Large anti-U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement protests have swept the nation as activists and community members witness sweeping immigration raids, traffic-based detentions and the promise of increased deportations during President Donald Trump's second administration.
Memphis has been no different, with additional ICE agents being sent to Memphis as part of the Memphis Safe Task Force.
Reports from elected officials and community members say ICE agents have been seen riding alongside Tennessee Highway Patrol troopers and asking about immigration status during traffic stops.
A traffic stop like that was how 18-year-old Memphis Business Academy student Yasser Jose Lopez Soza was detained by immigration officials in February. He was ultimately
released on April 24 by a federal judge’s court order but still has court dates to address his legal status pending.
Most notable was an Aug. 30 raid on El Corralón, a bar in Memphis’ Berclair neighborhood where ICE agents arrested 121 people. According to advocates, the raid was one of the largest immigration operations in recent Memphis history.
The raid, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, was described as a “multiagency targeted enforcement operation” where federal and state warrants were executed. Advocates say the operation was based on two Tennessee Bureau of Investigation warrants for illegal gambling and drugs, but those same advocates were skeptical.
“I feel like it's pretty dubious that these search warrants were really part of an active criminal investigation, considering that the law enforcement officers who were part of the (Memphis) Safe Task Force rolled up with vans ready to load people up,” said Casey Bryant, an immigration attorney and executive director for Advocates for Immigrant Rights, after the operation. “That’s nothing that we see in a criminal investigation. That's what we see in an immigration raid.”
Federal official says immigration not focus of Task Force, but 'we're not ignoring it'
But U.S. Marshal Tyreece Miller for the Western District of Tennessee said the large-scale raid was not part of the Task Force’s efforts.
Spearheaded by the U.S. Marshals Service, the Task Force has been primarily billed as a violent crime reduction effort.
Miller added the Memphis Safe Task Force is not actively seeking out people based on their immigration status.
Federal agents with the Task Force cannot conduct traffic stops, Miller said, describing agents' roles as a sort of "backup" when local and state law enforcement pull someone over for a traffic violation. In some instances, that backup is in the car with local and state law enforcement, and other times federal agents are in a separate car traveling nearby.
Once a traffic stop is initiated by local or state police, federal agents can investigate for a potential federal charge.
“If we come across someone, we’re not ignoring it,” Miller said of someone’s immigration status.
A similar tone was conveyed by U.S. Attorney Mike Dunavant for the Western District of Tennessee, who said his office only prosecutes immigrants without protected status when they enter illegally, re-enter illegally after having been deported, are an illegal alien in possession of a firearm, or if they committed another federal crime.
All other deportation proceedings are not criminal cases, and his office does not handle them.
"I'm really only interested in those cases where we have an illegal re-entry involving someone who's continuing to commit crimes and victimize people here in this community," he said. "That's a fairly small subset of those persons who are being taken into custody by ICE."
Officials, activists disagree on ICE's importance to Task Force
Miller’s tone toward immigration enforcement somewhat mirrors that of Memphis Mayor Paul Young and former Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner Jr., both of whom have said neither the Memphis Police Department nor the sheriff’s office work directly with ICE.
Young repeatedly refused to speak with The CA as part of this project's reporting.
The sheriff's office oversees the county jails and does, however, have a contract with ICE to hold immigrants an additional 48 hours upon request.
Bonner, prior to leaving office at the end of August, also said sheriff’s deputies would be paired with random task force members that would sometimes include ICE agents. When they would conduct traffic stops, ICE agents may potentially show up to question someone’s status.
But those public comments about immigration enforcement cannot be decoupled from public perception. During the raid on El Corralón, witnesses recalled seeing multiple federal agencies, and Memphis police eventually came to secure the scene.
Hunter Demster, a local activist who is part of Vecindarios901 and monitors as much Task Force activity as he can find, said he believes the Task Force has immigration as a focus.
"The entire task force has been centered around immigration, and they're framing it as they're out to get the worst of the worst in a deceptive way," Demster said.
Officials, like Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy, have estimated that immigration-related arrests make up about 20% of the Task Force's detentions.
Young, in a statement following the raid, said MPD did not partake in the immigration operation or its planning, but said police were requested to assist with traffic and crowd control.
"This morning's ICE raid on Macon Road has been unsettling for many people in our community, particularly families who are still trying to understand what happened and what it means for their loved ones," Young said in the statement. "I can assure you of this: the people impacted by what happened this morning are our neighbors. They are part of the Memphis community, and they deserve to be treated with dignity."
But Demster finds those assertions "disingenuous" and noted a number of instances where he has seen ICE with local law enforcement.
"I call them bold-faced liars," Demster said of officials denying they work directly with ICE. "I saw an ICE agent riding with the Memphis Police Department today (Sept. 11)."
Lucas Finton covers crime, policing, jails, the courts and criminal justice policy for The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached by phone or email: (901)208-3922 and Lucas.Finton@commercialappeal.com, and followed on X @LucasFinton.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Memphis Safe Task Force, local officials distance themselves from ICE
