Anita Wadhwani - Tennessee Lookout:

>U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested 121 immigrants during a raid on the El Corralón nightclub in Memphis during the early hours of Sunday morning, according to a news release Tuesday by the Department of Homeland Security. 

>The release confirmed weekend reports of a large-scale raid by Memphis grassroots organization Vecindarios 901, whose volunteers photographed and videoed scores of nightclub-goers driven away in white vans from the club as onlookers shouted “shame on you” at law enforcement agents. The club is located in the city’s Berclair neighborhood, known for its high concentration of immigrant residents and immigrant-owned restaurants, grocery stores, bars and food trucks.

>“The operation resulted in the arrests of illegal alien offenders with criminal histories that include larceny, drug possession, domestic violence, driving while intoxicated, assault, child endangerment, and prostitution,” [the federal government’s news release said](https://www.dhs.gov/news/2026/09/01/more-120-illegal-aliens-arrested-memphis-nightclub). 

>The release included the mugshots of four men and one woman identified as “criminal illegal aliens” who were apprehended during the raid. The five individuals, collectively, had charges or convictions for larceny, drug possession, domestic violence, driving while intoxicated, assault, child endangerment and prostitution, according to the news release – all of the crimes listed in the government’s account of its arrests of 121 people at the nightclub.

>It is unknown whether the 116 other individuals detained had any criminal histories. 

>The arrests come as the Trump administration has increased ICE operations nationwide during the summer months after a drop in arrests that coincided with a backlash over its sustained immigration enforcement actions in Minneapolis that resulted in the shooting deaths of two people.

>In July, ICE made nearly 50,000 arrests nationwide, a steep jump from February’s nearly 30,000 arrests, [according to the Deportation Data Project](https://app.deportationdata.org/?agency=ice&dataset=arrests&tab=chart&s=eJxVyEEKgCAQQNG7_LWCGRTMZSRCrIWO1NQmunvr3vI93MjoOG0xhFWvZjhsrxmharMNR8mKkFLTllPCUY7-j9oRYoiTD7MPA-8HyCwaJQ), which compiles federal immigration data for public use that is obtained through Freedom of Information Act litigation. The data shows that more than three-quarters of the ICE arrests were individuals who had no criminal record.

>The weekend’s action in Memphis is among the largest immigration raids in recent Tennessee history. Earlier this year, between May 24 and May 31, the federal government reported [117 immigration arrests in Sevier County](https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/ice-enforcement-operation-smoky-mountains-leads-117-arrests) through a partnership between ICE and state and local law enforcement.

>In May 2025, ICE, in partnership with the Tennessee Highway Patrol, made 196 arrests during a weekend-long enforcement sweep in a predominantly immigrant south Nashville neighborhood.

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*Related:*

[**ICE detentions continue in Sevier County after Memorial Day operation**](https://www.reddit.com/r/tnvolunteers/comments/1trpahi/ice_detentions_continue_in_sevier_county_after/)

[**TIRRC sues Tennessee Highway Patrol over motorist stops, cooperation with ICE**](https://www.reddit.com/r/tnvolunteers/comments/1tjokdo/tirrc_sues_tennessee_highway_patrol_over_motorist/)

Marianna Bacallao - WPLN - April 2026:

# [Tennessee law enforcement will be required to partner with ICE](https://wpln.org/post/tennessee-law-enforcement-will-be-required-to-partner-with-ice/)

>Tennessee lawmakers have voted to mandate local law enforcement agencies across the state to partner with U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement as part of a push to aid the Trump administration’s immigration agenda.

>The measure is part of a legislative package from U.S. Homeland Security Advisor Stephen Miller and would require sheriff’s offices and police departments to sign a formal agreement with ICE under the 287(g) program, which deputizes local officers to act as ICE agents. [HB2219 / SB2223](https://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/BillInfo/Default?BillNumber=SB2223&GA=114) has a built-in expiration date after two years, from when it takes effect January 2027 to February 2029.

>Last year, the legislature began offering millions of dollars in incentives for local law enforcement to work with ICE. Since then, roughly half of Tennessee’s 95 counties have signed onto 287(g). Only two counties were enrolled before the governor’s [2025 omnibus immigration law](https://wpln.org/post/how-tennessees-governor-plans-to-help-with-trumps-mass-deportations/). The program is expected to cost local governments $1.2 million per year in training and personnel costs, according to state estimates.

>Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson, R-Franklin, said the cost shouldn’t be a problem. Of the $5 million the legislature set aside in incentives for the program, Johnson said only $160,000 has been used so far because participants also get money from the federal government to help with immigration enforcement.

>“There’s roughly $4.8 million left,” Johnson said, arguing Tennessee should take advantage of the Trump administration’s position on immigration. “We have an occupant in the White House who is actually doing something about the scourge of illegal immigration and securing the border,” Johnson said.

>Sen. Jeff Yarbro, D-Nashville, argued that a forced partnership could cost local governments in other ways. He pointed to the Davidson County Sheriff’s Office, which ended its agreement with ICE after a woman [spent several hours in labor while shackled in its jail](https://wpln.org/post/many-states-have-made-it-illegal-to-shackle-incarcerated-people-while-they-give-birth-could-tennessee-be-next/) under the program. The city agreed to a $490,000 settlement. “That ended up being a significant financial expenditure for the city,” Yarbro said. “The cities and counties are the ones who are open to that liability, not us.”

>**Sen. Brent Taylor, R-Memphis**, said that the deaths of civilians in Minneapolis at the hands of ICE agents could’ve been prevented if there was an existing 287(g) agreement to hold detainees on behalf of ICE. “We saw what happened in Minneapolis with that tragedy because the police didn’t hold them,” Taylor said. “They put them back out in the community where ICE had to endanger the community again to apprehend a second time.”

>Immigrant advocates have warned that the legislation will discourage immigrants from reporting a crime, even if they have legal status. “These collaborations erode community trust,” said Cesar Bautista with the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition. “When our neighbors and loved ones are afraid to report crime and abuse all of us end up less safe.”

>The Tennessee Sheriff’s Association testified that they were neutral on the bill, which now heads to the governor’s desk for his signature.

Homeland Security confirms 121 immigrant arrests in Memphis nightclub raid