Tennessee rep says Nashville mayor's ICE policies amount to 'aiding and abetting illegal immigration'

A Republican lawmaker from Tennessee is calling for a federal investigation into Nashville Mayor Freddie O'Connell’s handling of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations, adding he will not back down.

Tennessee Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., said in a post on X that with support from the House Judiciary Committee, he is formally requesting all documents and communications from O’Connell’s office pertaining to his alleged protection of illegal immigrants.

Specifically, Ogles is requesting documents related to "the amendment of Executive Order 30," which he referred to as "an outrageous directive requiring Nashville employees and first responders to report all communication with federal immigration authorities directly to the mayor."

Ogles also said he is requesting any internal discussions or documents concerning ICE enforcement actions in Nashville or Davidson County and all correspondence involving Metro employees and affiliated nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) pertaining to the arrests or detention of criminal illegal aliens within the city or county.

HOUSE GOP TARGETS ANOTHER DEM OFFICIAL ACCUSED OF BLOCKING ICE AMID DELANEY HALL FALLOUT

Along with his post, Ogles shared a video of his announcement.

"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 said. "Which is why I will always stand on the rule of law and with ICE. And I don’t just stand with ICE; I’ll stand in front of ICE because we the people have had enough.

"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 continued. "I will not back down. I will not relent, and I will always stand with law enforcement. I want my community, and I want my country back."

DHS FIRES BACK AT BLUE-CITY MAYOR UNHAPPY ABOUT ICE OPERATION, PROVIDES RAP SHEETS FOR THOSE CHARGED

Ogles’ announcement comes 10 days after he sent a letter urging for an investigation into O’Connell, whom the Trump administration has accused of supporting "pro-illegal policies."

O’Connell’s office did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment on the matter.

Earlier this month, ICE agents working with the Tennessee Highway Patrol arrested nearly 200 people who the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said were illegal immigrants – many of them criminals with gang affiliations or other sordid pasts.

ICE CRACKS DOWN ON DC-AREA BUSINESSES, NEARLY 200 ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS ARRESTED

A DHS news release targeted O'Connell by name over comments he made in early May. "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."

After the arrests, O'Connell signed an executive order aimed at tracking peoples' interactions with federal immigration authorities, according to WSMV4.

O’Connell also wrote a letter to the city about the ICE arrests.

"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 wrote. "Overnight, we understand that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agents detained people during enforcement actions in Middle Tennessee. As we learn more, I want to be clear: No [Metropolitan Nashville Police Department (MNPD)] personnel were involved in last night’s enforcement action."

BLUE CITY MAYOR SAYS ICE ARRESTS OF DANGEROUS CRIMINALS ARE NOT ‘FOCUSED ON MAKING US SAFER’

He added that the city’s police department does not have federal immigration authority, nor are its members trained to conduct immigration enforcement.

O’Connell also said the police department lacks access to federal immigration databases.

"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 added. "We will be seeking the names of those detained."

DHS said the Nashville operation resulted in the arrests of a convicted child sex predator, an alleged member of the violent Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, an individual convicted of aggravated assault and multiple illegal aliens on drug charges.

"The Nashville Mayor should want these criminal illegal aliens off American streets," DHS posted on X. "Attacks and demonization of our brave law enforcement is wrong. ICE officers are now facing a 413% increase in assaults. President Trump campaigned on immigration enforcement, the American people voted for it, and DHS is delivering."

Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.

Remembering Rep. Charlie Rangel — and a voicemail I'll never forget

I didn’t recognize the "917" New York number that called me.

But there was no question about who phoned after they left a message.

The caller on the voicemail was utterly unmistakable.

They didn’t say their name.

They didn’t have to.

"Chad, you’re the only one who missed me," croaked the voice.

FORMER NY DEMOCRATIC REP CHARLIE RANGEL DEAD AT 94

It carried the sleekness of a stone crusher working over basalt in a West Virginia quarry.

The voicemail was from the late Rep. Charlie Rangel, D-N.Y. And he was essentially calling to assure me that he wasn’t dead.

After all, I was apparently the only member of the congressional press corps who noticed that the New York Democrat hadn’t voted nor been anywhere near the U.S. Capitol in several weeks.

There was no article in Roll Call. Nothing in Politico. No statement from his office.

Rangel just wasn’t around.

So I called and wound up speaking to his communications director Hannah Kim and chief of staff George Henry.

I inquired if Rangel was all right. They assured me he was. But they didn’t quite give me the full story. That was for Rangel to do.

And then Rangel himself called — from his sickbed — so I could hear his signature jackhammer-chopping-through-the-asphalt-of-Manhattan voice to prove to this reporter he was still among the living.

"I wanted you to hear it from me," said Rangel.

EX-REP. CHARLIE RANGEL, 94, QUESTIONS WHETHER BIDEN BELONGS IN NURSING HOME, NOT WHITE HOUSE

It was 2012. Rangel was out because of a back injury and a viral infection, which made it difficult for him to stand for long periods of time. From 2008 through late 2010, I dogged Rangel through the halls of Congress on a daily basis as the veteran congressman grappled with an ethics scandal. The ethics case culminated in the House censuring Rangel, permanently smudging his record as a war hero, a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus and chairman of the Ways and Means Committee.

First elected to the House in 1970, Rangel’s star had dimmed after the ethics scandal. But in 2012, any information about an elderly, legendary congressman like Rangel was newsworthy. So, as a reporter on the Capitol Hill beat, I appreciated the phone call as he described the excruciating pain that beset him.

It’s possible the Ethics Committee investigation and censure by the House were more agonizing for Rangel than the back problem. Rangel was so confident that he didn’t violate House rules that he referred himself to the Ethics Committee.

Rangel started to feel the ethics heat in 2008. He used his position as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee to solicit funds for a school in his name at City College of New York. He failed to report hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes or rental income on a villa he owned in the Dominican Republic

A rent-controlled apartment in Harlem doubled as a campaign office. He improperly parked his broken-down, 1972 silver Mercedes-Benz in the garage of the Rayburn House Office Building. The House prohibits lawmakers from using the garage for storage. The Benz lacked plates, wasn’t registered and apparently hadn’t been driven in about four years. A Falls Church, Virginia, towing company lugged the car out of the garage on Sept. 19, 2008.

Video of the tow-truck hauling away the Mercedes-Benz from Rayburn would have made a juicy story the next morning on TV. But Rangel caught a break.

Sort of.

VIRGINIA DEMOCRATIC REP GERRY CONNOLLY DEAD AT 75

Then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., summoned then-Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson to Capitol Hill that night. The U.S. economy teetered on the verge of an epic financial collapse. By nightfall, it was clear just how bad the nation’s economy was. Everyone temporarily forgot about Rangel. In fact, the inoperable Benz may have been in better shape than some American car companies at that moment.

But the House Ethics Committee was investigating Rangel. An inquiry started in 2009 and culminated in his censure on the House floor in 2010. The House voted 333-79 to discipline Rangel. A somber Rangel presented himself in the well of the House chamber, hands folded in front of him as though he were about to receive Communion. Pelosi doled out her admonition from the dais and lightly rapped the gavel.

"He violated the public trust," said then-Ethics Committee Chairwoman Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif.

It was the first censure of a House member in 27 years.

Years later, I half-jokingly told Rangel that he could blame me for his problems with the Ethics Committee.

As stated earlier, it was Rangel who believed his actions were beyond reproach. So he sent himself before the Ethics Committee to review his conduct.

I entered the Capitol one morning in 2008 and discovered his longtime aide, Emile Milne, wandering the basement. I asked Milne what he was looking for. He waived an overstuffed envelope at me.

"The Ethics Committee," said Milne.

DEMOCRATS' BOILING POT: A LOOK AT THEIR 2026 GAME PLAN

This was the actual "self-referral" to the Ethics Committee. And Milne was the courier of a dossier Rangel would use to defend himself.

I knew exactly where the Ethics Committee was located in those days in the Capitol catacombs. So I escorted Milne to the door.

As I said, I told Rangel he could blame all of his problems on me.

Between 2008 and 2010, I staked out Rangel somewhere at the Capitol nearly every day. The day Pelosi summoned him to her office. The day Pelosi removed him as Ways and Means Committee chairman. The day he spoke at length on the House floor to defend himself against the allegations after the ethics panel formalized its inquiry.

One night, a scrum of reporters caught Rangel in the hallway off the House floor and pelted him with a barrage of questions. Rangel briefly answered. Then deflected. He then decided he had enough as scribes fired questions at him with the speed of a Gatling gun.

Rangel sighed, exasperated at what to do.

"Sergeant Charles B. Rangel. 85718162!" hollered Rangel. "And that’s all I’m going to say about it!"

It’s unclear if the other reporters understood what just happened. But I did.

BY DAWN'S EARLY LIGHT: BATTLES TRUMP'S 'BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL' WILL FACE IN THE SENATE

Rangel served in the Army during the Korean War. He was wounded in the back by shrapnel and eventually led dozens of men out of a firefight and to safety. Multiple soldiers died, and others were taken prisoner. Rangel received the Purple Heart and Bronze Star with valor.

Rangel survived that day. But back on Capitol Hill, the news cycle had effectively taken Rangel prisoner. So he complied with the terms of the Geneva Convention. A prisoner of war is only compelled to provide enemy captors their name, rank and serial number. And after absorbing heavy fire from the press corps, Rangel had only one option.

It’s notable that someone with Rangel’s military record and Army service passed away on Memorial Day.

In August 2008, Rangel published his autobiography entitled "And I Haven’t Had a Bad Day Since." The book chronicles how a high school dropout joined the Army and was wounded on the battlefield. Rangel chose to continue — eventually winding up in Congress as one of the most important lawmakers of the last 50 years. But Rangel then faced one of the harshest punishments Congress could dole out. It cost him his chairmanship and upended his reputation.

But Rangel was often philosophical about his fate and transgressions in Congress. He argued that despite the trouble, he still hadn’t had a bad day since that fateful battle in Kunu-ri, Korea in late 1950.

Back in 2012, I may have been the only one who noticed that Rangel was absent when he was suffering from a back issue and viral infection.

But I certainly won’t be the only one today.

About Us

Virtus (virtue, valor, excellence, courage, character, and worth)

Vincit (conquers, triumphs, and wins)