Image Credit: Knoxville Police Department – TN / Facebook
The Tennessee Conservative [By Olivia Lupia] –
To come into compliance with a state law passed last year regarding law enforcement cooperation with federal immigration agencies, the Knoxville Police Department (KPD) has updated its policy to require officers to comply with certain reporting and detention requirements, drawing the ire of local immigrant advocacy groups.
The revised policy expects KPD officers to “communicate with the appropriate federal official regarding the immigration status, or lack thereof, of any individual, including reporting knowledge that a particular person is not lawfully present in the United States.”
Officers are not required to explicitly ask people about their immigration status unless there’s a “law enforcement reason to do so”, but rather contact the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) if they believe the person with whom they’re interacting is of interest to ICE.
NCIC then connects with ICE who determines if the individual is a person of interest and/or if there is an agent near enough in the vicinity to arrest the illegal. If the alien was pulled over for a non-criminal offense, like a traffic stop, KPD officers are not permitted to initiate an arrest solely based on their immigration status, but are required to alert ICE. They are also not allowed to pursue an alien if they escape KPD custody, nor do they have jurisdiction to arrest them under immigration law, which is technically under federal jurisdiction.
Officers will “generally allow approximately 20 minutes for immigration authorities to arrive” or might hold them longer if the detainee has a violent criminal history.
“In practice, ICE personnel will quickly notify officers through NCIC if they have an agent readily available and intend to respond to the scene,” KPD spokesperson Scott Earland wrote to Knox News in an email. “If immigration authorities communicate their intent to respond to the scene and take custody of an individual, we believe that we are obligated by state law to hold them for a reasonable amount of time.”
In the case of a criminal offense, the alien is arrested and taken to the county detention center where the Knox County Sheriff’s Office processes them through their Jail Enforcement Model (JEM) of the federal 287(g) program, which is a partnership to help ICE identify and process illegal immigrants and often initiate deportation proceedings.
Immigration advocates oppose the updated policy, claiming it erodes trust between law enforcement and the community and exceeds the minimum requirements in the state law.
“What’s important to keep in mind here is a policy like this opens the door for spending less time on local law enforcement functions, it erodes trust in already marginalized communities and can aggravate preexisting immigration enforcement (issues) and can open the door to constitutional violations in individual stops,” said Zee Scout, a staff attorney at the ACLU of Tennessee.
Organizations like the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Right Coalition (TIRRC) argue that the changed policy is a reversal for the city, which has historically been resistant to immigration enforcement and the Sheriff Department’s partnership with ICE through the 287(g) program. The TIRRC opposed the 2024 legislation that revised the statewide reporting standards, claiming it forced police to act as immigration enforcers.
Spring Miller, TIRRC’s senior director of legal strategy, believes the law pulls police away from keeping communities safe. “I think that the state has put law enforcement agencies in a difficult position with this pretty vague and broad law and sort of forced them to get involved in a very complex and very broken federal immigration system relying on databases and information that are known to be highly flawed,” she said.
Knoxville Mayor Indya Kincannon has also pushed back on immigration policies, previously saying she will, “work with the sheriff to help him better understand the negative consequences to 287(g), that it discourages people from reporting crimes, especially issues like landlord exploitation and domestic violence.”
Meanwhile, the city has maintained the KPD policy aligns with state law, and detainer requests from ICE have increased by more than 86% across the state this year, potentially due to the increasing number of local law enforcement entities entering into partnership with the immigration enforcement program.
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.
