As a wife and a mother, Josefina spends a lot of her time worrying if her family will be torn apart at some point during the next four years. Josefina, who asked to use a pseudonym to avoid exposing her family to immigration authorities, is a Mexican immigrant who’s lived in Memphis since she was a child. She has a green card, and her children are U.S. citizens — but her husband is undocumented.
She worries that their mixed status could make them targets as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement expands arrest operations across the country due to the Trump administration’s anti-immigrant policies.
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“I am concerned, but I try not to let that get into my head. I mean, we’re going to be OK, right?” Josefina said. “My main concern is my husband.”
Her distress was validated last week when Tennessee’s Republican-controlled state legislature rushed to pass a bill designed to mandate local government support of anti-immigrant policies. Local public officials have offered little insight into how they will respond, leaving immigrants throughout Memphis to wonder how changes from the federal and state governments will impact their families.
Memphis Mayor Paul Young’s communications team told MLK50: Justice Through Journalism that the city does not currently plan to partner with ICE to carry out mass deportations. “Our police (department) is understaffed and has pressing issues to address,” Young said in a statement. The mayor refused to say if the city will make any proactive efforts to support Memphis’ immigrants, who make up more than 7% of the city’s population.
Vital hotlines
Vecindarios 901 runs a 24-hour hotline for people to report suspected immigration enforcement activity. Volunteers work around the clock to confirm hotline tips and notify the community via social media.
Call anytime: 901-329-7979
Freedom for Immigrants runs a national hotline for detained immigrants to report abuse at ICE detention centers, reconnect with family members and receive resources and information.
Call Monday through Friday 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. CT: 9233#
Because of the uncertainty, local grassroots advocacy organizations are stepping up to help people understand the impact of rapidly changing immigration policies and how they can best protect themselves. Lisa Sherman Luna, executive director of the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalitions, is encouraging immigrants to get connected with her organization and others like it and to “stay calm, but be prepared.”
“Rising authoritarianism is going to be ushered in on the backs of immigrants,” Luna said. “So our priorities over the coming six months to a year are to protect as many immigrant families who call Tennessee home as possible.”
Memphis has been home for Josefina, who works with a nonprofit organization, and her husband, who helps run a small business. They’ve built their lives in Shelby County, like the thousands of other immigrants who work jobs, attend schools, join churches and more.
“My mom brought me to America because she wanted a better opportunity for us,” Josefina said. “I always tell my children, same thing for you guys. We’re here. Your dad sacrificed to be here without his family for you guys to get a better life.”
Research shows immigration helps create a more thriving local economy, with immigrants contributing more than $4 billion to Memphis’ GDP, paying hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes and working 25% of all construction jobs — which help fuel the city’s revitalization and growth.
“I say to (my children), you are American. This is your country. This is all you know,” Josefina said.
Advocates respond to immigrants’ fears
There’s no way to determine someone’s citizenship or immigration status at a glance, so racial and ethnic profiling is expected to rise as targeted immigration enforcement increases, said Gillian Wenhold, a community organizer in Memphis and a staffer at Freedom for Immigrants. Wenhold and other organizers are encouraging families to create realistic, actionable safety plans.
“In the event that you are detained, how will you communicate with family? What would bond need to look like in the event that they try to put you on a (deportation) plane? Where do you go when you get off? Who do you have there,” Wenhold said. “It’s kind of like planning for the worst but also hoping for the best.”
MPD’s current policy states that officers are to only notify ICE if an undocumented immigrant is arrested and charged with a felony, a drug-related offense or a crime of “moral turpitude.” A public information officer for the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office said the department will follow all federal and state laws but wouldn’t say if it’s considering a partnership with ICE.
The response from local officials “is scary,” Josefina said. “It sounds like they are going to cooperate (with mass deportations), but they just don’t want to say it out loud.”
She and her family have already discussed what they’ll do if her husband is detained by ICE or another law enforcement agency.
“The plan is that if Dad gets deported, we all stay calm,” Josefina said. I’m going to have to leave. I don’t know for how long,” Josefina said. She’d take the youngest children with them and leave their older children, who are in college, under the care of their adult child.
Helping residents create a family safety plan is just one way people across the city are supporting local immigrants. Vecindarios 901, a grassroots immigrant support team in Memphis, hosts ‘know your rights’ training sessions where immigrants can learn how to interact with ICE or other law enforcement officials, prepare for arrests or deportations and protect themselves in the workplace.
In addition to community training, Vecindarios 901 also manages a 24-hour hotline where people can report local ICE sightings so volunteers can verify or disprove them before panic spreads.
“We need to recognize when people are afraid and when there are reasons to actually be,” said Federico Gomez, a grassroots community organizer. “What we’re trying to actually promote is that people don’t need to act on that fear.”
So far, Vecindarios 901 has confirmed at least one ICE arrest during a traffic stop in Grahamwood and verified at least one sighting of federal immigration enforcement officers in The Heights. Just north of Summer Avenue, the two neighborhoods are home to many immigrant families. There have been several other false reports that the organization has been able to debunk.
“Stay vigilant. That’s something that our movement ancestors would always tell us, so that’s what we have to do,” Vecindarios 901 community organizer Maria Oceja said during a Thursday evening press conference.
Vecindarios 901 is hosting upcoming trainings to get more community members involved in their rapid response network.
The Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition regularly hosts virtual statewide community calls about the state’s rapidly changing legal landscape and ‘know your rights’ webinars in English and Spanish.
Two local advocacy organizations, Latino Memphis and Su Casa Ministries, have partnered to host in-person events, though attendance has been relatively low, said Mauricio Calvo, executive director of Latino Memphis.
“That could be a signal of people not feeling comfortable, people being in a little bit of denial, people not knowing exactly what they’re going to need,” Calvo said.
Census numbers show at least 69,000 immigrants live in Shelby County, many of whom will need support as the immigration crackdown continues.
“If many organizations can be doing different parts of the work, then it becomes really something that supports the community,” Gomez said. “I think that we are living (in) a very unique moment, unfortunately for us.”
What’s in Tennessee’s immigration enforcement bill?
House Bill 6001 will make major changes to Tennessee’s immigration landscape, which could go into effect as soon as July 1.
- Create a Centralized Immigration Enforcement Division within the Tennessee Department of Safety & Homeland Security to oversee local immigration enforcement operations throughout the state.
- Allocate $5 million in grant funds for local governments that enter into ICE 287(g) agreements, which give local law enforcement agencies the power to operate as federal immigration enforcement officers.
- Make it a felony for elected officials to enact sanctuary policies to protect immigrants from targeted enforcement activities. Local officials who violate the law could be removed from office.
- Prevent lawful permanent residents from obtaining permanent driver’s licenses.
The ACLU of Tennessee promised to challenge the bill in court, in a statement describing the legislation as unconstitutional and authoritarian.
Brittany Brown is the public safety reporter for MLK50: Justice Through Journalism. Email her at brittany.brown@mlk50.com
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