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By J. Holly McCall | Editor-in-Chief

Good morning, Lookout readers:

Our top story today comes from Senior Reporter Anita Wadhwani and Reporter Adam Friedman.

President Donald Trump has made the detention and deportation of immigrants a priority of his second administration and as Wadhwani and Friedman report, arrests in Tennessee — as well as nationally — have surged.

Gov. Bill Lee and the Republican supermajority in the legislature have joined Trump, passing a slate of anti-immigration measures called “Immigration 2026,” including a new law requiring all 95 county sheriffs to enter into so-called 287(g) agreements to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

And despite promises to go after the “worst of the worst,” data shows that two-thirds of the immigrants arrested in Tennessee had no criminal record.

In a companion piece, Ariana Figueroa with States Newsroom reports how the federal government has allocated more than $31 billion to fund the 287(g) agreements across the country.

Also: Two days after Lee affirmed his support for Department of Correction Commissioner Frank Strada after the botched execution of Christa Pike, Lee accepted Strada’s resignation.

In other news from the campaign trail:

  • Bowling throws a curve ball. Heads exploded statewide on Saturday when conservative Sen. Janice Bowling, a Tullahoma Republican, made a video endorsing not Republican gubernatorial nominee U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn but independent candidate David Hatley. Expect Bowling to be stripped of her GOP bona fides this week and possibly ejected from the Senate Republican Caucus.

  • Beshear stumps for Molder. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, a likely candidate for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination, backed 5th Congressional District Democratic nominee Chaz Molder at a Saturday fundraiser in Nashville. The event raised in the ballpark of $120,000.

  • Deadline: Today is the deadline to register to vote in the Nov. 3 election.

THE LOOKOUT’S TOP STORY

Federal immigration agents prepare to enter a South Nashville apartment on April 28, 2026. Immigration detentions have surged across the nation and in Tennessee in President Donald Trump’s second term. (Photo: John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout)

Under Trump, immigration arrests and detentions surge in Tennessee

by Anita Wadhwani

The number of immigrant arrests and detentions multiplied nearly four-fold in Tennessee during President Donald Trump’s first year in office, compared to the final year of the Biden administration, according to data the Tennessee Lookout analyzed from the Deportation Data Project at U.C. Berkeley and U.C.L.A

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NEWS AND NOTES
FEATURED IN THE LOOKOUT

After the failed execution of Christa Pike, Tennessee Department of Correction Commissioner Frank Strada will resign, Gov. Bill Lee announced. (Photo: John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout)

After botched execution of Christa Pike, Tennessee correction chief steps down

by Anita Wadhwani

Tennessee Department of Correction Commissioner Frank Strada will step down, Gov. Bill Lee announced Saturday — three days after a botched execution attempt left Christa Pike on a ventilator in critical condition.

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FEATURED IN THE LOOKOUT

Emergency vehicles at Riverbend Maximum Security Prison in Nashville on Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026. The execution of death row inmate Christa Pike was halted nearly two hours after the state of Tennessee began the lethal injection protocol. (Photo by John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout)

by Michael Kiefer, Arizona Mirror

Before Frank Strada become correction commissioner in Tennessee, he oversaw executions in Arizona, where he was deputy corrections commissioner. Kit Thomas, an assistant federal public defender in Tennessee began to examine his record after a botched Tennessee execution in May 2026.

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ICYMI

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