Video of ICE incident surfaces

NASHVILLE — A new video surfaced on social media Thursday showing portions of conversations between Nashville police, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and a man the federal agents tried to arrest outside his home earlier this week.

The unidentified man and his 12-year-old son sat in a van in a Valley Grove community driveway for hours Monday morning as two ICE agents stood outside the vehicle attempting to arrest the father, who federal authorities said is a “convicted criminal alien ICE fugitive.”

The Movement Including X (MIX) Nashville — a local group with a team designed to quickly respond to ICE actions such as the one that unfolded in the neighborhood — responded to a home in the small working-class neighborhood after learning of the incident. The group released the footage it said was recorded by the father from inside a white panel van parked in his driveway on the eastern edge of the city.

“Let’s go” an ICE agent standing outside the driver’s side door of the van says in the nearly four-minute video.

“I’m waiting on my father,” the man responds as he sits in the van’s driver’s seat.

The agent then threatens to call Metro police if the man doesn’t get out of the van.

“We’ll just call the cops and they’ll arrest you, and then when they’re done with you in the jail, then we’ll get you,” the agent says.

The agents also threaten to come back for the man’s wife, in an effort to bait him to get out of the vehicle.

“What these videos show is that ICE called MNPD, long before the arrival of a crowd, to help them pressure this father and execute the arrest,” said Cathy Carrillo, who was at the scene Monday.

A woman taking another video at the scene tells uniformed Metro police and ICE agents dressed in civilian clothing and driving an unmarked car that the ICE agents lack the proper warrants to make an arrest.

“If you talk to me I can tell you how the entire process works,” the Metro police officer tells her.

“I know, I used to work for

an immigration attorney,” she responds.

“The issue is that he doesn’t have a valid license and they saw him drive,” the same police officer tells her.

“He’s parked in his vehicle,” the woman responds.

A statement provided by ICE spokesman Bryan D. Cox said the deportation officers had a removal order, but chose to leave without arresting anyone.

In the statement, ICE called the man a “convicted criminal alien ICE fugitive.” Cox said the man’s criminal history included only misdemeanor convictions.

Cox would not provide the man’s name because he is not in custody. Without his name, the USA Today Network-Tennessee could not independently verify the man’s criminal record or the details of the removal order.

As word of the predicament spread in the neighborhood and on social media, a crowd outside the van grew to include immigrant rights advocates and community leaders. Neighbors, working alongside MIX, also arrived volunteering to help the father and son.

Metro police, whose officials said officers had had no forewarning about the incident, became involved after a call for service was placed by an ICE agent who reported he needed unspecified assistance.

“When the police officers got there and assessed the situation, it was determined the only role for the police department would be to keep the peace,” police spokesman Don Aaron said.

Reach Natalie Neysa Alund at nalund@tennes sean.com and follow her on Twitter @nataliealund.