Which side are you on?

Community turned out- but Mayor and Chief of Police were missing in action

CALL FREDDIE (where “the buck stops”)

UPDATE: I was indirectly asked by the Mayor to remove his personal phone number from this Substack Post. Just FYI, previously, anyone could find this number associated with the Mayor online- but not today. If you want to “reach” the Mayor now, this is the instruction you are provided:

Contact the Mayor's Office - Nashville.gov

https://www.nashville.gov › mayor › contact-us

“Submit a request online or call our contact center at 311 for in county calls or 615-862-5000 for out of county calls.”

(Note: The number takes you to the Hub Nashville line. So good luck reaching the Mayor’s office by phone.)

Friends, “The skinny” from last night’s Metro Council Public Health and Safety’s special called meeting is that Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) was notified THURSDAY, May 1st via a designated dispatch line in the Emergency Communications Department that ICE was coming to Nashville over the weekend to conduct a targeted raid on the Hispanic and Latino residents of South Nashville. ICE had requested MNPD’s assistance with “crowd control,” anticipating families and community members would be upset when they bussed away the kidnapped residents on Sunday morning. Yep!

Council members were provided the recording of this interaction just before the called meeting, but the overflow crowd didn’t hear it until after members of the public had already testified. Both groups reacted in disbelief, disgust, and then fury to the recording.

The ReMix volunteers and immigrant advocates had been telling the media and public officials that MNPD had to have known about the raid in advance because Metro police were seen interacting with ICE during the raids and had even arranged for a helicopter to buzz “the crowd,” Sunday morning- which was just about 20 family members of those detained and ReMix volunteers who came to learn what was happening to those who had been arrested. But the reports and inquiries from families and activists were disregarded and discounted, with even the Mayor stating at a Press Conference that MNPD had not known in advance. Yikes!

Councilperson Preptit pointed out that under Executive Order Rule #30, all Metro Departments were given 30 days to enact a protocol to respond when alerted to intended or current ICE activity in our city, consisting mainly of pushing the report up “the chain of command.” The Director of the Emergency Communications Department acknowledged he had failed to create a protocol or take any action to train his staff on how to proceed if a call was received from ICE.

In the absence of Chief Drake or Mayor O’Connell (chicken-shit?), Metro staff members were left to answer Council questions about the administrative failures that has led to increased trauma and expanding distrust of city officials and law enforcement. Yet, not one of the three Metro representatives offered an apology to the families, advocates, supporters, and community members for the harm that resulted from their incompetence and blatant disregard of an Executive Order.

Instead, they reiterated over and over that the public should report to them and trust them. This was even after it was revealed that the MNPD Community Liaison Director recently made racist comments about immigrants. Really?

Who had the most to gain from this administrative debacle and the resulting family pain and community outrage about these ICE terrorist undertakings? Republican members of the Tennessee Legislature who passed bills directly targeting Hispanic and Latino people as criminals who should be deported, following the directive of the current inhabitant in the Oval Office in DC. Given what has been happening with ICE raids across the country, Nashville should have expected it would be targeted as a local blue dot in the predominantly red sea of Tennessee. This was a big fail!

But what they and all law enforcement and political leaders have forgotten is the legacy of resistance of the people that flows in the soil of our city. It IS past the time to be activated, folks! Get involved by reaching out to immigrant rights organizations and finding out how you can help.

Today is the day to answer the question, Which side are you on? Michele

TESTIMONY FROM COMMUNITY MEMBERS

Members of the community offered impassioned, eloquent, and astute observations about the ICE terrorist kidnappings in Nashville and called on city leaders, particularly Police Chief Drake and Mayor O’Connell, to bring a stop to this overpolicing. (Please forgive me for not having captured the complete names of those testifying.)

Zacnite Vargas, National Association of Hispanic Nurses, TN Chapter

Mike Lacy (See his recent Substack post HERE)

Ashley Warbington, The ReMix TN Volunteer

Anne Fletcher Page, Mother and Educator

Maryam Albofazli, former candidate for US Congress (Andy Ogles’ seat)

Trina Hewell, Singer/Songwriter

Myers, Belmont Law School graduate

Vanderbilt Workers United

Luis Mata, TN Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition

Christian Cole, ReMix TN Volunteer

Eliza Frensley, Metro Teacher

Sabina Mohyuddin, President, American Muslim Advisory Council

COMMENTS FROM METRO ADMINISTRATION REPRESENTATIVES

Metro Legal Director, Wally Dietz, stated that on Thursday, May 1st, Inspector Jackson Sanders, from the Federal Protective Service of the US Department of Homeland Security, called Metro’s Emergency Communications Center to request “extra police patrol at Nashville’s ICE facility on Sunday on Brick Church Pike.” He told the Dispatcher that “there would be operations throughout the weekend.” The Dispatcher, rather than notifying her superiors in MNPD, “put it into a queue,” a routine response when the Department receives a call for extra police coverage.

(NOTE: This was not just anyone calling for extra coverage. IT WAS ICE! Dietz laid out this bombshell as though MNPD had followed procedure, allowing information about the call to remain “in a queue" until Sunday at 10 AM, when police were sent to the ICE facility on Dickerson Pike. Why would Dietz not just admit immediately that MNPD messed up on this one?)

Dietz noted that there was “confusing information about how many stops” happened late Saturday and early Sunday, with THP saying 150, but in a communication with Tennessee’s Democratic Legislators, the number rose to 350.

Dietz told the public that after the call from ICE, the Dispatcher put in a request for “extra patrol for every hour on Sunday. Concerned there will be retaliate (sic) from family members on Sunday due to detaining subjects.” A Sergeant and one other officer went to the ICE office on Brick Church Sunday morning to determine what was going on, left to answer calls, then returned to the ICE facility “to do an extra patrol.” MNPD officers remained on-site until they were relieved by the Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP). Dietz concluded his comments by saying, “There’s simply no evidence I can find that MNPD was involved in any way in this joint operation,” even though ICE Inspector Sanders had worked for MNPD in the past and specifically inquired during his conversation with the Dispatcher whether certain officers were still on the force. Asking the public to believe that no MNPD officer knew about ICE’s impending raid in Nashville begs credulity.

Dietz reported that the Department of Homeland Security said their arrests were in conjunction with criminal activity and a high incidence of accidents in the South Nashville area. He expressed “alarm” that ICE has still not provided information to Metro officials about who was arrested, where they are detained, and what the charges are, given the letters he sent to ICE offices in New Orleans and Washington, DC, seeking this information. He indicated he stood behind advocates who are calling for “full due process rights,” including the right to counsel.

(NOTE: Given previous reported ICE activity across the country, why was Metro Nashville not more prepared for this kind of attack against our community? Do you feel safer tonight?)

MNPD liaison with Metro Council, Deputy Chief Chris Gilder, who spoke in place of Chief Drake, said no one from MNPD had any idea in advance as to what had occurred Saturday night/Sunday morning. Cathy Carillo from ReMix TN confronted Gilder with the fact that their group had informed MNPD in advance after having received intel about the ICE raid, but the Department chose to ignore their concerns. After Carillo left, Gilder just continued reading from his prepared script, saying MNPD worked very hard to develop and maintain relationships with the community and “deeply values their partnerships.” He encouraged everyone to go to MNPD’s website to see what they offer to the community and find out about their relationship with ICE (Barf!)

The call from ICE to the MNPD Dispatcher occurred on 5/1 at 11:47. As can be heard here, the Dispatcher clearly did not know what ICE was: “And you said this is the culture immigrant office.” MNPD should at the least have asked why they were being asked to send officers to the ICE facility on Dickerson Pike Sunday morning to manage the families and community members who would be concerned about an ICE raid and thereby might “retaliate.” A recording of the call is below.

Stephen Martini, Emergency Communications Director at MNPD, spoke next. (NOTE: Their motto? “Committed to bringing calm to chaos, order to disorder, and clarity in moments of confusion.” HA!) He began his comments by saying the story of the man from Venezuela who was picked up by ICE and whose family does not know where he is being held was “gut-wrenching,” after which a community member shouted, “There are dozens.” Martini encouraged people to call his office, “If they need help tonight,” and went on to recount how many calls they handle on average, but said nothing about their lack of response to the call from ICE except to say, “It was very routine.” In the next breath, he commented, “This is uncharted territory for us” and admitted he had not been trained for a “mass roundup of citizens,” yet concluded (unconvincingly) “We’re here to help.”

Dietz then said, “If it is necessary, I will file a FOI (Freedom of Information Act) request .” (Should we all be making FOI requests on behalf of the affected families?). Why not already do this, given he hadn’t received any response from Homeland Security? Dietz said he will not rest until he gets the names of those who were taken, why, and where they are now being held, and finished by saying he will advocate for them and share forthcoming information and answers from ICE with everyone.

Dietz then commended that Democratic members of the Tennessee Legislator had also sent a letter to Homeland Security asking these same questions, but had not received an answer. (Note: You can hear the audience laugh at the normalizing of a process that is not normal. Yes, demanding answers from leaders is critical to holding them responsible for their actions, but expecting responses from them at this time is foolish. They see themselves as carrying out federal and state mandates.)

Councilperson Evans asked if Mayor O’Connell plans to meet with Senator Booker while he is in Nashville today (Wednesday), and Dietz answered yes.

(NOTE: Again, sure, go through the formalities at the national and state level, but do we expect cooperation from enforcers of the President’s bidding and the Legislators’ compliance? Sue the bastards! became the New York Times headline for Victor Yannacone’s speech to the National Audubon Society's 63rd Annual Meeting in Atlantic City in 1967. Yannacone noted what is true here as well: “Litigation seems to be the only way to focus the attention of our legislators on these basic problems of human existence.” But I digress.

Councilperson Sepulveda thanked the members of the community for attending and watching the meeting, and Chair Evans for calling the special meeting on public safety. She shared her experience of driving around her community Tuesday night to monitor activity from ICE along Murfreesboro Pike, and acknowledged The ReMix TN for their work keeping the community informed. She also showed a few of the videos submitted to her by community members that showed police presence in the South Nashville area.

Video 1 was taken on Bell Road:

Video 2 was from a stop that was made.

Sepulveda noted that THP (Tennessee Highway Patrol) was not just patrolling the roads in her community but had gone into the neighborhoods and were randomly knocking on doors this past Monday.

She raised the question of whether THP had the jurisdiction to conduct this kind of activity, and if THP needed to inform MNPD of their proposed activity in neighborhoods. She also wanted to know whether THP could make “traffic stops” on non-state streets, such as Belle Road, instead of staying on state-designated streets, such as Nolensville Road. MNPD representative Gilder was unable to answer her question.

Dietz commented that, given the power that ICE now wields, he could not say whether they can make stops on both local and state-managed roads.

Sepulveda maintained that currently they should not be operating on local roads and shared that just before entering the Chamber tonight, she was given a video of an elementary school that ICE had entered and commented that she has heard other Metro Properties were being used as “staging areas” for ICE. She asked why MNPD is not enforcing the local jurisdiction rule and finished with wondering why Chief Drake had not appeared before the Council to answer these questions himself.

Sepulveda then asked about the use of tinted windows by ICE agents who are capturing and taking away community members from their neighborhoods. She was told that while it is illegal except to a certain tinting amount, there are exceptions for law enforcement vehicles.

Sepulveda requested that MNPD pull over ICE agents who are “terrorizing our communities.”

She noted that after contacting the four Consulates located in Nashville, she was told by the Mexican Consulate that of the 150 individuals who had been detained by ICE over the weekend, “50 were of Mexican individuals.” The Guatemalan Consulate has asked ICE to release the names of those of Guatemalan descent, but the Salvadorian Consulate has not responded to her request for information.

Sepulveda said that of all those stopped by ICE, only one was not Latino. After she was first elected, she was contacted by Mix (the precursor to The ReMix TN) and also made a connection with the El Protector Program of MNPD. She shared that just that day, she saw a post from the Facebook account of the El Protector’s Director responding to someone’s post by saying, “Civil crime is crime, and if you are here illegally, it is time to consider going back to where you came from.” She asked what kind of evaluation is conducted of staff with El Protector to be sure that they are appropriately interfacing with the immigrant community and the general public. By the response from MNPD, it was clear that there is no real evaluation of this officer, and they operate strictly off of community input.

MNPD further noted that it is difficult to find “someone that wants to … that has that desire to be in the public eye” and mentioned the challenge of finding an officer who speaks “the language well.” (NOTE: With the limitations recently placed by the Tennessee Legislature on anything that smacks of a “DEI hire,” good luck finding someone to work on this program with any sensitivity to iterfacing with our immigrant and refugee communities.)

Councilperson Suara then expressed her grief at the “cruel” attack on the immigrant community that took place over the weekend. She indicated she had kept an open mind before the meeting, until she received the recording of the Dispatch call, which left her feeling “shocked, mad, and betrayed” and that it “eroded all the trust” of the community. She drilled down on the “fact that someone knew on May 1st” that ICE was coming to Nashville, but even in the Mayor’s address, no mention had been made of this fact. “That was a lie,” she stated and then asked, “How do we build relationships when we don’t trust the words of our leaders?” She said she felt as let down as the community.

Suara called for someone in the Metro Government to admit that the city knew on May 1st about ICE’s plan to attack immigrant residents of Nashville. “People’s lives are turned into shambles. I always felt personally, we cannot count on the federal government. We know the state government does not have our backs. My hope has always been Metro Government.” But that hope was shown to be misplaced. “People’s lives are being destroyed,” while government officials talk about writing letters. “This is a Mayor that knows better.” Relying on her memory, she said that there had been a previous understanding that when something came up about ICE, the protocol was to escalate it to the next highest person and asked of MNPD, “Do you not have that in your policy?”

Martini danced around the answer and would not own the fact that he and his Department had failed the city, merely saying, “We are having conversations now.”

Suara then asked with disbelief (shared by the public) how there could have been up to 350 stops by ICE agents over Saturday night and Sunday morning, and MNPD did not investigate what was going on. The answer was more dancing around until Remix TN volunteers verbally challenged Gilder and Martini.

Suara pressed into the question about how 350 stops could occur, and residents take videos and pictures, and still MNPD claims they did not know about it? She asked, “Otherwise, what was MNPD doing that night?” and concluded, “I think it would be good going forward if we start to notice what is going on in our city.”

Suara noted, “Power has to check power for things to work.” When she asked about the gap between the call coming in from ICE to Dispatch, telling the city that they would be operating a sting on immigrants, and MNPD letting the Mayor’s office know that ICE would be targeting immigrants in South Nashville, Martini said it was determined to be a “routine” call (!!) so it was not communicated to anyone in the Administration (NOTE: Is this really possible? Is our police force just a reincarnted version of the Keystone Cops?)

Suara asked to be provided documentation of the number of patrols in different areas of the city during the last 2 weekends, before the past weekend’s raid in South Nashville.

Suara reiterated her shock and sense of betrayal, but also that she wants residents to be able to trust the government. If MNPD plans to cooperate with ICE in the future, she expects to be told this fact. She asked Dietz what can be done to help those who’ve been affected, what teeth he is going to put into his actions, and how the city plans to meet its commitment to protect its residents. Dietz chose to school Suara on the power of “immigration enforcement,” indicating his “only tool” is to “lobby” Homeland Security to encourage their cooperation. “Under the law, we have very little power.”

(NOTE: While Dietz said he has no hesitation to sue the Trump administration on other matters, such as about money issues or the separation of powers between the State and Metro, when it actually comes to our people, such as the attack on the Community Oversight Board and now the attack on our immigrant residents, he did not indicate a willingness to sue the Federal or State Governmetn to keep ICE out of Nashville. Priorities? Some suits are not about winning but about pushing back. FIGHT and RESIST is what we need from our elected officials and Metro employees.)

Councilperson Preptit recognized the impact “these sweeps” are having on our community, such as the negative effects on school attendance because of ICE’s terrorism. He then referenced Executive Order #30 issued by Mayor O’Connell in January 2024 that directs all Metro agencies to report all communications about immigration to the Mayor’s office. He asked what provisions had been made by Martini and his staff to abide by this order. Martini stated neither he nor his office had done anything to respond to this Order. Preptit expressed his frustration, also shared by Council members and the public. Gilder concurred that his Department had not conducted training of its staff about the Order and how to fill out the corresponding reports.

Preptit then asked whether MNPD had received a report about ICE activities on Sunday and was told this information had come up through the chain of command at that point. However, it was not relayed on Thursday, when it was first communicated to the city by ICE.

Preptit referred to the importance of institutional integrity and that this incident highlighted a major gap in follow-through and procedure, stating that everyone in city government knows about the process that is expected to be instituted under Executive Order 30.

Preptit then asked about the helicopters that were deployed on Sunday. Sepulveda pulled up the picture of the MNPD helicopter providing ICE backup from the air and asked who had called out the helicopters. Gilder said Metro officers requested a flyover “to determine the number of folks who were there” and said this was “pretty standard” to “determine crowd size” for “their safety and everyone’s safety.”

(NOTE: There were only 20-25 people at the location to protest the capture of local residents by ICE, including members of the media. Can this really be called a “crowd” requiring helicopter surveillance?)

Councilperson Vo asked about the most recent crime statistics collected over the last 12 months, and Gilder responded that overall, crime is down by 8% (NOTE: So why was MNPD pushing so hard for Council to pass FUSUS?) She also asked for a breakdown of the areas where crime is being committed in Davidson County, and Gilder told her he would also get this information to her.

Vo said her interest was specific to the areas targeted for ICE raids as compared to actual crime stats for each district, particularly 2 weeks before the ICE terrorism. She was told by Gilder that he would also get her this documentation.

Vo then asked Martini for a commitment to address the gaps in communications identified this past weekend, and that he return to the Council with a report on his progress toward this goal. Martini admitted at this point that the ICE call to Dispatch on Thursday was not reported to MNPD higher-ups until Sunday.

Vo shared her experience of being a child traveling with her parents when her father was pulled over and given a ticket because he didn’t have his lights on- when it was still daylight. She made a moving statement about the long-lasting effect of such targeted police profiling, also experienced by her constituents over the weekend.

Vo declared that the community has asked for months, “Instead of focusing on guardrails,” why are we not focused on community protections? “Will you commit to making a safety plan in partnership with the community and making that a priority over the next 30 days?” She wants our city to be a city that “doesn’t wait for people to be harmed…for families not to have their parents come home…to have a kid not know where their parent is. For us to say, ‘Oh, we need to make some changes…’ If it happened to your family, what would you do? I stand for every family that lives in fear because I know what that is like.”

Please listen- and weep with her as we demand change.

All three Metro employees- Dietz, Martini, and Gilder- danced around Vo’s question and plea, saying they are already committed to the community and do everything they can. They talked about the need to acquire more staff rather than focusing on the quality of relations between the community and the city leadership.

Councilperson Porterfield asked what the Dispatcher thought an ICE operation meant and what training she and other staff received so that this does not happen again.

Deitz volunteered that on Sunday, Drake called Homeland Security to ask if there was a possible raid happening in Nashville, and he was “misled” into believing that ICE planned to focus on other surrounding counties and not Nashville.

(NOTE: Isn’t this a bit odd, given they had already informed MNPD on Thursday in the Dispatch call that they would be operating in Nashville over the weekend? Exactly at what point did Drake get some intel about ICE, and from whom? And then he just disregarded it, when family and community members were crying out for help because kidnappings had already been happening? Who is sleeping on the job, and let’s not put this all on a possibly ignorant, untrained, and probably underpaid Dispatch worker!)

While Porterfield expressed a belief that “the higher-ups” had not received notification about ICE planning a raid in South Nashville (REALLY?), she recommended that no MNPD officers should be around any ICE operation in the future and ICE should be told by MNPD “No, we were not going to assist with crowd control.”

Councilperson Benedict offered a list of specific, workable, and critical recommendations about how MNPD can improve and change for the better going forward - it’s worth listening to- as well as calling out Police Chief Drake for not choosing to be present to answer questions from the Council.

Councilperson Welsch expressed shock at what she heard during the meeting and said it was “particularly galling” that Deputy Gilder was presented as the “voice of truth” when he had been involved in “trying to tank the Community Overight Board, so he does not have a lot of trust in the community,” further “undermining a lot of what was said here tonight,” particularly about what MNPD knew and when. “It all stretches the imagination.”

Welsch pointed to the fact that ICE is not following the law, so why could MNPD not intervene when they are doing something “we all know is illegal and unconstitutional?”

Dietz responded, “It is a federal crime to interfere with any immigration enforcement action,” although Metro would sue if the federal government tried to co-opt MNPD into becoming an immigration enforcement entity (NOTE: Isn’t that what just happened over the weekend, with officers and helicopters?) Welsch countered, “But we were told these were just traffic stops.”

Welsch declared, “We do have power, but we also have a lot of fear, and we as a city need to get rid of our fear and start taking back our power and not be fearful of losing federal money… We need to take a very strong stand and realize we will make our way around, no matter what they try to throw at us, because our obligation to our citizenry demands nothing less.”

This is how these men looked as Welsh finished “womansplaining” them.

Councilperson Parker asked, if ICE comes to someone’s home, is there staff at MNPD or otherwise in the city that can assist that resident so they remain safe? There was no direct answer other than to say there are people with specialized skills to help residents in the city who are feeling unsafe (Blech!).

Councilperson Ewing commented that there is much normalizing happening about something that should not be normalized. “We are living in bizarre and dangerous times, and we need to stop acting like a call for MNPD backup for an ICE operation is a normal thing.” She asked Dietz about whether a case could be made against ICE based on the fact that inaccurate language had been thrown around, such as calling what happened over the weekend “an operation…enforcement…traffic stops” and “public safety” when “really what they were doing was going on a giant fishing expedition to see if they’d come up with someone that they could then deport.” Ewing declared that there should be some recourse when the federal government is “feeding us a big line of garbage.”

Dietz responded that Metro was asked to offer help over something ICE had total control over. “The irony leaps off the page.” He committed that Legal will sue “if they try to commandeer our police force” and said this would be a “winnable lawsuit.” But there is no way to tell ICE what they can or can’t do. Instead, THP is the one to answer for what they were doing when a traffic issue was “immediately converted into an immigration issue,” and this question should be addressed “at the State level.”

Councilperson Bradford said what happened over the weekend was “State-sponsored terrorism” and was what many of those arrested had fled from in their own country. “We don’t need to be complicit. We need to be outraged and do everything we can to let it be known that you cannot come into our city and take our people.”

Bradford then expressed anger that Drake “decided it was not worth his time to be here.”
He asked Dietz to research what actions elected leaders could take in Nashville to fight back. He called for a third-party independent investigation into the actions of MNPD, and not an internal investigation of MNPD by itself. He also called out Martini for failing to have in place a compliance plan with the Mayor’s Executive Order, which was supposed to have been in place “within 3 days” of it being issued. Braford noted that in his job experience, clearly ignoring an Order is grounds for Martini being fired. “So, what are you going to do to get your Department in compliance?”

Martini (finally) agreed he had failed in his duty and said he had already begun to address this issue and will continue until his Department is in full compliance.

Councilperson Gadd said it has been “absolutely shameful to know and hear the phone call” between ICE and Dispatch. She thanked the people on the ground who had been sharing information, “and that is the reason we are here today.” She highlighted that “there is a difference between a community safety plan and a public safety plan” and encouraged a follow-up with the help of the Metro Human Relations Commission to address the need to create a true community safety plan.

Regarding Executive Order #30, she asked for changes to be made by Metro Departments in writing to bring them into compliance, and this be reported back to the Council. She recognized and thanked Sepulveda for already working to take control of Nolensville Pike back from the State. She encouraged Dietz to file the FOIA request right away so we can learn the location of our residents who were arrested. She then asked Metro Lobbyists to get the responses from the THP that Metro needs about what people knew and what actions were taken. She highlighted the Legislature’s hiring of a Chief Immigration Enforcement Officer, and asked whether any Agreements had been entered into between Metro and the State regarding the actions of this newly formed office. Dietz said he did not know but would get an answer to Gadd.

She said it was alarming to hear the ICE agent ask the Dispatcher about specific officers within MNPD. Gilder responded that the agent was just fishing to see who was still around in the Department that he might know. (Seems fishy, eh?)

Given the failure of MNPD to report the May 1st call in a timely manner, Gadd wondered if Metro is aware of any upcoming ICE activity. Martini said their system is now working as it should, and he is not aware of any ICE activity now. He added that it is rare that ICE would alert MNPD about their intended activity in Nashville.

Councilperson Ellis asked Dietz what guidance Metro has given to MNPD and MNPS about what they should do if ICE shows up. Dietz said Metro School personnel should call Metro Legal immediately. He said he wants lawyers involved on the scene, and it would be great to have a lawyer at every school, as Benedict suggested in her comments. For now, they should “Call us immediately… They should not engage and wait for us to arrive.”

Ellis asked if it is safe for parents of brown-skinned children to send them to school. Dietz said it is “disgraceful that the Trump administration revoked the Safety Zone Executive Order that had been in place to protect schools, churches, health care centers… that were essentially off-limits to ICE. That is no longer the law. That’s 100% a decision that President Trump has made.”

Councilperson Styles said ICE was in her district over the weekend, and there were abandoned vehicles left running on the side of the road. “People are terrified. This is a horrific situation and will only get worse when this law goes into effect in July.” She wondered what happens to the people in a car, both drivers and passengers, when ICE does their stops. Gilder said when MNPD makes a traffic stop, the focus is generally on the driver "unless there is a reasonable suspicion” about the passengers, but he could not respond to a question about how THP operates.

Styles asked whether THP had been questioned about their involvement in the weekend raids and arrests. Dietz said he sent a letter to THP and received a partial response, so he has followed up with them. The Democratic caucus of the Tennessee Legislature shared with him a response they received to the letter they had sent, which he viewed as “unsatisfactory.” He said it is most appropriate for the TN Legislative Representatives to follow up with the THP since they are under State control. Dietz did not expect THP to answer him, even if he asked the question on Styles’ behalf.

Councilperson Kupin shared his concern that the May 1st call from ICE was not acted upon by MNPD. “We need to know what’s going on on our streets…. in our city… And the fact that we didn’t is an oversight… I’m glad we’re taking steps to correct that.” He expressed concern that there were hundreds of stops and arrests going on “and we had no idea.”

He asked Dietz about filing the FOIA request now, and Dietz answered that it had been filed that afternoon (NOTE: why had Dietz not shared this earlier?)

Kupin then asked what Metro can do to protect people’s due process and constitutionally protect rights, and make sure people know and can exercise their rights in the city. Dietz referred to organizations in the city, including Legal Aid, that can provide civil representation and other groups that are connecting people to criminal lawyers.

Councilperson Cash said Metro needs to do better and asked for a coordinated Metro Government plan, as referred to by Vo, and requested that the Mayor’s office coordinate this within the Metro system. Rosenberg agreed and expressed a willingness to do whatever is needed to create a better sense of community safety than there is now. Cash asked for follow-through led by the Mayor’s office.

Evans agreed that there needs to be a more formal structure, as identified by Vo, and suggested that there needs to be energy put behind this effort.

Evans encouraged residents to donate to The Remix TN, which has been providing direct assistance to Hispanic and Latino immigrant residents, and the new Belonging Fund set up at the Community Foundation of Middle TN to provide resources to non-profit organizations serving the immigrant community.

On Tuesday, June 30th, at the Public Health and Safety Committee meeting, Evans asked that reports be provided regarding the commitments made during this meeting.

IN CONCLUSION

Which side are you on, Florence Reece asked- the miners or the operators? Today, she would ask us: Are you For the People and our Immigrant residents, or ICE and the President?

Sunday, May 4, 2025

-Madison Thorn, Photographer