County Fight Contested

Davidson County TN — ICE-THP joint operation profiled Nashville immigrants, THP later rejected ICE

Davidson, TN FIPS 47037

Current status: May 2025 'Operation Flood the Zone' (ICE-THP): 600+ traffic stops in immigrant neighborhoods over 6-7 nights, ~196 arrests. Investigation revealed profiling and demeaning behavior. THP subsequently rejected all further ICE partnership requests (confirmed March 2026). TIRRC public-records lawsuit filed Aug 2025 in Davidson County Chancery; state 'under litigation' per Commissioner Long. April 2026: Tennessee legislature passed mandatory 287(g) bill (deadline Jan 1, 2027); Metro Legal advised Sheriff Daron Hall the law does not bind DCSO because he is not POST-certified. Mayor Freddie O'Connell's Executive Order 30 (mandatory ICE-interaction reporting) remains in force despite congressional investigations.

The Fight

In May 2025, ICE and the Tennessee Highway Patrol conducted a six-night joint operation in Nashville’s Latino neighborhoods, executing more than 600 traffic stops and detaining between 40 and 100 people. Investigations by the Nashville Banner revealed the operation involved profiling suspected immigrants and contradicted law enforcement claims about targeting criminals for public safety.

The fallout was significant: THP subsequently rejected all further ICE partnership requests, and the operation became a defining scandal of Tennessee’s immigration enforcement expansion.

Key Details

The May 2025 operation

Duration: 6 nights in May 2025
Traffic stops: 600+
Detained: 40-100 people
Location: South Nashville immigrant-rich neighborhoods
Agencies: ICE + Tennessee Highway Patrol

Body camera footage showed demeaning behavior during traffic stops
Officers used pejorative language toward detainees
Detainees were marked with numbers as part of an apparent contest to track which officers made the most arrests
ICE and THP inflated safety claims to justify the operation
The operation specifically targeted immigrant communities, not criminal activity

THP rejection of ICE

THP Colonel Matt Perry: “We’ve done one and only operation, and it was last May”
ICE “periodically reached out to request participation” after the operation but THP declined
Commissioner Jeff Long told lawmakers his agency would investigate misconduct, and connected THP’s decision to stop joint operations to troopers’ experiences during the Nashville operation

Broader Nashville enforcement trends

ICE detainer requests surged in Nashville under Trump — nearly 4x in Feb 2025 vs. Feb 2024
ICE arrested 6,251 people statewide between Jan 20 and Oct 15, 2025
73% of Jan-May 2025 arrests occurred in jails and lockups
Before Jan 2025: 23% of detainees had aggravated felony convictions; after: only 11%
December 2025: Reports of renewed ICE activity near Nashville businesses (SIP Cafe)

Timeline Updates (2025-2026)

Aug 15, 2025 — TIRRC sues THP for withheld records

The Tennessee Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition filed suit in Davidson County Chancery Court alleging THP and the Department of Safety violated the Tennessee Public Records Act by denying, redacting, or delaying production of video, dispatch logs, and call data tied to “Operation Flood the Zone.” TIRRC notes THP “implausibly denied the existence” of certain records. The complaint also alleges the Department of Safety claimed it was withholding CAD records at the request of Davidson County DA Glenn Funk, but Funk publicly stated he was invoking no such privilege. (Tennessee Lookout, Aug 19, 2025; TIRRC press release)

Banner published two-part exposé documenting demeaning conduct, pejoratives, “marking” of detainees as part of an internal arrest contest, and inflated public-safety claims. Only ~14% of 607 incident reports gave a reason for the initial traffic stop. Commissioner of Safety Jeff Long told lawmakers the state was “under litigation” and largely declined to address officer-conduct questions. (Nashville Banner, Feb 19 / Feb 27, 2026)

Mar 9, 2026 — THP confirms it has rejected ICE overtures

THP Colonel Matt Perry: “We’ve done one and only operation, and it was last May.” Long connected the decision to troopers’ experiences during the Nashville operation. (Tennessee Lookout, Mar 9, 2026)

Apr 21-23, 2026 — Tennessee mandatory 287(g) bill clears legislature

The Tennessee House (71-25) and Senate passed legislation requiring every county sheriff to enter a 287(g) agreement (jail, warrant-service, or task-force model) by Jan 1, 2027 or risk losing state funding. Bill awaits Gov. Bill Lee’s signature. Part of the broader GOP “Immigration 2026” agenda. (Tennessee Lookout; WPLN; Chattanooga Times Free Press)

Apr 28-29, 2026 — Davidson County exemption announced

Per Metro Legal guidance to Sheriff Daron Hall, the new mandate does not bind DCSO because the 287(g) requirement applies only to POST-certified sheriffs, and Hall — who runs Metro’s jails but lacks general policing authority under Metro’s unique consolidated charter — is not POST-certified. Hall publicly called the new law “all politics” while noting DCSO already cooperates with ICE under existing Tennessee statutes (632 transfers in the prior year). Hall is on the May 5, 2026 Democratic primary ballot for reelection. (WKRN; Nashville Banner, Apr 28, 2026; NewsChannel 5)

May 4, 2026 — O’Connell commits to reelection, defends Executive Order 30

Mayor Freddie O’Connell confirmed (Axios Nashville) he will run for reelection. He continues to defend Executive Order 30, which requires Metro employees — including police and fire — to report any interaction with federal immigration authorities within 24 hours. Two congressional committees are investigating O’Connell’s conduct during and after the May 2025 operation. (Axios Nashville; WKRN)

May 10, 2026 — Gov. Lee signs the 287(g) mandate into law

Gov. Bill Lee signed HB2219 (the bill that cleared the legislature Apr 22–23) into law on or about May 10, 2026, making Tennessee the first state in the nation to mandate 287(g) participation by all 95 county sheriffs (deadline Jan 1, 2027). This sharpens the Davidson question: Metro Legal’s POST-certification theory (that Sheriff Daron Hall is not bound because he lacks general policing authority under Metro’s consolidated charter) is now the live test case for whether any TN jurisdiction can lawfully sit out the mandate. Hall won the May 5, 2026 Democratic primary context noted above. (Capture Cascade Timeline; Tennessee Lookout)

May 27, 2026 — Unmarked-vehicle ICE detentions across Middle Tennessee

WSMV and Telemundo reported multiple people detained by ICE agents operating from unmarked vehicles across Middle Tennessee, including at least six taken in McMinnville (Warren County) — agents in ICE vests exited gray and blue SUVs, handcuffed a man, and approached day laborers outside a Lowe’s. ICE declined comment, citing “operational security.” This unmarked-vehicle, plainclothes pattern is a tactical escalation in the Nashville/Middle TN region distinct from the 2025 marked-THP traffic-stop model. (WSMV, May 27, 2026 — see also Warren County entry)

Late May 2026 — Advocates document a spike; ICE confirms solo operations

Building on the May 27 reporting, advocates (notably Music City Migra Watch, advocate Ashley Warbington) documented at least 15 people detained across Middle Tennessee in a single week, with armed agents making stops from unmarked vehicles (gray and blue SUVs) and specifically targeting people in work vans on their way to jobs — a worksite-commute interdiction model. A detention in Gallatin (Sumner County) was captured on video. Significantly, an ICE supervisor confirmed to NewsChannel 5 that agents are making these arrests in Middle Tennessee, characterizing them as targeting people in the country illegally “who have committed crimes” — even as Deportation Data Project figures show over a third of ICE arrests nationally in Trump’s first nine months were of people with no criminal record. This confirms the pattern as a sustained, ICE-led (no partnering agency) operation rather than a one-off May 27 sweep, now reaching Sumner County (which signed a 287(g) jail agreement in 2025). (NewsChannel 5 / WSMV / Telemundo, late May 2026)

Sixth Circuit bond ruling reaches Tennessee dockets

Davidson and Middle TN detainees are now within the reach of the Sixth Circuit’s May 11, 2026 ruling in Lopez-Campos v. Raycraft (Tennessee is in the Sixth Circuit), which restored individualized bond-hearing rights for long-term residents held under mandatory detention. Following the ruling, Tennessee immigration judges have begun granting bond — e.g., a $1,500 bond for Elvira Benitez Suarez post-ruling. Habeas petitions filed while a detainee remains physically in the Sixth Circuit are the operative lever; ICE’s pattern of rapidly transferring TN detainees out of state (AL, LA) is in direct tension with preserving that jurisdiction. See bond-hearing-circuit-split-2026 and kentucky-sixth-circuit-bond-hearing-ruling-2026. (Margaret W. Wong & Associates, May 15, 2026; Chalkbeat)

Cross-Reference: TN Federal Non-Disclosure Directive

Search did not surface a Tennessee-specific federal non-disclosure directive parallel to the FL/TX directive Madan documented. The closest analogue is THP/Department of Safety withholding records under invocation of “litigation hold” and (disputed) prosecutorial privilege — currently being challenged in TIRRC v. THP. Flag for Tom Kelleher / cross-investigation review: Tennessee’s stonewalling pattern is being executed at the state-agency level, not (yet visibly) under a federal directive.

Sources

This research is published at The RAMM — investigative reporting on the detention pipeline.

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