The Republican lawmaker from Tennessee is adamant that Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell’s management of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations should be looked into by the federal government and will not back down.
In an X post, Tennessee Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., said that he is officially asking all papers and communications from O’Connell’s office that have to do with his alleged protection of illegal immigrants. This request has the support of the House Judiciary Committee.
In particular, Ogles wants information about “the amendment of Executive Order 30.” He called this order “an outrageous directive” that said employees and first responders in Nashville had to tell the mayor about all interactions with federal immigration officials.
Ogles also said that he wants to see any internal conversations or documents that involve ICE enforcement actions in Nashville or Davidson County. He also wants to see all correspondence between Metro employees and affiliated nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that has to do with arresting or detaining criminal illegal immigrants in the city or county.
Ogles shared a video of his news with his post.
“We’ve heard it: the individuals that the mayor is standing with are murderers, rapists, drug traffickers, sexual predators, child traffickers…the list goes on,” he stated. “That’s why I’ll always support the law and ICE.” We the people have had enough, so I won’t just stand with ICE. I’ll stand in front of ICE.
“I choose my community, my state and my family over this type of nonsense, which is why, due to the remarks of Freddie O’Connell and the potential for aiding and abetting illegal immigration, the Homeland Security and the Judiciary Committees will be conducting an investigation into the mayor of Nashville, his conduct and whether or not federal dollars have been used in criminal enterprise,” Ogles said. “I’m not going to give up. I’m not going to give up, and I will always support the police. “I want my neighborhood and my country back.”
The news by Ogles comes 10 days after he sent a letter asking for an investigation into O’Connell. The Trump administration has said that O’Connell supports “pro-illegal policies.”
Fox News Digital asked O’Connell’s office for a comment on the matter, but they did not reply.
ICE officers working with the Tennessee Highway Patrol arrested almost 200 people earlier this month who the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said were illegal immigrants. Many of them were criminals with gang ties or other bad pasts.
Because of things he said in early May, O’Connell was singled out in a DHS news statement. “What’s clear today is that people who do not share our values of safety and community have the authority to cause deep community harm.”
WSMV4 reports that after the arrests, O’Connell signed an order to keep track of people’s contacts with federal immigration officials.
She also wrote the city a letter about the ICE raids.
“Our top priority is keeping people safe, and we’re deeply concerned that what appear to be federal actions are making that harder,” O’Connell said. “We learned overnight that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained people in Middle Tennessee while carrying out enforcement actions.” We want to be clear: No Metropolitan Nashville Police Department (MNPD) officers were involved in last night’s police action. This will change as we learn more.
Adding to that, he said that the city’s police department does not have federal immigration power and its officers are not trained to enforce immigration laws.
O’Connell also said that the police department can’t get to government databases that hold information on immigration.
“This type of federal enforcement action is not focused on making us safer and leaves people in our community fearing any interaction with law enforcement when there is a crime occurring,” he said. “We will be seeking the names of those detained.”
DHS said that the Nashville operation led to the arrests of a convicted child sex predator, a person accused of being a member of the violent Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, a person guilty of aggravated assault, and several illegal immigrants facing drug charges.
“The Nashville Mayor should want these criminal illegal aliens off American streets,” DHS said on X. “It is wrong to attack and make fun of our brave police officers. The number of attacks on ICE agents has gone up by 413%. The American people voted for President Trump’s promise to uphold immigration laws, and DHS is following through.