Davidson County Sheriff Daron Hall was a guest speaker for a white supremacist group that condemns immigration, warns against interracial relationships and works to preserve the country's "cultural and racial integrity."

Hall spoke about his department's 287(g) program, which allows deputies to help enforce federal immigration law, at a Nov. 22 dinner of the Council of Conservative Citizens held at a Piccadilly Cafeteria. A member of the group's steering committee said Hall is the only elected official who has addressed the Middle Tennessee chapter in recent history.

Hall said he didn't know anything about the group's views and thought it was no different from the many other local organizations that request him as a guest speaker. There were about 20 people at the meeting, and there was nothing abnormal about them, he said.

"To be honest, I had no idea," Hall said. "The person doing the scheduling for me had no reason to believe that this was such a group. I regret that we didn't know. I surely don't want that reputation."

The sheriff's appearance came to light late Thursday from a posting on the Southern Poverty Law Center's Hatewatch blog. The center subscribes to hate group publications, including the Citizens' Informer, and posts news from them.

The Council of Conservative Citizens' newsletter said, under Hall's leadership, "4,000 illegal aliens have been removed from the streets of Davidson County, thus reducing crime. The meeting drew the largest attendance in
12 years, with many youth in attendance."

Hall's presence at the council's function is "shocking" and raises questions about his motives regarding the immigration program, said Elliott Ozment, a Nashville immigration lawyer who was dismissed from the sheriff's 287(g) advisory council after raising objections to the program. Ozment is representing a Mexican national arrested under the program who was shackled during labor, a practice the sheriff's office discontinued.

"This incident calls for some serious accounting of his conduct," Ozment said. "It calls into question the integrity of the entire program."

Hall defends record

Hall, who first was elected sheriff in 2002, said he receives numerous requests to speak about the immigration program. Last year, Hall said, he had at least one speaking engagement per week.

"I've worked hard my entire life to build relationships with diversity," Hall said. "Remember, I'm an elected Democrat, and I did not want to just talk to Democrats. I saw 'conservative' in the title and didn't think anything about it."

Hall should have done his homework before speaking to the group, said the Rev. David Ostendorf, director of the Center for New Community, a Chicago-based national organization that tracks hate groups.

"Any politician should check," Ostendorf said. "Any politician who doesn't is not being responsible to the public. As an elected official, you should know that or take the risk. I'm sorry, there's enough information out there."

Hall asked to join the 287(g) program, which allows the sheriff's office to check the immigration status of jail inmates, after an illegal immigrant with multiple drunken-driving arrests killed two people in a head-on collision. But a Tennessean analysis of arrest reports since the program started in 2007 showed the vast majority of arrests were for minor traffic offenses. Critics say deputies abuse the program, and their time could be better spent.

Robert Lee, a member of the Middle Tennessee group's steering committee, made the request for Hall's appearance. Lee wrote in an e-mail that the Council of Conservative Citizens has the right to invite public officials.

"We feel that conservative political groups like the Council of Conservative Citizens are just as entitled to hear talks from elected officials as any other group," he wrote.

Lee, a member since the 1990s, wrote that the group was impressed with Hall and the immigration program. "… He did a fine job of explaining how it was implemented and how it works. … Enforcement of our immigration laws is especially relevant in tough economic times. Americans do not need job competition from illegal aliens."

Don Aaron, spokesman for Metro Nashville police Chief Ronal Serpas, declined to comment on Hall's guest appearance but said Serpas' staff researches the numerous local and national organizations that request his presence.

"It's also simply a way to formulate some thoughts when the engagement is accepted," Aaron said, adding that he had not heard about the group and didn't think Serpas has spoken to them.