On April 15, 2024, the Immigrant/Hispanic communities gathered to march in protest of TN HB2124/SB2576. The new law effective 07/01/2024 will require law enforcement agencies to communicate with ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement), regarding any individual they encounter, without exception. TN HB2124/SB2576
I watched the video of Session-55th Legislative Day dated 03/25/2024 where Amendment 1 was filed by Senator Neide Campbell (D) from Nashville-District 20 requesting an exception for victims of Human Trafficking, Sexual Assault, and Domestic Violence because without the amendment it will result in less reporting of crime to law enforcement agencies if there is no protection for crime victims. The amendment was tabled (set aside without being voted on).
Moving forward to what happened after the protest of April 15th and after Hispanic community members sent a letter (see below) to the City of Memphis Mayor Paul Young. Since then, they already met with Mayor Young and Chief Davis from the Memphis Police Department. I spoke to Sandra Pita, an activist, and representative of the Hispanic Community who participated in that meeting. She said that in the meeting Chief Davis mentioned that their main interest is that members of the Hispanic community continue reporting crimes because they don’t want the community to stop reporting crimes for fear of the TN HB2124/SB2576, and mainly the MPD is here to protect our community. Later, Mayor Young held a press conference with the Spanish media, and unfortunately, Chief Davis wasn’t present.
Manuel Duran, an investigative journalist, and owner of Memphis Noticias was present at the press conference, and from the article he wrote Mayor Young said: “We do not want our Hispanic community to hesitate to report crimes. “We want to make sure that all residents feel safe and secure, so we will do everything we can to continue to build that trust and that relationship between our officers and the Hispanic community,” Memphis Noticias article
I agree with Manuel when he mentions: “Although it remains to be seen the behavior of the police agencies in charge of enforcing the laws in each jurisdiction, how they are going to implement this law, which according to community organizers would harm the undocumented community in Memphis and its surroundings.” Many police departments, including the MPD, continue to perpetuate biases, racial profiling, discrimination, and ongoing civil rights violations against Hispanics/Immigrants, including violations of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which provides that recipients of Federal financial assistance are not allowed to discriminate based on race, color, or national origin. Protection against national origin discrimination includes discrimination based on the inability to speak, read, write, or understand English.
I have come across officers who think Immigrants have no rights, including civil rights because they are “illegals”. First of all, no human being is illegal. A person may not have a legal status, which is a very different concept. Many officers are unaware that not providing proper language access to Limited English Proficiency (LEP) people is a violation of civil rights. From a Q&A response from the American Bar Association in Immigrant Civil Rights: “Civil Rights in the United States includes protections for everyone- Americans, visitors, immigrants”. Anyone regardless of citizenship, residency or immigration status can “have” Civil Rights in the United States as they are protected under the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.”
Currently, in the Hispanic/Immigrant communities, there are more crimes than those being reported. We have clients who have moved out to another city/state because they were traumatized by how they were treated by police officers. Others have said that not even if their lives were at risk they will ever call the police again. I met with Chief Davis in 2021, and with Mayor Young in 2023. They are both aware of the discrimination our clients and members of the Hispanic/Immigrant communities face when they reach out for police help at a time when their lives are at risk.
I am concerned because officers who perform racial profiling and other discriminatory practices may use this new law HB2124/SB2576 against vulnerable Hispanic/Immigrant community members, including victims of violent crimes. Proper information must be disseminated to MPD officers, especially on civil rights.
Gabby Salinas, a candidate for TH House 96 participated in the above-mentioned march and she said “she had never seen anything like the police response to the march. The immigrant community is already apprehensive about law enforcement, she said and can become targets of crime because people know immigrants often carry cash and are less likely to report crimes to the police. This new state law likely will exacerbate that issue, Salinas said. Immigrants fear racial profiling and that even minor interactions with law enforcement will lead to being turned over to federal immigration authorities.” MLK50 article
How do Mayor Young and Chief Davis expect Hispanic/Immigrant victims not to be afraid and report crimes when there are anti-immigrant biases and discriminatory practices against Hispanics/Immigrants before this new law is effective? What will they do to encourage and support Hispanic/Immigrant victims to report crimes? What’s Mayor Young’s plan when he says: “We will do everything we can to continue to build that trust and that relationship between our officers and the Hispanic community.”? Are they working on an action plan? Maybe too many unanswered questions for a Monday morning, right?
