Mayor O’Connell Seems to Suggest He Considers Nashville a Sanctuary City
In a hurriedly-called press conference on Monday, Mayor Freddie O’Connell – without using the exact phrase – laid out his position that the City of Nashville is essentially a sanctuary city.
Mayor O’Connell said he is “heartbroken” State and Federal law enforcement organizations ran traffic stop operations in Nashville over the weekend that resulted in the arrest of illegal aliens. The mayor condemned the arrests, repeatedly stating Metro Nashville Police Department was “not involved in these actions. Enforcing immigration is a Federal responsibility and MNPD officers are not ICE.”
Addressing cameras and a small cadre of reporters, Mayor O’Connell attacked those enforcing the nation’s immigration laws in Nashville.
“What’s clear … is that people who do not share our values of safety and community have the authority to cause deep community harm. Their approach is not our understanding of what a Nashville for All of Us looks like … I continue to be concerned about the mechanisms for these actions. I think they have demonstrated they can occur at times and locations of their choosing without our involvement.’
Though the Mayor never used the term “sanctuary city” he seemed to suggest Metro Nashville Police have not and will not participate with State and Federal authorities in enforcing immigration matters.
“MNPD has asserted to us they were not involved in their actions. Their role is to protect all community residents who are subjected to harm and hold criminals accountable.”
According to the liberal American Immigration Council there is no formal definition of what makes a community a sanctuary city, but it usually involves implementing “policies restricting the ability of state and local police to make arrests for federal civil immigration violations, or to detain individuals on civil immigration warrants …”
Things like:
- policies restricting the police or other city workers from asking about immigration status;
- policies restricting the sharing of certain information on immigrants with the federal government;
- policies restricting local police responses to federal immigration detainers; and
- policies refusing to allow ICE into local jails without a judicial warrant.
Mayor O’Connell had nothing to say about the dangers faced by having illegal aliens with criminal backgrounds in the community. Amid talk of possible tax increases for Davidson County residents, Mr. O’Connell also had nothing to say about the financial burden the illegal alien population brings to the community.
Instead, the Mayor introduced Hal Cato of the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee who solicited donations to he called the Belonging Fund. “We want to make sure the immigrant community in this town to know that we’ve got their back. And the fund will raise dollars that will support the needs of our immigrant community. Especially those affected by the ICE raids.”
Following O’Connell’s lead, state-level Democrats are seeking answers from state law enforcement officials about the traffic stops, but the mayor’s words are not likely to go over well in a state legislature controlled by a conservative supermajority. Tennessee House Republicans issued statement strongly defending the immigration enforcement efforts inside Nashville City limits:
Tennessee will have zero tolerance for those who prove to be a threat to public safety, whether here legally or illegally.
Republicans in the General Assembly in 2024 proudly provided law enforcement agencies at every level across this state with the authority to work with the appropriate federal authorities when they encounter someone who is determined to be in this country illegally. By providing these tools and enacting new measures this year, we aim to demagnetize Tennessee from the burdens created by the Biden administration’s disastrous national security policies.
We fully support the arrest of anyone who is violating our laws. We have great confidence in the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security, as well as our law enforcement partners across this state, to professionally carry out their sworn duties.
Nashville residents should be highly concerned that their elected Democrat leaders choose to prioritize the well-being of criminals who are here illegally over their law-abiding constituents. The Democrat Party’s pro-criminal, pro-illegal immigration, defund-the police agenda and disdain for the rule of law have left communities defenseless and families shattered. They have truly lost their way.
Tennesseans deserve a government that understands its sacred obligation to prioritize the safety, security, financial and economic well-being of those who are lawfully here. Tennessee Republicans are committed to delivering exactly that.
State Senator Mark Pody (R-Davidson/Wilson County) told State News Foundation, “We are a nation of laws and the laws have to be enforced whether it be at the federal, state or local level.”
Pody continued, “This is going to be an issue that we gotta find a way to work through. If it were to come out that Nashville is a sanctuary city, I am quite sure there would be a reaction from the General Assembly.”
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Brian Wilson is the Managing Editor of State News Foundation.
Photo “Freddie O’Connell” by Freddie O’Connell.