US immigration and customs enforcement was filmed during a dragnet in South Nashville in May. (Photo: John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout)

A US immigration and customs enforcement agent attacked people a month ago when he dragged in a South Nashville neighborhood and detained nearly 200 people.

But it’s not the only place where federal agents are picking up immigrants for deportation. The Davidson County Sheriff’s Office confirmed Thursday that in 2025 283 inmates were released into ice custody. Especially higher than last year’s numbers.

Oddly, the sheriff’s office has no information on whether those inmates have legal documents found in the country. According to spokesman John Adams, the fingerprints collected during the booking process will be sent to the national database.

ICE contacts the sheriff’s office to request detainees, pick up inmates, and leaves many people released to federal custody to local agencies.

The Davidson County Sheriff’s Office has not participated in the 287(g) screening program for immigrant prisoners since 2012 stated that Sheriff Daron Hall was extremely successful and no longer needed. For five years, the department used the program to process more than 10,000 undocumented migrants from the country, according to a report by WPLN.

However, based on prison picks, Metronashville appears to be working with the Fed, despite hamming to Democrat Mayor Freddie O’Connell after Republican lawmakers raised concerns about the Nashville sweeping. Metro carelessly posted the names of the three ice agents, removed them, and O’Connell updated a long-standing executive order requiring that the mayor’s office be notified if he encounters a federal agent, including an ice agent. These moves promote Republican laws punishing governments that punish ICE agents with ID, and GOP leaders called on O’Connell to withdraw notification orders.

Tennessee GOP lawmakers are calling for investigation of Nashville Mayor in immigration detention

Since opting out of the program, the Sheriff’s Office no longer serves as an extension of the federal ICE program. However, based on the number of prison deportations, they have had quite a few encounters with federal agents.

Over the past few months, Republican leaders have repeatedly said that new laws are needed to eliminate undocumented criminals pose a threat to public safety.

But they have been going on for nearly 20 years.

Former President Barack Obama eliminated more than 4 million people and won him a moniker called “Chief Prime Minister.” Former President Joe Biden deported 271,000 immigrants in 2024. BBC Report. For the first four months of this year, the Trump administration has removed around 200,000 people from the country.

Based on these figures, undocumented immigrants are not new and there are no deportations. Some people cause more confusion than others.

I’m about to get off the radar

Tennessee State University smashed the ground in two academic buildings at Agriculture University on Thursday, but historically black universities remain under micromicroscopes.

As part of the agreement signed with state leaders last week, the university must meet several financial requirements to shift from its 2022 capital grant to campus operations over the next three years.

Tennessee has signed a financial management agreement with the state

In addition to preparing quarterly reports to the Tennessee Legislature, Secretary and the Financial Management Board, TSU must meet deficit reduction goals, reduce annual costs, correct state audit results, come up with space use and real estate plans, and find the number of registrations that cannot be processed without breaking in.

State officials have reached an agreement with TSU and interim president Dwayne Tucker after ousting former president Glenda Glover and replacing the board in 2024.

TSU and Glover captured the rage of Republican senators. When the university launched an active scholarship program following the community pandemic, it sought the final approval to lease apartments for student housing. The university used federal grants to fund the scholarships, which then ran out of money.

Last year, state leaders have micromanaged unpaid Tucker and university money to put TSU on a stronger financial footing.

The estimated $90 million building for Food and Animal Science and Environmental Science programs supports the university’s academic, research and agricultural expansion mission.

“This project highlights the state’s continued trust in our university and the strength of the land grant mission,” Tucker said in a statement.

Republican senators have consistently said that they have always hoped that TSU will succeed, but have not shown confidence in the administration until last few months. State officials allowed TSU to enter into $250 million in capital financing last fall.

State investigations have found TSU shorted up to $500 million over decades, but the university has shorted over $2 billion, according to a federal report, which has rejected by Republicans. Either way, TSU has been fighting finances for years. Even if state investigations find fraud, they struggle to balance the book and resolve audit results.

State Secretary Jason Mumpowar, one of Glover’s biggest critics, said he has confidence in Tucker. After signing the recent memorandum, Mumpower told the interim president that “efforts are now underway.”

The question is whether they can fix decades of lack of funding, bad management, and neglect in the parts of which many people are in high positions.

Cepicky’s Pick

Republican state Rep. Scott Sepicky said in a podcast this week that he has chosen House Speaker Cameron Sexton to win the district seat in the seventh Congress, which is expected to be vacant by Rep. Mark Greene.

“The wildcard here is Sexton,” Cepicky said in Columbia production company Three Men. He added that his “gut sensation” wins when Sexton enters.

Sexton’s office consistently declined comment, but he is expected to make a big announcement in August.

Green announced his decision to leave the second post when he voted for the president’s budget plan.

Cepicky declined to comment on the observation deck on Thursday on whether Sexton told him he was running for the post.

The forecast has been somewhat tempered as Cepicky said Senator Bill Powers could become a strong candidate despite the announcement that he would not run last week.

While Sexton’s potential candidacy has been stolen, former Tennessee General Services Board of Directors Matt Van Epps announced this week that Nashville car dealership giant Lee Beeman and his wife Julie will be co-chairs of his 7th District Campaign.

Beeman also served as treasurer for U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles’ first campaign when he submitted a report from the Federal Election Commission and reported that he had raised far less money than he originally claimed. The FBI was investigating him, but Trump crushed the investigation when Ogles came to his defense.

Beaman is also the sole donor of $50,000 to volunteers at Freedom PAC, putting $24,000 into backing Ogles for advertising purchases, raising questions about the illegal adjustments between the campaign and the PAC.

AI arguments

State Sen. Bo Watson joined Republican lawmakers across the country, urging Congress not to approve a 10-year suspension on the Artificial Intelligence Act as part of the president’s budget bill.

Watson, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, is determinedly opposed to state and local government bans regulating artificial intelligence systems, models and decision-making systems because of measures of child online safety, consumer protection, transparency and accountability, and “generative AI harm,” building social bias in data and stealing potentially sensitive personal data. (This is hurting my brain.)

Watson has invoked new Tennessee laws that hinder “deepfakes” and Elvis laws. This will protect artists from infringement of their voices and images in a Thursday webinar with lawmakers across the country oppose the federal ban. The moratorium withholds broadband funds in exchange for doing nothing.

“For an administration that has really focused on bringing authorities back into the state, this is one aspect of this law that I am extremely disappointed in,” said Watson, a member of the state council, which oversees AI policy.

Watson, a Republican of Hixon, says Congress is so slow to act that the state will “fight” the outcome before addressing issues caused by AI.

“That’s why it’s so important to remove this part of the bill,” Watson said, and states are permitted to work with the federal government in AI laws.

It may not be the only rough part of federal law.

The legislature is also considering reducing Medicaid spending that could lead to loss of Tennessee’s Tencare program $16 billion in federal fundsbrother of former Tennessee Rep. Rick Tillis, according to North Carolina Sen. Tom Tillis.

Tennessee’s pending potential budget buster comes with a massive increase in national spending for ice and border patrols, and an overall rise that even former Doge manager Elon Musk opposes.

This proposed expansion of federal control over AI is consistent with national deportation efforts despite opposition in many states, and updates the debate of old state rights that appears to have rested 160 years ago. Some people hope that the state will win only when politically convenient, and present a bit of a contradiction.

“We arrived at our little hometown jam, so they placed a rifle in my hand / sent me to a foreign land / Killed and killed Yellowman.” *

*”Bruce Springsteen, born in the US