The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has published a database featuring the names, mugshots and offenses committed by the so-called “worst of the worst” immigrants living illegally in the United States, including more than 200 in Tennessee.
Yet the entries shed little light on the vast majority of immigration arrests in Tennessee since President Donald Trump retook office in January with a pledge to conduct mass deportations.
Tennessee has among the highest rates of ICE arrests in the nation, according to an analysis of federal data by the Prison Policy Initiative.
Between May and October, more than 6,200 people in Tennessee were taken into custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the analysis found. Only Texas, Virginia, Washington, DC, Florida, Arizona, Oklahoma and Utah had higher ICE arrest rates.
Hundreds of immigration arrests have taken place in Memphis as part of the Memphis Safe Task Force, but the exact number has not been publicly disclosed.
Established in September by President Donald Trump, the task force includes 1,000 federal law enforcement officers, among them Border Patrol and ICE agents.
The task force has made more than 3,842 total arrests in Shelby County as of Dec. 11, according to the U.S. Marshals, which initially released numbers on immigration arrests but has since declined to do so. In its initial release, data provided showed 1 in five arrests by the task force were immigration violations.
I’m taking on as much risk as I can by trying to enforce the provisions of the constitution so that we’re all protected through the lawsuit that I have right now against Bill Lee.Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris
The federal government has thus far declined to publicly release names, charges and demographic information about the majority of individuals arrested in Memphis.
Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris said all task force arrest information, including names, mugshots and charges, is compiled and provided to his office daily by federal officials, but he could not share it.
“I’m constrained,” Harris said. “I mean, Donald Trump and a lot of federal officials have made it very clear through their very public actions that they are willing to investigate and to arrest or indict, and in some cases threaten incarceration, for people they believe are their enemies.”
Harris said he believes the information should be made public but declined to do so, citing the risk of retaliation to him, personally.
The daily update provided to Harris is marked “sensitive information,” he said.
“Federal officials have marked it as sensitive,” Harris said. “It clearly is not. But based on their previous actions they seem willing to do whatsoever to who they perceive as their enemies, including investigations and indictments.”
“I’m taking on as much risk as I can by trying to enforce the provisions of the constitution so that we’re all protected through the lawsuit that I have right now against Bill Lee. I don’t know how much more risk I can take,” Lee said.
The Department of Homeland Security “worst of the worst” database lists fewer than 40 arrests of immigrants with serious criminal records in Memphis. More than 160 immigration related arrests were reported by the Task Force in October, before it ceased sharing immigration related enforcement data.
A majority of the posts on the website, which each contain social media buttons to easily share individual mugshots, do not list a date of arrest nor detail whether individuals had already been in the state’s jails and prisons before being arrested for immigration crimes by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.
This story was originally published by the Tennessee Lookout.
