The US immigration and customs enforcement agency will return to the agency’s North Nashville facility after escorting buses filled with immigration from the parking lot. (Photo: John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout)

Tennessee Republican lawmakers announced this week that public officials would make the name of immigration officers a felony by yet another public swipe targeting the mayor of Nashville.

invoicewas submitted by half a dozen lawmakers who make up the leaders of the GOP House and Senate in Tennessee. They will also be expelled from their duties under the state’s moral disruption laws to reveal information that “is related to certain future immigration enforcement activities.”

The bill’s submission, released in a news release, is the latest effort by Tennessee Republicans and members of the Trump administration, targeting Mayor Freddie O’Connell, who was cleaned by mass immigrants on Nashville Street in early May.

“The people of Tennessee hope that their elected leaders will protect law enforcement, and they will not put them in danger,” said Jack Johnson, Senate Majority Leader, Franklin, who sponsors the measure.

“When a civil servant like Mayor O’Connell chooses to act politically around public safety, especially by obstructing federal immigration enforcement, he doesn’t have a business in the state,” Johnson said.

The bill said it would “send a message not only to Mayor O’Connell, but also to other Blue City mayors who are considering following his lead.”

Republican leaders focus on mayoral executive orders that require certain city employees to report interactions with the mayor’s office.

The order originally issued by former Nashville Mayor David Briley in 2019 was revised by O’Connell to request a report within 24 hours rather than three days.

The mayor’s office then began publishing notes from these reports on online spreadsheets.

“There’s an impact,” Homeland Security Officer targets Nashville Mayor over immigration

In the first public post, three federal immigration officials were identified by their full names, and one by her name. The mayor’s office said the post was careless and was later removed.

Trump administration officials highlighted the post as an effort by O’Connell to disrupt immigration enforcement and “DOX” immigration agents. White House “border emperor” Tom Homan has pledged to “raid the zone” with immigration enforcement efforts in Nashville in response to a mayor’s public statement condemning the migrant raid.

Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton publicly called on O’Connell to withdraw the executive order.

Two Republican-led US House Panels (House Judiciary and Homeland Security Committee) have also launched an investigation into the responses of the mayors of Nashville’s federal immigration enforcement efforts.

Asked Tuesday to address O’Connell’s statement that the release of the immigration agent’s name was careless, Johnson noted that the bill calls both intentional and negligent behaviour “unacceptable and dangerous.”

House Speaker calls for a Nashville Mayor AX Order to report federal immigration interactions

“This bill ensures that such violations are not tolerated,” Johnson said. “Regardless of the intent behind the disclosure of information, civil servants are obligated to protect confidential information, otherwise both public safety and the lives of law enforcement officers and their families are at risk.”

He said the bill makes it clear that it remains “fully permitted” to share information between local, state and federal agencies to help enforce immigration laws.

Johnson did not address any questions about whether the mayor has the right or responsibility to see if immigration enforcement action was taking place in his city.

O’Connell’s office did not respond to requests for comment on the bill introduced Tuesday.

At the height of the immigrant sweep that took place in the heart of Nashville’s busy immigration enclave in early May, O’Connell opposed the action that was carried out by “people who do not share safety and community values ​​and have the authority to cause deep community harm.”