A Democrat mayor is under federal investigation, accused of helping illegal immigrants escape ICE.
The probe has been confirmed by US Rep. Andy Ogles Monday, who explained the federal inquiry will look into whether Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell aided and abetted illegal immigration.
Homeland Security and the judiciary committees will be looking if tax dollars were used in ‘criminal enterprise,’ the congressman announced at a Memorial Day press conference.
‘If you’re helping violent gangs destroy Tennessee by obstructing ICE — you belong behind bars,’ Ogles posted online Monday.
On Memorial Day, the congressman and other local members of the GOP claimed Mayor O’Connell obstructed an operation by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in early May.
Almost 200 people were arrested in the week-long sweep between ICE and state police, according to the Tennessean.
O’Connell had been critical about the involvement of the Metro Nashville Police Department.
The mayor pointed out federal officials had ‘shown us no proof’ that those arrested in the early May operation were people ‘with criminal histories or criminal intent.’
The immigration sweeps took part in largely Hispanic areas of Nashville.
‘We don’t even know the names of who they’ve arrested, much less the charges,’ the mayor told WKRN at the time.
‘What we have seen is a violation of due process and the defiance of court orders.’
The Democrat has denied any wrong doing while pushing support for the Belonging Fund.
‘The Belonging Fund supports families known to be impacted as a result of activities related to immigration, but the entire point is family supports, cost of living, those kinds of things,’ O’Connell told the local outlet.
‘It’s not even intended to be about legal services, so it is about people who have identified food insecurity as a result of possibly losing somebody who was an earner in the household, it is about childcare, it is about basic family needs.’