Marsha Blackburn Slams Nashville’s Democrat Mayor for Endangering ICE Agents

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) is blasting Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell, a Democrat, for making metro ICE activity public — a move she says puts law enforcement in “harm’s way.”

O’Connell made waves nationally after making Metro Immigration Interactions public. According to WZTV, the public information includes “federal immigration authorities’ names.” The Democrat maintains he is doing this as a form of “transparency,” but Republicans are warning that this fundamentally puts agents in danger.

“@freddieoconnell is putting ICE agents and law enforcement in harm’s way by releasing their names for criminal gangs to see,” Blackburn said in a social media post, explaining why the move is so risky.

“These men and women have risked their lives to make our communities safer by removing gangs, rapists, and other heinous criminals from our communities. Shame on him,” she continued.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) put it this way: “The Nashville Mayor is protecting illegal aliens and gang members over his constituents.”

“At a time when our ICE officers are facing a 413% increase in assaults, Mayor O’Connell is doxxing the names of law enforcement agents removing criminal illegal aliens from his city,” DHS added.

Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN), who said he and his team originally “blew the whistle on this,” said DHS is actively looking for ways to stop it.

“We will protect Tennesseans and our officers!” he pledged.

Further, Ogles said local law enforcement members are “frustrated” and reaching out to him for help.

“I had a couple of very highly decorated members of law enforcement reach out and just say, ‘Hey, we’re just trying to do our job. We’re just trying to keep our streets safe, and we’re calling this political logjam here.’ … “And so I said, ‘Look, I’ve got your back,'” Ogles explained during an appearance on One America News, promising to “shine a light on this and try to give you guys some relief.”

He noted that they just caught a Chilean gang in Nashville, stressing the importance of law enforcement’s job for citizens.

“They were robbing one of the suburbs, Brentwood, which is very affluent. That’s the second time that’s happened where a criminal gang from South America has been caught in the Nashville area in this organized fashion,” Ogles warned. “They’re coming to our city.”

Ogles also said the Homeland Security and Judiciary Committees will conduct an investigation into O’Connell.