A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Immigration agents have been active in cities across the country, arresting and detaining people. It's part of an effort by the Trump administration to ramp up deportation. Now, in Nashville, Tennessee, local officials are pushing back, and that's left the city and its mayor pitted against federal officials. From member station WPLN, here's Cynthia Abrams.
CYNTHIA ABRAMS, BYLINE: Earlier this month, ICE agents - working with state police - began making a series of traffic stops in a Latino neighborhood in Nashville. The Department of Homeland Security says nearly 200 arrests have been made so far and about half of the people detained have prior criminal convictions. The arrests prompted an immediate reaction from the community. Here's Zacnite Vargas with ReMIX TN, an immigrant support group.
ZACNITE VARGAS: Our goal here is not safety. It is fear. Businesses in the area are suffering. Trust in government agencies is declining. And all of us, regardless of our immigration status, should be alarmed.
ABRAMS: At a city council meeting, she called on leaders to take action.
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VARGAS: What will the council and the mayor commit to to concrete policies and procedures to keep immigrant families safe?
ABRAMS: Nashville's Democratic mayor Freddie O'Connell says he is also opposed to the traffic stops.
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FREDDIE O'CONNELL: I want to be clear. We did not request this approach to safety. We do not support it.
ABRAMS: But he also says that the city has little power to intervene because only federal authorities can enforce immigration laws. Instead, O'Connell is trying to get the names of all the people arrested during the traffic stops.
O'CONNELL: There's a strong probability that people have been detained that are here legally that simply did not have documentation with them as they were driving on the streets in Nashville. And so we want to validate that.
ABRAMS: In a press release, the Department of Homeland Security criticized the mayor saying he stands by, quote, "pro-illegal policies." DHS says its actions are about protecting Americans from criminal illegal aliens. But the mayor disagrees.
O'CONNELL: These raids aren't about safety. In Nashville right now, violent crime is down. Property crime is down.
ABRAMS: Even one of the council's most conservative members, Republican Courtney Johnston, has criticized the ICE action, blaming both parties for failing to fix the nation's broken immigration system over decades. She said on Facebook, she fears massive negative impact on the local economy, especially in hospitality and construction.
So far, DHS has only identified five of the people arrested in the traffic stops, but the names of 191 other people remain unknown.
For NPR News, I'm Cynthia Abrams in Nashville. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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