Thread: TN Supreme Court to decide role of Nashville sheriff's office in immigration

TN Supreme Court to decide role of Nashville sheriff's office in immigration

Immigration enforcement is at heart of lawsuit

2:36 AM, Jan. 30, 2012
Written by
Brandon Gee
The Tennessean

The future role of the Davidson County Sheriff’s Office is in the hands of the Tennessee Supreme Court, which has been asked to weigh in on a federal lawsuit that challenges the authority of the department to enforce federal immigration law.

Five decades after Nashville and Davidson County adopted a consolidated government, a definitive decision from the Supreme Court could help put to rest persisting questions about how much the Metro Charter limits the powers of the local sheriff.

Nashville immigration attorney Elliott Ozment filed a lawsuit in January 2011 on behalf of individuals affected by a partnership between the Davidson County Sheriff’s Office and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that allows the sheriff to investigate the immigration status of jail inmates and determine whether to turn them over for federal deportation proceedings.

Ozment argues that the 287(g) program, as it is known, violates the 1963 Metro Charter, which stripped the sheriff’s office of most of its law enforcement powers but left it in charge of Nashville’s jails. Ozment also relies on a 1964 Tennessee Supreme Court decision that found the Metro Charter exclusively vested criminal law enforcement duties in the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department.

Davidson County Sheriff Daron Hall declined an interview request. In an email, however, a sheriff’s office spokeswoman reiterated what Hall has already said, that “He believes we have the authority because we operate the jails and the 287g program agreement we have is the jail model.”

U.S. District Judge Kevin Sharp decided to put the case on hold and has asked the Tennessee Supreme Court to weigh in on whether the Davidson County Sheriff’s Office’s 2009 memorandum of agreement with ICE violates the Metro Charter. Sharp wrote in court documents that an answer to that question is necessary to decide the case and that the state’s Supreme Court, rather than himself, is the appropriate authority to answer it.

“The court has decided to certify the question after considerable thought, believing certification to be particularly appropriate in this case because an answer to the state law question will determine whether correctional officers in Nashville and Davidson County are lawfully performing immigration enforcement duties, and whether many local citizens who enter the jail system are subjected to unlawful investigations,” Sharp wrote.

Previously dumped

Ozment hopes the move will help put to rest a case that already was transferred from state to federal court and crossed the desk of two other federal judges who dumped the case before it reached, and stuck with, Sharp.

“I thought that was good because, regardless of how it comes out, it will serve as the state’s highest court’s ruling on the matter,” Ozment said. “And that will save years and years of appeals” in the federal court system.

Metro lawyers did not respond to an email seeking comment on the case.

It will be up to the state Supreme Court justices to decide whether to answer only the narrow question of whether Hall’s partnership with ICE violates the charter or take the opportunity to more broadly proscribe the powers of Nashville’s sheriff for future guidance.

Sharp will reopen the case in U.S. District Court once he gets an answer back from the state Supreme Court, but he already has signaled in filed opinions that its answer essentially will decide the case.

Contact Brandon Geeat 615-726-5982 or bgee@tennessean.com. Follow him on Twitter at @bsgee

TN Supreme Court to decide role of Nashville sheriff's office in immigration | The Tennessean | tennessean.com

287(g) Program Lawsuit Headed To State Supreme Court

Posted: Jan 31, 2012 6:13 AM PST Updated: Jan 31, 2012 6:24 AM PST

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The ability of the Davidson County Sheriff's Office to check immigration status is headed to the State Supreme Court.

287(g) allows deputies to check the immigration status of inmates. But immigration attorney Elliott Ozment argues the sheriff's office can't enter into that agreement, because the agency gave up law enforcement powers in 1963.

Sheriff Daron Hall said it's about Metro's by-laws, not 287(g).

Under the Metro charter, the sheriff's office is responsible for the jail, while Metro police are responsible for law enforcement.

287(g) Program Lawsuit Headed To State Supreme Court - NewsChannel5.com | Nashville News, Weather & Sports