A government contractor is eyeing an office building on Royal Parkway near the Nashville International Airport as the site of a planned call center for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Koniag Services Inc. was recently awarded a contract worth up to $63 million to provide support for a national ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations coordination center in Nashville, a federal contract database shows. A specific location for the contract is not directly stated in the contract database.
Koniag is considering setting up shop in the Metropolitan Airport Center I at 801 Royal Parkway, a three-story brick office building in Donelson, according to Joy McKenna, president of the building's property manager Research Management Corporation.
"That
is a possibility, yes," McKenna said.
Plans for Koniag to occupy the space have not been finalized, McKenna said.
The contract lists a ZIP + 4 code for the location, which is much more specific than a normal five-digit code. The ZIP + 4 code, 37214-3749, appears to be only tied to the address of the Metro Airport Center I.
Koniag has posted more than two dozen jobs for people to work for a call center in Nashville since Aug. 2.
When asked if Koniag was considering the space on Royal Parkway, Koniag's senior corporate security manager Raymond Chancellor said, "I have no idea what you're talking about," and hung up the phone. ICE has also declined to confirm the site of the planned call center, citing a "coordinated campaign of violence" against immigration officers.
The center would support ICE's partnerships with local sheriffs and police departments, according to the contract database. A new state law requires Tennessee sheriff's offices to enter into these sorts of partnerships, called 287(g) agreements.
The planned center was initially slated for Adams, Tennessee, a small town near the Kentucky border before the contract location was updated, the Tennessee Lookout reported.
Several Nashville officials and advocates for immigrants have spoken out against ICE expanding its presence in Music City. Mayor Freddie O'Connell has struggled to get accurate information from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for two years, a mayor's office spokesperson said Aug. 20, before The Tennessean had confirmed the location of the planned call center.
“This is once again a form of federal engagement we did not request, do not want, and do not need in Nashville,” the mayor’s office spokesperson said.
The morning of Aug. 21, a group of council members, advocates and religious leaders called a news conference outside Connection United Methodist Church to speak against the planned call center. The group spoke out against ICE's increased efforts to detain and deport immigrants during the Trump administration.
"We don't want a call center," District 30 Metro Nashville Council member Sandra Sepulveda said at the news conference. Sepulveda's district has the highest Latino population in Nashville.
Sepulveda said she and some other council members, including District 17 council member Terry Vo and at-large council member Zulfat Suara, who were at the news conference, were looking at legislation to try to prevent the planned call center from coming to Nashville.
Connection UMC Pastor Darren Mayberry Wright said the group's concerns are bigger than just the possibility of a call center.
"The question before us isn't only what kind of facility belongs here in Nashville. It's what kind of neighbors and what kind of people do we want to be?" Mayberry Wright said.
Have questions about the justice system? Evan Mealins is the justice reporter for The Tennessean. Contact him with questions, tips or story ideas at emealins@tennessean.com.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Contractor eyes office space by Nashville airport for ICE call center
