Hundreds attend TIRRC forum on immigration, deportation process days after Hermitage ICE standoff

Correction: A previous version of this story misspelled Tennessee Immigration and Refugee Rights Coalition policy director Lisa Sherman-Nikolaus' surname.

Everything is going to be OK. Veronica Zavaleta said it would be. 

Zavaleta, a Nashville resident, business owner, mother and immigrant shared an emotional story at a forum held Thursday evening by the Tennessee Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC). 

Hundreds gathered in a small church in Green Hills to discuss national immigration law, the deportation process and what happened when two Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents tried to arrest a Nashville father on Monday. 

"I keep saying to my kids, every day, 'Everything is going to be OK.' But how is it going to be OK if I have to let them know my account number, if I have to make a document to sell my house if something happens to me? How is everything going to be OK?" she asked. "Well, it's going to be OK. Because I said so." 

Zavaleta's faith in her community was supported by the actions of Hermitage neighbors earlier this week. 

Approximately a dozen community members formed a human chain around a van to prevent federal agents from arresting a father and 12-year-old boy on Monday, spurring a national reaction and refocusing attention on immigration enforcement in Middle Tennessee. 

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'A turning point for our community'

TIRRC had planned the forum well before Monday's events, but policy director Lisa Sherman-Nikolaus said they brought the conversation to the front of everyone's minds. 

"This really is a turning point for our community. I'm feeling really hopeful and optimistic about today. It's clear that Nashvillians want to learn more about what they can do and what our city can do to protect our neighbors, our family and our friends," she said. 

Sherman-Nikolaus was joined Thursday by TIRRC's legal director Mary Kathryn Harcombe to explain the nuanced and often contradictory information surrounding immigration in the U.S. 

"These are incredibly complicated issues, there's a lot of misinformation and confusion out there," Sherman-Nikolaus said. "If nothing else, the people here today will go away at least understanding our values and that our city needs to do something."

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TIRRC recently launched a "Beyond Welcoming" policy platform initiative on which they hope to train community members and elected officials. 

According to the organization's numbers, Nashville's immigrant population is more than 12% of the total city, a proportion on par with the national average. 

"As our city grows, our city grows in diversity. It has some big tests," Sherman-Nikolaus said. "Here at the local level, we have to make it work. 

Beyond Welcoming is aimed at being a guide for the next Metro Nashville government, which will be selected in the upcoming Aug. 1 election. 

Included in the initiative is a push to limit what TIRRC calls the entanglement of local resources in federal immigration policing, such as the contract between ICE and the Davidson County Sheriff's Office.

The entanglement "hurts everybody," Harcombe said. 

Some people feel they cannot trust local law enforcement and worry that asking for help from government agencies will automatically lead to deportation, even situations where U.S. citizen children may be eligible for social programs, or when crimes have been committed.

"When our system is co-opted, it makes all of us less safe," she said. "It means a large class of people afraid to call the police if they're victims, if they're witnesses, if they should come forward with details of a crime.

"Government is there for a reason, and we all need to be able to access it."

For more information on Beyond Welcoming, visit www.tnimmigrant.org/beyondwelcoming.

Reach reporter Mariah Timms at mtimms@tennessean.com or 615-259-8344 and on Twitter @MariahTimms.