By Ellen Gerst , Jules Feeney
Hamilton County Sheriff Austin Garrett said his office is regularly reporting between 35 and 50 unauthorized immigrants detained at the county jail each month, as National Guard troops were activated this week for immigration enforcement in Tennessee.
Garrett said Wednesday morning he hadn’t heard about the National Guard deployment but didn’t expect it to change how his office handles unauthorized immigrants. It’s unclear what the guard’s role will be locally, he said.
“They do a lot of different stuff,” he said in an interview. “They could come in and help process paperwork. They can’t do the law enforcement.”
(READ MORE: ‘So excited’: How ICE and the Hamilton County sheriff forged their new partnership)
The troops will help with administrative and clerical duties at Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities in Tennessee, a spokesperson said.
“These service members will assist with tasks such as data entry, case management and logistical support,” National Guard Capt. Kealy Moriarty said in a statement.
Planning for the deployment is underway, Moriarty said, and will be coordinated with state and federal agencies to support the request for assistance from the federal Department of Homeland Security.
Moriarty said the department has identified places in Tennessee where it is looking for support, but she could not say what those locations are.
Homeland Security did not respond to a request for information Wednesday.
The Tennessee Highway Patrol did not answer a voicemail or email Wednesday asking for comment on its level of involvement with federal immigration enforcement.
Gov. Bill Lee’s office did not return a call or email requesting more information.
Lee has long maintained that he would use state resources to aid President Donald Trump’s efforts to crack down on immigrants. In December, he signed a letter with 25 other Republican governorspledging their support.
“We stand ready to utilize every tool at our disposal — whether through state law enforcement or the National Guard — to support President Trump in this vital mission,” the letter said.
Lisa Sherman Luna, executive director of the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, condemned the governor’s decision.
“This is a dangerous precedent that will serve to not only tear apart immigrant families, but destroy our communities and our neighborhoods,” Sherman Luna said in a statement. “This is a classic playbook from authoritarians throughout history, using an emergency, real or invented, to consolidate power, to suspend the rules and rewrite the laws in order to serve their own interests.”
Tennessee lawmakers last year passed a bill requiring the state agency that oversees district attorneys to collect data on unauthorized immigrants who have been arrested.
(READ MORE: Hamilton County Jail is releasing more inmates to immigration officials)
In recent months, jail officials have reported an average of 35-50 people who admit to being unauthorized immigrants or who lack proof of a legal basis for living in the United States, Garrett said.
“We’re still doing what the statute requires us to do,” Garrett said.
The Sheriff’s Office is working on a way to make the number of people it reports each month, as well as their nationalities and charged crimes, publicly available, Garrett said.
Not everyone without provable legal residence will necessarily be transferred to federal immigration custody. That decision typically depends on their legal status, the space available in immigration detention facilities and whether a person has a hold placed on them by another agency, like the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement or the U.S. Marshals.
The county’s immigration reporting appears to be rising from earlier this year.
About 25 people were referred to immigration custody in both February and March, and 41 were transferred in April. Those rates mark a significant uptick from the past three years, when there were 41 transfers total between 2021 and 2024.
Charges related to driving, like driving under the influence or without a license, are the most common reason for unauthorized immigrants to be arrested in Hamilton County, Garrett said. There have been other, more serious charges too, he said.
“This month was really interesting. There’s a couple in there that we’re holding for the U.S. Marshals,” Garrett said. “There’s one that got a violent charge on it, some narcotics and handgun, there’s some DUIs … the biggest thing is the DUIs endanger the public at large.”
Most people reported from Hamilton County are of Guatemalan or Mexican origin, Garrett said.
The county is soon starting the process to join the federal 287(g) program, which deputizes local law enforcement to carry out immigration actions, Garrett said. He said that program will reinforce what his office is already doing.
Garrett also introduced a new corrections chief Wednesday, Chief Tim Davis, a retired assistant sheriff from Santa Clara County in California.
He’ll oversee everything to do with detention and custody for the county, Davis said. On his first day on the job, he said he wasn’t sure how he would be dealing with immigration enforcement at the jail.
“I’m going to have to find out a bit more about what’s going on and what’s required,” he said in an interview.
In late July, Garrett shared a photo of a protester at a demonstration against his office’s cooperation with federal immigration efforts, holding a sign that said “Sheriff Garrett + ICE makes for a dangerous cocktail.”
“I’m going to have to name a cocktail after me now,” he said.
Garrett said he shared the photo not as a joke, but to “get a dialogue going” locally.
“I said, ‘Louder for the people in the back,’ so everybody can hear you,” Garrett said. “I’m encouraging the right to protest.”
That protester, Anna Golladay, said she made a social media post in response to Garrett sharing her photo in an attempt to introduce herself.
“I am surprised that he hasn’t contacted me since that introduction, to introduce himself and start the dialogue that he says that he would like,” Golladay said by phone. “I am engaged in the work, and I would love to have a conversation with him.”
Staff writer Mason Edwards contributed to this report.
Read the original story published by the Times Free Press here.