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The Tennessee Conservative Staff –
Tennessee law enforcement agencies are seeing a rise in the number of illegal aliens being arrested and held for release to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Data from TRACreports.org shows that as of March 24, 2024, ICE was holding 36,931 individuals in custody. That number was at 47,892 as of March 24, 2025, an increase of almost 11,000.
Jails across Tennessee are seeing a similar increase in people who are arrested and held for release to ICE.
As of this same time last year, the Davidson County Sheriff’s Office had handed over 29 prisoners to ICE. This year, they have already transferred 126 prisoners.
According to Putnam County law enforcement, they have turned over 13 individuals to ICE this year, while they had none last year.
Sumner County jail officials say they do not have numbers for 2024, but they have sent 56 prisoners to ICE custody in 2025.
In East Tennessee, Knox County had 13 inmates currently on an ICE hold as of Friday.
Portland Police Chief Jason Arnold told WKRN, “We’ve got enough criminals that are U.S. citizens to deal with without other criminals coming in from other countries that aren’t even supposed to be here…. We’ve dealt with this for many years. People come into this country illegally, we have no idea who they are, and they come in here and commit crimes, and it’s very difficult. It makes our job a whole lot harder.”
