The American Immigration Council, TIRRC, and researcher Meghan Conley have filed a lawsuit seeking transparency regarding ICE’s communications with local law enforcement about immigration enforcement records.
WASHINGTON, D.C., October 28, 2026 — The American Immigration Council, alongside the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC) and researcher Meghan Conley, has initiated a lawsuit aimed at uncovering information about the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) guidance to local police and sheriffs regarding the sharing of immigration enforcement records with the public.
Filed in Tennessee, the lawsuit seeks to obtain details about ICE’s instructions to state and local law enforcement agencies concerning the release of records requested under state transparency laws. The requested documents are expected to illuminate the directives ICE provides to local law enforcement when they receive public record requests related to their collaboration with federal immigration authorities.
According to the lawsuit, ICE has advised local police and sheriffs to consult with federal officials before disclosing certain records to the public, even when state laws mandate transparency. This practice raises significant concerns that ICE may be obstructing journalists, advocates, and the general public from understanding the nature of local police interactions with federal immigration enforcement.
In August, the plaintiffs submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to ICE for records detailing the agency’s instructions to state and local law enforcement. However, ICE has not produced the requested documents.
The lawsuit emerges at a time when ICE is increasingly collaborating with numerous police and sheriff departments nationwide to implement the Trump administration’s mass deportation agenda. This initiative has garnered growing disapproval from the public and has inflicted considerable harm on families and communities across the country.
Raul Pinto, deputy legal director for transparency at the American Immigration Council, emphasized the need for accountability: “As ICE works with more local police and sheriffs across the country, more people are going to have questions about what these partnerships mean for their communities. How is taxpayer money being spent? What role are local police officers playing in immigration arrests? How are people being treated in detention? The public deserves answers to these questions, and ICE shouldn’t be making it harder to get them.”
In Tennessee, the demand for transparency is particularly pressing. ICE has rapidly expanded its partnerships with local law enforcement throughout the state, establishing 163 agreements as of September 2026. This expansion has resulted in a four-fold increase in immigration arrests and detentions, predominantly affecting individuals without criminal records.
Spring Miller, Senior Legal Strategy Director at TIRRC, highlighted the human impact of these policies: “Families across Tennessee are living with the consequences of this horrific immigration crackdown. Longtime U.S. residents are being arrested in their neighborhoods, families are being separated, mothers pulled away from their children, and local police and sheriffs are playing a growing role in making it all happen. Tennesseans deserve to know what their local law enforcement agencies are doing and who is being affected. We can’t hold our government accountable if we can’t even get basic information about what’s happening in our communities.”
The outcome of this lawsuit could have significant implications for transparency and accountability in immigration enforcement practices, particularly in states like Tennessee where local law enforcement is increasingly involved in federal immigration actions.
For further details, refer to the original complaint filed by the plaintiffs.
According to American Immigration Council.
