The probe will focus on the mayor's actions and whether federal funds were potentially misused in connection with alleged criminal activities tied to immigration. Addressing a press conference Monday, Ogles said: “I will not back down. I will not relent. I will always stand with law enforcement." “I want my community, and I want my country back," he added. The inquiry arises from growing tensions between local residents and federal immigration officials. Ogles pushed for a probe into the mayor’s office following O’Connell’s remarks about a “joint safety operation” carried out in early May by ICE agents in coordination with the Tennessee Highway Patrol.

Two federal committees will be conducting an investigation into Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell for allegedly “aiding and abetting” illegal immigration, Tennessee Congressman Andy Ogles announced on Monday. The Congressman, along with a gaggle of Tennessee elected officials at the state level and representatives from law enforcement agencies, announced the Homeland Security and Judiciary committees will look into the mayor, his conduct and whether or not the city used federal dollars “in criminal enterprise” related to immigration. “I will not back down. I will not relent. I will always stand with law enforcement,” Ogles said during a Memorial Day press conference inside the state capitol building. “I want my community, and I want my country back.”

Flanked by state and local lawmakers, U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles on Memorial Day repeated a call to investigate Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell and said the mayor obstructed a U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement operation in early May. Nashville is weeks removed from the weeklong immigration enforcement operation, during which ICE and the Tennessee Highway Patrol made 468 traffic stops and arrested nearly 200 immigrants. The ICE sweeps were concentrated in south Nashville, in neighborhoods around Nolensville Pike and Harding Place with a large population of immigrants and Latino residents. Ogles’ call to investigate O’Connell is not new — he called on two congressional committees, the House Judiciary Committee and the Homeland Security Committee, to open investigations into the mayor and other city officials during a May 14 Department of Homeland Security briefing on Capitol Hill.