted by the government and information shared by others to collate and publish their datasets.
This data also shows that during the same year-long timeframe, detainer requests in Davidson County increased 31.8%. And while there were notable increases in both Tennessee as a whole and Davidson County, detainer requests in Shelby County only increased 3.61%, remaining relatively flat.
These numbers appear consistent with a newly released report which shows that Tennessee has the second highest number of illegal alien arrests in the nation per capita, only behind Texas.
“What the data shows in Tennessee is that police are arresting people- either explicitly for ICE pickup of for other offenses- and then holding them until ICE takes them into custody,” said a spokesperson for the Prison Policy Initiative.
Some media outlets are speculating the detainer request increases could be due to the uptick in sheriffs’ departments in the state joining the federal 287(g) program which offers three different agreements for local law enforcement agencies to aid ICE in the deportations process.
The Jail Enforcement model is “designed to identify and process removable aliens-with criminal or pending charges-who are arrested by state or local law enforcement agencies.”
The Task Force model “serves as a force multiplier for law enforcement agencies to enforce limited immigration authority with ICE oversight during their routine police duties.”
And the Warrant Officer model “allows ICE to train, certify, and authorize state and local law enforcement officers to serve and execute administrative warrants on aliens in their agency’s jail.”
Currently, 27 Tennessee sheriffs have entered into one of the three 287(g) agreements.
About the Author: Olivia Lupia is a political refugee from Colorado who now calls Tennessee home. A proud follower of Christ, she views all political happenings through a Biblical lens and aims to utilize her knowledge and experience to educate and equip others. Olivia is an outspoken conservative who has run for local office, managed campaigns, and been highly involved with state & local GOPs, state legislatures, and other grassroots organizations and movements. Olivia can be reached at olivia@tennesseeconservativenews.com.
