Thread: Groups join lawsuit to stop sheriff program

Groups join lawsuit to stop sheriff program
wkrn.com
Posted: Aug 23, 2011 12:11 PM EDT
AP

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Two rights groups have joined a Nashville attorney's lawsuit, seeking to stop the Davidson County Sheriff's Office immigration enforcement program.

The Southern Poverty Law Center and the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild have filed a brief in U.S. District Court in Nashville in support of a lawsuit by attorney Elliott Ozment, according to The Tennessean (http://bit.ly/oa6jI3). The lawsuit asks the court to stop the sheriff's office from screening incoming jail inmates for their residency status and flagging to immigration authorities any who are not legal residents of the U.S.

On Friday, Ozment asked the court for a ruling of summary judgment.

Ozment argues the sheriff's office lost its enforcement powers when the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County was formed in 1963.

Information from: The Tennessean, http://www.tennessean.com

http://www.wkrn.com/story/15316027/grou ... ff-program

SECURE COMMUNITIES

Twenty-one out of 95 counties in Tennessee — 22 percent — are part of Secure Communities as of March 8.

• June 17, 2010: Knox

• June 22, 2010: Hamilton and Shelby

• Aug. 10, 2010: Davidson

• Dec. 28, 2010: Anderson, Bedford, Blount, Bradley, Carter, Coffee, Greene, Hamblen, Jefferson, Madison, McMinn, Obion, Roane, Sevier, Sullivan, Warren and Washington

Source: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

The sheriff need not do any screening. He merely needs to perform the same function he always has, do a basic warrant check and send the finger prints to the FBI. It's the FBI that checks with ICE. The sheriff isn't instructing the FBI or ICE, to check immigration status.