Editor’s note: This article contains inaccurate information.
The statement “The Sheriff’s office notifies ICE when it arrests an undocumented immigrant, Marchesoni said. If ICE expresses interest, the Sheriff’s office transfers the individual into ICE custody,” is incorrect.
The Sheriff’s Office does not transfer the individual into ICE custody. When a foreign-born person is arrested and booked into the Rutherford County Adult Detention Center, the Sheriff’s Office notifies ICE, and ICE may then place a hold on that person.
Witnessing Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detain people outside a Walmart parking lot left Anna Salinas Seaman with an indescribable fear.
Despite having all her documents, Seaman, an international student and MTSU Student Government Association senator, said she fears that her accent or appearance could lead to her detention.
“As an international student, I feel deeply intimidated by ICE operations, even though I have all of my documents in order,” Seaman said. “I know racial profiling is a thing and that has been something that I’ve never thought I would experience in my life, but now it is something I’m very prone to.”
ICE operations have taken place in Tennessee since last May amid President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. Though not new, the federal organization has become a focal point of Trump’s second term.
Tennessee is one of the 40 states participating in ICE’s 287(g) Program, with over 40 counties enrolled, including Rutherford County, which joined last August. The program, founded by Congress in 1996, gives local and state officials the authority to carry out some ICE officer functions under ICE’s guidance and direction.
Lisa Marchesoni, Rutherford County Sheriff’s Public Information Officer, said the county participates in the Warrant Service program and has done so since 1996.
The Sheriff’s office notifies ICE when it arrests an undocumented immigrant, Marchesoni said. If ICE expresses interest, the Sheriff’s office transfers the individual into ICE custody. After the individual finishes their sentence, ICE is notified again and has 48 hours to take them into custody. If ICE does not respond within that time, the office releases the individual.
In 2025, the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office transferred 402 undocumented immigrants into ICE custody, and 51 as of January 2026, according to Marchesoni.
In Tennessee, from January to December 2025, local law enforcement submitted 11,344 reports documenting the arrest of undocumented immigrants.
Nashville, Tennessee and Memphis, Tennessee, were among the biggest cities statewide in which ICE conducted operations in 2025. Of the 5,667 individuals ICE arrested in Tennessee since January 2025, 59% had no criminal conviction, according to the Institute for Public Service Reporting.
What does this mean for Rutherford County?
Rutherford County is home to a diverse county with 11% of residents being born outside the U.S., and 13.3% identifying as Hispanic or Latinx, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Percentage of Hispanic and Latinx residents in Rutherford County districts
This diversity is reflected at MTSU, as about 11% of students identify as Hispanic or Latino, alongside more than 1,500 international students, according to MTSU.
Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office has participated in the same immigration program since 1996, but recent enforcement efforts have prompted varied reactions among MTSU’s International and Hispanic/Latinx students.
Seaman, who is among MTSU’s more than 1,500 international students admitted last fall, said that fears of detainment are shared among many of her international friends at MTSU.
“I have a lot of international friends, [and] we have shared similar concerns just because of what you see on the news, like immigrants that have a legal status in the country but they still get apprehended by the authorities,” Seaman said.
An MTSU student of Indian heritage, who wanted to remain anonymous due to safety concerns, said ICE can serve a purpose when done legally, but that its current practices differ from previous administrations.
“In the past, President Obama deported people, Clinton did, Bush did, it was respectable and with some dignity,” he said. “What it appears to be now is that ICE as an operation is no longer to protect people, but to harm people, harming American citizens.”
He also said that his inability to speak out for those affected by ICE operations from fear of consequences makes him feel less American.
“The sense of unease that African-American authors have felt over the centuries of feeling less than human, I feel it in myself,” he said. “I feel that right now, as somebody who grew up in a different place, though I have connections with the U.S. genetically.”
An MTSU student of Hispanic heritage, who also wished to remain anonymous due to safety concerns, said he believes ICE should be abolished.
“My view of ICE is, why does it exist?” he said. “ICE is not following what they’re saying on the news that they’re going after the bad guys. I disagree with ICE; they’re targeting the wrong people.”
He said that ICE operations have made America more dangerous and urged supporters of the agency to consider the experiences of immigrant families.
“Step [into] the family’s shoes,” he said. “Being in the same household with immigrants, they’re trying to live with what they have. Some families are risking everything to go out in public. They [immigrants] came to the United States for a better life, but I don’t see it as the land of the free.”
As of March 2026, there have been no ICE operations performed on MTSU’s campus, and MTSU police have not worked with the agency, according to MTSU police.
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