One month after Nashville officials turned over a trove of documents to two Congressional committees probing the mayor’s response to immigration raids, the workings of the federal investigations remain opaque.
Representatives of Republicans on the House Judiciary and Homeland Security Committees, including Tennessee Rep. Andy Ogles, have declined or ignored requests for updates and information.
A spokesperson for the Homeland Security Committee’s Democratic members said he was unaware of any ongoing investigation. “Democrats are not participating alongside Republicans,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mayor Freddie O’Connell has made no changes to a policy requiring the prompt reporting of all interactions between city employees and immigration officials that initially drew Republican ire.
“Departments continue to timely report information in compliance with the EO,” said Alex Apple, a spokesperson, citing a standing executive order.
Thus far, the city has turned over about 100 documents in response to the probe. About half are terse narrative descriptions of contacts with the city initiated by Immigration and Customs and Enforcement, or ICE, and U.S. Homeland Security officials this year that have already been publicly posted, a review of records sent to Congress by the Lookout found.
Other documents include emails describing the mayor’s policy requiring reporting of these interactions.
An additional seven interactions between city officials and federal immigration authorities have taken place since the last public release of information, Apple said.
Four occurred in late June and three occurred last week, he said. They have yet to be made public as city officials go through a redaction process to remove individual identifying information, he said.
Nashville raids prompt scrutiny of mayor’s response
Scrutiny of Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell by Ogles and members of the Trump Administration began in the weeks after the Tennessee Highway Patrol and ICE collaborated to conduct immigration stops over two days in May in South Nashville, a bustling neighborhood that is home to many in the city’s diverse immigrant communities.
The raids took city officials by surprise, and they prompted immediate questions from local advocates and city council members about whether Nashville police or other officials had also cooperated.
The mayor’s office denied any cooperation in the effort, which swept up 196 of the city’s immigrant residents in what federal officials described as a “targeted enforcement operation. Of the individuals arrested, 96 had prior criminal convictions and 31 had reentered the U.S. illegally after being deported, a press release from ICE said.
In response to the raids, O’Connell updated a longstanding executive order issued by a predecessor requiring the city’s emergency and nonemergency personnel to report interactions with federal immigration officials.
Emergency officials, including police, fire, emergency management and emergency communications, now must report such contacts within 24 hours, instead of three days.
O’Connell also publicized a “belonging fund” established in a partnership between the city and the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee to offer emergency aid to immigrants, including those left behind after a loved one’s detention by ICE. Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell requested detailed information about immigrants arrest in the city and what they were charged with. Now, immigration czar Tom Homan wants him investigated.
“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,” O’Connell said of the raids.
O’Connell’s stance drew immediate pushback. Ogles, who represents a portion of Nashville, announced twin investigations by the Congressional Homeland Security and Judiciary committees into whether O’Connell’s actions obstructed the work of immigration officials.
White House border czar Tom Homan pledged to “flood the zone” with additional immigration raids in Nashville in retaliation, saying O’Connell is “not going to stop us.”
“It certainly looks like Mayor O’Connell was involved in some sort of obstruction or the harboring of criminal illegal aliens in the great city of Nashville,” Tricia McLaughlin said in a media interview posted on the official X account of the Department of Homeland Security.
Trump administration officials accused O’Connell of “doxing” federal agents in publishing several of their names in its publicly-posted list of interactions with ICE.
O’Connell has said the public posting of public officials’ names was inadvertent and his office has since redacted them.
O’Connell’s actions in ordering reports of ICE activity “does not interfere with federal law enforcement operations,” read a June 13 letter from attorneys for the mayor’s office to the chairs of House Homeland Security and Judiciary committees.
“It does not prohibit Metro employees from speaking with federal immigration officials; nor does it put any conditions on these communications other than requiring Metro employees report communication,” the letter said.
