More than 100 Tennessee faith leaders, including the Bishop of East Tennessee, Rt Rev Brian Cole, are calling for an end to county agreements allowing ICE to use local jails.
More than 5,000 people were detained in the county's jails on immigration matters over the past year, according to University of Tennessee research.
A new agreement signed this month expands co-operation between the county sheriff and ICE, allowing police to question and arrest people suspected of immigration offences.
The faith leaders said the state's new immigration laws “answer no genuine crisis of public safety”, but instead “deliberately construct a climate of fear whose logic is not the protection of this community but the racial targeting of a particular population of people within it, discrimination now given the force of law”.
The Revd R. J. Powell, of St Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Maryville, said: “From a theological perspective . . . this is a part of the fabric of who we are as Episcopalians.
“Looking at our baptismal vows, if we’re to ‘respect the dignity of every human being and seek justice and peace’, there’s no exception to who is included in ‘every human being’. It includes all people.”
The letter urges police not to arrest law-abiding immigrants.
“Where the choice remains yours, choose mercy,” the signatories said.
