Updated May 8, 2025, 9:09 p.m. ETThe Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition conducted a news conference highlighting the experiences of impacted family members amid an ongoing operation in Nashville from ICE and THP.Impacted family members and leaders allege racial profiling played a role in the arrests, as opposed to criminal activity.Detainees were reportedly taken to out-of-state facilities and likely waived their rights to a hearing, reported TIRRC.Ingrid Martinez planned to have breakfast with her mother on May 5, but her mother never showed. Soon, Martinez learned her mother was arrested as part of a massive immigration enforcement operation this week that caught the wider Nashville community off guard.Officials informed Martinez shortly after her mother's arrest that she was en route to a processing center in Louisiana.Martinez thinks racial profiling played a role in her mother's arrest."My mom isn't a criminal. She serves her church; she takes care of her grandkids," said Martinez through tears. "I don't know how she can be seen as a criminal."Martinez’s mother is among 60-plus detainees whom the Tennessee Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition identified amid an unprecedented immigration enforcement traffic sweep in greater Nashville this week.The coalition organized a news conference May 8 to raise the alarm about a joint operation between U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Tennessee Highway Patrol that began May 4. The magnitude and speed at which the federal and state agencies have arrested individuals under questionable pretenses have both shocked and sobered dozens of Nashville families.Martinez and Patricia Rocha are some of those family members who spoke up through the news conference. Staff for the Tennessee Immigration & Refugee Rights Coalition read a statement authored by Rocha, whose sister was arrested in this week’s ongoing traffic sweeps. Rocha’s family has lived in the Nashville area since 1992. "Like many other Hispanics, we came in search of a better quality of life; some fled their countries due to danger or discrimination," Rocha said in her statement. "Unfortunately, the Hispanic community is under attack." Lisa Sherman Luna, executive director for the Nashville-based immigrant rights coalition, called out the law enforcement agencies for racial profiling and doing so without citing criminal statutes to warrant their action. “I’m not going to mince words. ICE, the Tennessee Highway Patrol and government officials are terrorizing our communities,” Luna said. “They are kidnapping our people off the street based on nothing but the color of their skin.” Detained out of state, potentially waiving rights to a hearing In addition to the legal basis of the immigration enforcement operation this week, the community groups and leaders are concerned about the circumstances of peoples' detentions. City officials requested additional information about where people are being detained in a letter earlier this week. Then, the Tennessee Immigration & Refugee Rights Coalition and four other legal services providers authored a similar letter to an ICE field office director in New Orleans.It's likely ICE has taken some of the people to a detention facility in Louisiana, said Allen King, the coalition's legal services director. King’s team has identified 62 detainees through calls to the organization's legal services hotline. There have been more than 850 calls to that hotline this week, and most have been related to the recent mass traffic sweep, King said.“This is a rapidly evolving situation, and we are working hard to identify and locate the dozens and dozens of Nashvillians who have been literally taken from our streets and whisked away to detention centers out of state,” King said. “This is akin to a mass casualty event or a natural disaster.” The Department of Homeland Security on May 8 said that the Tennessee Highway Patrol had made 468 traffic stops and that ICE had detained 94 of those stopped. The department said several with criminal backgrounds had been arrested.It’s likely some of those whom ICE and Tennessee Highway Patrol detained have waived their rights to a hearing, King said."Despite legal status, we have contributed greatly to this city's development. Some people think immigrants are criminals, that we steal jobs," Rocha said in a statement. "On the contrary, many of us are business owners who create jobs." In a display of solidarity with Martinez and Rocha, other families printed out photos of loved ones who were arrested in this week’s traffic sweep. The Tennessee Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition posted those photos on a billboard with descriptors signifying how those individuals are parents, grandparents, siblings and colleagues of Nashville area residents. “It’s more important than ever that we listen to the voices of those affected, that we lift up their stories,” Luna said. “Neighbors are all languishing in immigration detention center because of the color of their skin.” Diana Leyva covers trending news and service journalism for The Tennessean. Contact her at Dleyva@gannett.com or follow her on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, at @_leyvadianaLiam Adams mostly covers religion for The Tennessean, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at ladams@tennessean.com or on social media @liamsadams.