ICE Detains Venezuelan Lyft Driver at Nashville Airport in Early Morning; Rideshare Drivers Avoid BNA Today
In the early hours of October 22, a video purporting to show two U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents detaining a driver outside a terminal at Nashville International Airport (BNA) spread online, sparking panic among local rideshare drivers, many of whom decided to avoid airport pickups that day.
Joseph Hill, co-chair of the Tennessee Drivers Union, said drivers are 'very angry,' calling the detention an intimidation tactic, but that it 'will only make drivers more determined.' The union has been organizing protests at BNA over low pay and poor working conditions; after the incident, many drivers spontaneously decided not to take airport trips that day. 'At 4 a.m., a driver was detained by ICE while dropping off a passenger in the BNA arrivals area,' Hill said.
According to the immigrant rights organization Music City Migra Watch, the detained man is a Venezuelan national who drives for Lyft in Nashville and works part-time as a barber; he was detained at about 4:40 a.m. while dropping off a passenger, and his vehicle was then driven to an ICE field office; the man has a pending asylum application. The video was first published by the Spanish-language outlet Nashville Noticias, after which calls and messages poured in from drivers — some had witnessed the detention, others worried 'this won't be the last time.'
BNA officials referred The Tennessean's request for comment to ICE, which had not responded by publication.
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 纳什维尔国际机场航拍 / Aerial view of Nashville International Airport — Cbreland, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
