CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – Federal paperwork shows that the Department of Homeland Security has awarded a $63 million contract to operate an ICE call center in the 37010 ZIP code, according to Clarksville Now news partner WKRN-News 2.
The 37010 ZIP code stretches from the east side of Montgomery County, north of Interstate 24, into Robertson County and the town of Adams. The contract does not specify a location past the ZIP code. Local leaders in Montgomery and Robertson Counties told News 2 they were unaware of the federal property being purchased.
Montgomery County Commissioner David Harper told Clarksville Now his understanding is that it would be a call center. “I would be opposed to any ICE call center in District 15. We don’t think it fits, because it would be a business use right in the smack of residential and farmland. We don’t know obviously what the story would be, but that would be my first take on it.”
Montgomery County Mayor Wes Golden was also unaware of what was being planned. “While I agree with enforcing our laws, we need more information about what is being proposed and how it could impact our community,” Golden said.
The online contract states that a corporation out of Alaska was awarded the contract to operate the “national coordination center.” Clarksville Now has reached out to that company, named Koniag Government Services, for comment.
Adams City Manager Anna Redfern told News 2 she was not aware Adams was being considered; neither was Property Assessor for Robertson County Chris Traughber. He said, to his knowledge, there is no federally owned property in Adams. They both said their planning and zoning departments have not received any paperwork.
A similar situation unfolded in Lebanon in February. Local leaders were unaware of ICE’s plans to build a massive detention facility there until after News 2 uncovered the plans. ICE eventually withdrew those plans.
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Immigrant rights advocate statement
The Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition issued the following statement to News 2:
“Tennessee is ground zero for this administration’s insidious attempt to embed immigration enforcement in all facets of our everyday life. This legislative session we saw Stephen Miller’s rubber-stamped agenda of trying to demand proof of citizenship to sign a child up for school or life-saving medical care; the state has now mandated cooperation between local law-enforcement and immigration enforcement, and they sent a federal occupation of ICE and the National Guard to the city of Memphis to terrorize our streets.
“Now they’re trying to set up shop in Middle Tennessee to facilitate this terror on a massive scale, taking thousands of calls a day to help prop up collaboration between local law-enforcement and ICE, arrangements that separate families, erode public safety, and harm all of our communities. The outsourcing agreements facilitated by this operation widen the deportation pipeline, exacerbate rampant racial profiling, further aggravate the over policing and criminalization of everyday life, drain taxpayer dollars, and position law enforcement as permanently oppositional to immigrant communities. Make no mistake, ICE’s plans to expand staff and physical space into middle Tennessee are part of a nationwide assault on our communities, friends, families, and neighbors.”
Christian Brown contributed to this report.
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