Tennessee GOP Congressman Demands Probe of Nashville Mayor Over Immigrant Detentions

A U.S. congressman from Tennessee said Wednesday that he will ask for a review into Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell. This comes after the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency detained people and searched cars in Nashville for more than a week.

In a press release, U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles, a Republican who represents part of Nashville in the 5th District, said that O’Connell is “blatantly obstructing” ICE officers.

“He has crossed a dangerous line by telling city agencies to watch over and possibly sabotage ICE operations. He is using the power of the government to protect criminal illegal immigrants from the law,” Ogles said in a statement.

In order to look into O’Connell and other Metro Nashville officials, Ogles wants to ask the U.S. House Judiciary Committee and the Homeland Security Committee.

An official from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had earlier said that O’Connell was one of 196 people without lasting legal status who were arrested by ICE agents working with Tennessee Highway Patrol officers. It was said that 95 of them were either facing criminal charges or had already been convicted.

“ICE has said that a lot of the people they caught in this sweep did not have a criminal record.” Who are they and where are they? O’Connell said in a statement, “ICE should let everyone know whose names they held in Nashville and what charges they face.”

Someone who works for O’Connell wouldn’t directly respond to Ogles’ statements.

ICE agents and THP officers have been doing sweeps through Nashville and Middle Tennessee since May 4. They often stop cars for what they say are traffic violations.

Wally Dietz, Chief Legal Officer for Metro, said that on May 5, he wrote to the Tennessee Highway Patrol and asked for a list of people who had been jailed and what they were charged with. It was also said that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have been “totally opaque in responding.”

The arrest comes at a time when the federal government and states are trying to deport immigrants. The Tennessee General Assembly held a special session in January to pass broad immigration laws. These laws set up a new state enforcement office to work with the Trump administration and gave grants to law enforcement agencies that agreed to work with federal immigration officials. Local police and sheriff’s officers can work with ICE to enforce federal immigration laws and make it illegal for public officials to vote for “sanctuary city” policies.

There are times when Ogles has broken federal law. In August 2024, Ogles revealed that the FBI had taken his phone as part of an investigation into fraud in his campaign funds. In January, a U.S. House Congressional Ethics panel called for more research into what he was doing. The FBI said it would end the probe at the end of January, right after President Donald Trump was sworn in.

Ogles has put forward a bill that would let Trump run for president a third time.

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