By: Sienna Escobar, Kyla Wetmore and Hayden Kobza
Anti-U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) protestors filled Hamilton County Commission room 402 to capacity, peacefully protesting federal agreement 287(g). Almost all of the participants wore a matching neon yellow sticker reading “ICE OUT, INVEST IN.”
Speakers represented the groups’ views to commissioners during the Jan. 28 meeting, urging them to end the 287(g) agreement between Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) and ICE.
What the 287(g) program allows
The 287(g) program facilitates cooperation between federal ICE agents and state and local law enforcement.
According to the ICE website, the agreement takes its name from a section added to the Immigration and Nationality Act in 1996, authorizing “ICE to delegate to state and local law enforcement officers the authority to perform specified immigration officer functions under the agency’s direction and supervision.”
The Department of Homeland Security website states that the agreement allows for federal funds to help pay the officers’ salaries and overtime during ICE training. Under the program, local law enforcement can ask about individuals’ immigration status during routine interactions, such as traffic violations, and can investigate the immigration status of detainees in the jail system.
Participation in the 287(g) program is voluntary and, in Hamilton County, is determined by a memorandum signed by the sheriff. According to the Tennessee Department of Safety & Homeland Security website, Hamilton County is one of 44 out of 95 Tennessee counties that are part of the program.
Sheriff defends participation in federal partnership
In an interview with WDEF News 12, Hamilton County Sheriff Austin Garrett said that his main priority with endorsing a jail-based 287(g) program is to keep the residents of Hamilton County safe from undocumented immigrants.
“Some people are here for the American dream,” Garrett said. “Some people are here to cause a nightmare. There’s poison flowing into this country, across the board, from not just coming out of Mexico. It’s coming from all kinds of places, but it’s coming across the board. I’m going to do what the people of this county elected me to do, and I’m going to work to keep them safe.”
Garrett also stated that police officers in the county will be making arrests.
“You’re going to see your sheriff assisting with making arrests on some of those people that are here illegally and committing crimes,” Garrett said. “We’re going to work to get them out of this county.”
Organizers mobilize turnout ahead of the meeting
Days prior to the commission meeting, the organization Chattanoogans in Action for Love, Equality and Benevolence (CALEB), a community nonprofit, posted the time and location of the meeting to its Instagram account, with a call for community members to attend and “tell decision makers to end Hamilton County’s 287(g) agreement with ICE.”
In an interview with the Accent, Michael Gilliland, organizing director of CALEB, said the call was put out nationwide, specifically from partners in Minnesota.
“We’re a part of a national network called the Gamaliel network that has partners and partnering organizations in Minnesota that are on the front lines of what’s going on—the travesty and the attack on immigrant communities,” Gilliland said.
In response to CALEB and other organizers, over 150 people attended the meeting or waited in the lobby while 15 individuals presented their thoughts to the Commission. To accommodate the number of people present, the Commission agreed to extend the usual 10 minutes for community speakers to 25 minutes.
“I love to see this kind of a crowd here about an issue,” said Commissioner David Sharpe.
Commissioner Ken Smith agreed and emphasized the commissioners’ desire to connect with their engaged constituents.
“I would love to see more people and more involvement and more engagement directly in these meetings,” Smith said. “Don’t let this be the only opportunity to engage with this body. Everybody up here is accessible.”
Attendee Emma McDonell said that, for her, success at the meeting meant gaining increased transparency from city commissioners about their future actions.
“At this moment, we don’t even know where these individual commissioners stand,” McDonell said. “I want to know what their positions are, and I want them to demonstrate to us that they are listening, that they are taking clear steps to end this agreement.”
Overflow crowd listens from lobby
After officials said the room had reached its established capacity of 163 persons, about 10 minutes before the meeting was scheduled to begin, more than 45 of the attendees were asked to wait outside the commission room during the meeting. The heavy wooden doors prevented those outside from hearing most of what went on inside.
Despite the setback, a majority of the attendees stayed outside and tuned in to the meeting livestream with their cellphones. Ranging from retirees to parents with infants, they clustered around their cellphone speakers with their neighbors, leaning close to hear above the chatter and bursting into cheers and applause when the presenters inside the doors made their most effective statements.
Families and community members show solidarity
Rachel Fortin, one of those outside the commission room, said that she came that day to be more informed and to represent those community members concerned about ICE’s actions. Fortin, who was born in Minnesota, said she felt a personal connection to the issue of ICE involvement because of events happening there.
“I’m worried about [ICE’s] accessibility to information, their lack of training, their lack of accountability and, overall, their willingness to be violent and act with very little oversight,” said Fortin. “I’m hearing and seeing what’s happening to my friends and family who still live [in Minnesota] and wanting to represent that pain and solidarity here in Chattanooga.”
Several of the attendees at the event were young children or infants with their parents. Abby Phillips, a local ICU nurse, said she brought her 2-year-old daughter to similar events, including city councils, association meetings and other local protests.
“Raising the next generation to care about others and their greater community is very important,” Phillips said. “I’m just trying to show her a living example of what it looks like to be invested in and care about others, especially people who might not look like us or have the same privilege that we do.”
