U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) made arrests in Union City, Tennessee on Friday.
ICE Public Affairs Officer Thomas Byrd tells WKMS News that there were no raids or sweeps of particular businesses, despite rumors on Facebook. Byrd said, "We did not conduct any operations at any businesses today."
Byrd said ICE teams routinely "arrest criminal aliens and other individuals who are in violation of our nation’s immigration laws." Enforcement is in compliance with federal law and agency policy, he said, adding that "ICE does not conduct sweeps or raids that target aliens indiscriminately."
Specific information is not available at this time. Union City Police Department has not responded to a request for comment.
There have also been unconfirmed reports of ICE activity in Mayfield. Major Wes Kimbler of the Mayfield Police Department said MPD did not have contact with ICE over the weekend.
WPSD-TV broke the news of activity Friday afternoon.
Immigration raids have been reported across the country since President Donald Trump issued an executive order expanding priorities for enforcement and pledging to crack down on illegal immigrants, including an alleged proposal Friday morning to deploy as many as 100,000 National Guard troops to 'round-up' immigrants in the United States.
ICE has said raids are "business as usual." ICE said three-fourths of recent arrests were for criminal offenses. The agency has also issued Tweets criticizing 'false reports' for creating 'mass panic.'
This story will be updated.
