DHS secretary praises local arrests, blames Nashville mayor for opposing ICE and vows more agents

Kristine Ulm, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, told reporters in Nashville that Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations in Tennessee and Kentucky have arrested people tied to international gangs and terror-designated groups and that the department will deploy more agents and resources to the region.

Ulm said the local office “oversees not just operations within Nashville, but also throughout Tennessee and Kentucky,” and highlighted recent arrests she described as tied to foreign terrorist organizations and gang networks. “We will bring more agents to Nashville. We will bring more resources to this state,” she said.

Ulm listed several arrests she said HSI Nashville had made: two Venezuelan nationals she tied to “Trond de Aragua” arrested in January on charges including promoting prostitution and evading arrest; a 35-year-old Venezuelan arrested in February on a homicide charge; a 33-year-old from El Salvador she identified as affiliated with MS-13 and the subject of an Interpol red notice; a 22-year-old Guatemalan charged with three counts of sexual exploitation of a minor and identity theft;…