Andy Ogles Responds To Nashville Mayor’s Call For Increased Transparency Over ICE Crackdown Efforts

Forbes Breaking News

As a national ICE crackdown is underway, Congressman Andy Ogles (R-TN) responded to Nashville Mayor Freddie O'Connell’s call for increased transparency. Ogles joined "Forbes Newsroom" to discuss.

Transcript

00:00I want to get your reaction to something that border czar Tom Homan said recently on Fox News.

00:05This is what he said, quote, I've said from day one, you can not cooperate with ICE if that's what

00:09you want to do, but you can't get in our way and you can't impede our efforts or you cross that

00:14line. We will seek prosecution. So can you talk to us about what you want to see exactly come out

00:19of this? Do you think that there's going that the national mayor is going to be prosecuted? Do you

00:23think that there's charges there? What does that really look like? We'll see. Again, I'm not going

00:28to draw any judgments on what I can say that as I, late last night, I was in communication with both

00:34the Homeland Security Department and also the White House. And, you know, at first glance,

00:40it looks like there may be some criminal charges that are warranted, but we'll follow the facts.

00:46We'll follow the details. And if nothing else, it forces a tough conversation that the city of

00:51Nashville and other cities have to have. If you're here illegally, you're going to be deported. And

00:55that's just the fact of the matter. And have you had what I'm sure you would deem a tough

01:00conversation with Nashville's mayor yet from when the ICE operation happened until now? Have you

01:06talked to him one-on-one yet? No, I have not. And, you know, quite frankly, he and I are on opposite

01:12sides of probably every conversation. He has my number if he wants to call me. But at this point,

01:18my job is defend my district, Tennessee, and obviously the people of Nashville. And I'm not

01:23going to waste my time on a woke mayor who's siding with murderers and rapists. That's the choice he's

01:28made for himself. I'm going to choose Nashville and my constituents when it comes to this conversation,

01:34hands down. And I want to read part of a statement from this mayor and just get your reaction. He said

01:38that he's doing this because he wants transparency. And this is part of a statement from him.

01:43By ICE's own admission, a large percentage of people caught up in the sweep had no criminal

01:47record. Who and where are they? I should release the names and charges for everyone they detained

01:51in Nashville, not just the select few. What would you say to that if that's what he said to you

01:56directly? You know, he can fall back on this idea of transparency. But the reality is, is that the

02:03individuals that were targeted being deported were here illegally, period. They're criminals.

02:09You don't have to like that fact, but it is a fact. If you're working without a social security

02:15number, it's a crime. If you have a social security number that was fraudulently obtained,

02:19it's a crime. If you're driving without a driver's license, it's a crime. These folks are criminals,

02:24period. Again, you don't have to like that fact, but those are facts. And so Freddie O'Connell,

02:29the mayor of Nashville, is wrong. His constituents are letting him know he's wrong. My constituents are

02:35standing with me. And look, you know, I'm on Homeland Security. We recently just received a

02:40classified briefing on the cartel networks out of Mexico and Central and South America,

02:46their operations all over the country. And what I can tell you is it's frightening. And when you're

02:51siding with illegals and potential gang members and who are facilitating drug routes, trafficking routes,

02:59et cetera, you've made the wrong choice. I mean, we're going to wake up. And again,

03:03you know, Nashville is a hub of commerce for the South. It's the jewel of the South.

03:08It's booming. You know, it's one of the leading cities in the country. And that's also attracting

03:13all of the cartel and the gang elements, MS-13, Trendiwaga, and the list goes on.

03:18We've got to have a zero tolerance policy to illegals in our community because we're going to

03:23wake up one day and we're going to have illegals will have taken parts of the streets or parts of

03:27our communities rather, and it'll be hard to get that back. So again, I'm going to double,

03:31triple down on this issue. I'm sorry, if you're here illegally, you're going to get deported.

03:35And of course, if you're a member of the gang, one of those gangs, you should be in

03:38Seacott Prison in El Salvador. Congressman, something that stuck out to me in the beginning

03:42of this conversation was you saying something to the effect of, you know, I'm a member of

03:47Congress and I have to step in here. And Republicans have been critical in the Obama years and the Biden

03:52years of federal overreach. If you had a criticism here of, hey, is this federal overreach? I mean,

03:58what would you say to that? Well, you know, illegal immigration is a federal issue. So I'm not

04:04weighing in on which potholes are being fixed and how the city schools are being managed. What I am

04:11saying is that we have a federal operation taking place in Nashville. You have a mayor who is

04:17potentially interfering with that federal operation. He picked this fight and he's going to lose.

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