Two U.S congressional committees are looking into Nashville’s response to federal immigration activity, alleging that Mayor Freddie O’Connell’s policies “threaten to chill immigration enforcement” in the city.
The House Judiciary Committee and the House Security Committee have asked for documents related to the mayor’s response after Immigration and Customs Enforcement executed a week-long operation in Nashville’s immigrant corridor last month.
O’Connell has maintained that Nashville has not instituted any sanctuary policies. Tennessee law bans the practice, and any local official who votes in favor of one could be removed from office and charged with a felony under a law passed this year.
Still, the Department of Homeland Security included Nashville on a list of sanctuary cities last week. That list has since been taken down, following backlash from the National Sheriff’s Association. In a meeting with DHS officials, the association said that “no political appointee for the administration could explain who compiled, proofed, and verified the list before publication.”
“By definition, Nashville is not a sanctuary city. We do not, nor have we ever had, a policy that violates the state law,” O’Connell said. “We do not impede federal law enforcement actions.”
O’Connell has criticized the ICE raids, arguing that they erode trust between law enforcement and the community.
Since the sweeps, O’Connell has sped up the timeline for when Metro departments have to report contact with federal immigration officials to the mayor’s office. The previous administration established a three-day deadline; O’Connell has changed it to one business day.
The congressional probe said the change could mean that “Metro employees may use nonpublic information to warn criminal aliens of planned ICE enforcement operations.”
Republicans in Washington, D.C., are asking the mayor’s office for communication around the executive order, ICE activity and “the arrests of criminal aliens” since May 1.
U.S. Representatives Mark Green and Andy Ogles, who both represent parts of Nashville, signed off on the inquiry Thursday. In a letter to the mayor’s office, the congressmen also criticized O’Connell’s role in publicizing The Belonging Fund, a community fundraiser that provides food and housing assistance for families impacted by the sweeps.
🚨🚨 INVESTIGATION BEGUN 🚨🚨
Instead of defending our state, Mayor Freddie O’Connell is sabotaging it. He’s weaponized his office to dox and surveil federal agents who are trying to stop violent criminals — and worse, he’s embraced those criminals by creating a taxpayer-funded… pic.twitter.com/VP9x1XnscO
— Rep. Andy Ogles (@RepOgles) May 30, 2025
Republicans on the national stage and DHS officials have characterized the fund as a way to funnel taxpayer money to immigrants without legal status, although no city money has gone to the fund.
“I have my own Belonging Fund,” Trump’s “border czar” Tom Homan said last week. “We can give housing, food and free medical care in ICE detention, and that’s exactly what we’re going to do in Nashville. We’re going to flood the zone with agents … FBI, DEA, ICE, U.S. Marshalls.”
Homan has said he plans to visit Nashville in the “near future,” and that ICE will “pay a lot of attention” to cities that push back against the agency.
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