WASHINGTON D.C. — Last week, House Committee on Homeland Security Chairman Mark E. Green, MD (R-TN), Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH), Subcommittee on Immigration Enforcement Chairman Tom McClintock (R-CA), and Homeland member Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN) launched a probe into Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell’s alleged obstruction of federal law enforcement operations after O’Connell condemned U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) immigration enforcement actions and signed Executive Order 030 to track ICE operations and monitor any local government communications with the agency.

In the letter, the members request documents and communications from the City of Nashville and Davidson County, Tennessee, relating to ICE enforcement actions and Executive Order 030, as well as all documents and communications between or among Metro employees and non-Metro employees. Read the full letter here. 

Read more in Fox News.

In the letter, the members write,“The Committee on the Judiciary and the Committee on Homeland Security of the U.S. House of Representatives are conducting oversight of state and local jurisdictions that endanger American communities through efforts aimed at thwarting the work of federal immigration officials.”

The members continue,“While the state of Tennessee has outlawed sanctuary policies, recent actions from your office threaten to chill immigration enforcement in the City of Nashville and Davidson County. Accordingly, we write to request information about how your recent actions, including a directive to Nashville and Davidson County employees to disclose their communications with federal immigration officials, affects the robust enforcement of immigration law… Your chief lawyer recently admitted that it was an ‘open question’ whether an individual could legally ‘announce in advance that there’s an impending enforcement activity.’”

The members conclude,“This statement, when viewed in context of your order requiring all Metro law-enforcement officers to report about communications with ICE personnel, raises the prospect that Metro employees may use nonpublic information to warn criminal aliens of planned ICE enforcement operations. In other words, there is the real potential that your Executive Order could have the effect of diminishing ICE enforcement operations.”

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