Metro Nashville Council Member David Benton attended the “Stop the Invasion” press conference held by U.S. Representative Andy Ogles (R-TN-05) on Monday. He called for state and federal audits of the Tennessee nonprofits that have received millions in federal taxpayer dollars, awarded through the city, before donating to the controversial “Belonging Fund,” announced by Mayor Freddie O’Connell as a method to support immigrants following a federal enforcement operation that netted nearly 200 arrests.
On Tuesday, Benton told The Tennessee Star he is concerned the recent actions by O’Connell place Metro Nashville in violation of 18 U.S.C. 1324, and specifically that O’Connell’s decision to tie Metro Nashville to the “Belonging Fund” could leave Metro open to losing state and federal funding, as does his recent executive order mandating Metro employees report contacts with federal immigration officials to him and the Office of New Americans.
Noting that law enforcement is a “federal, state, and local partnership,” Benton (pictured above) said, “We have a lot of funding and support approval that comes before us,” making it “important that we are funding and supporting lawful activity.”
“Mayor Freddie O’Connell announced the launch of the Belonging Fund by the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee in Partnership with Metro Nashville for the purpose of and in solidarity of supporting immigrants facing housing, food, child care, and transportation crises,” he added, calling them violations of the portion of 18 USC 1324, which prohibits providing aid to illegal immigrants, harboring illegal immigrants, or encouraging illegal immigrants to reside in the country.
“It’s as if he read U.S. Code 1324 and picked as many things in the law as he could to intentionally violate it,” said Benton, telling The Star, “by becoming a partner in these funds, we are a party to the intent of the other partners, especially when the Mayor has knowingly stated the intent of the partnership.”
Benton said that supporting illegal immigrants was O’Connell’s stated goal when introducing the fund shortly after the enforcement operation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
“That screams a Title 8 U.S. Code 1324 violation by his ‘intent’ of the fund,” said Benton.
“As a partner of the fund, with the intent to provide multiple services for illegal aliens, it is ridiculous to give him a pass that this partnership with those nonprofits, that have the money to carry out his wishes, absolves him from being complicit,” he told The Star, adding that O’Connell “made himself and the City a partner.”
Benton said, “Then there is the fact that this encourages illegal aliens left behind to remain in the United States, another 1324 violation.”
When O’Connell announced the “Belonging Fund” as a joint project between Metro Nashville and the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee, his office revealed that charities that had previously received funding from Metro provided seed money to the fund.
According to Benton, the only way for Metro Nashville to safely continue relationships with these groups, without fear of violating federal law, would be to see the results of an audit.
“If auditing The Belonging Fund, The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee, TIRRC, Conexion Americas, and the Tennessee Justice for our Neighbors shows no assistance to illegal aliens, or other synonyms and references, for the past 24 months to current date,” said Benton, “we might be safe as a City to continue considering a partnership with such groups. That does not appear to be the case at first glance.”
He added, “Also bear in mind, the appearance of unethical behavior is at play here. Why dance on the edge of the cliff when the city’s relationship with federal and state government with grants and cooperation are on the line for the taxpayers.”
Benton also noted, “Title 8 U.S. Code 1324 was passed in 1996 with bipartisan support, including Joe Biden and Chuck Schumer.”
Ultimately, Benton told The Star that Metro Nashville could not afford to risk losing state or federal funding in a showdown over illegal immigration, and said that the facts surrounding the dispute may reflect poorly on the city.
The councilman also noted that the “Belonging Fund” received more than $30,000 in seed donations from three nonprofits, including some amount of money from the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC), which received millions in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding, even after a public audit determining that TIRRC struggled to verify federal tax money sent to other nonprofits was spent in accordance with federal requirements.
Benton said, “The initial source of $30,000 in funding is reported to have come from the other partners,” but those “partners may have received money from Metro.”
“That has a money laundering ring to it,” said Benton. “Now we have multiple partners possibly passing money around, possibly colluding together to violate 1324.”
He told The Star that such a scheme could lead to Metro Nashville or O’Connell being found in violation of federal racketeering laws aimed at organized crime.
“If that were true, we might be entering into a RICO violation conspiring to use Federal funds to evade federal immigration or working together to fraudulently use federal funds to support unlawful immigration, a combination of RICO and 1324,” said Benton. “The bottom line on this is, why do we even need to give the appearance of this?”
A supporter of Metro Nashville’s License Plate Reader (LPR) program, which has yet to be implemented under O’Connell, Benton said the mayor should focus on addressing crime rather than supporting illegal immigrants.
“Choosing to spend all this energy to fight federal law enforcement over supporting the safety of the taxpayers and refusing to include License Plate Readers, along with refusing additional police on the street in the budget makes no sense,” said Benton.
The councilman told The Star, “The quality of life has deteriorated in Nashville to a sad state. Taxpayers should not have to deal with shots fired, violent illegals and gang members, out on bond violent criminals, hit and runs, and dead vacationers should not pay the price for ignoring our lofty score in violent crime as a city.”
Benton stated that he has contacted state and federal lawmakers regarding the audits and intends to reach out to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the Inspector General in the coming days.
Ogles confirmed during his Monday press conference that the House Homeland Security and Judiciary committees are investigating O’Connell.
Watch Benton’s full comments during the press conference:
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “David Benton” by David Benton. Background Photo “Nashville City Hall” by Luckiewiki. CC BY-SA 4.0.
The mayor is a sad representative for Nashville. He chooses to assist the illegals and stabs the citizens in the heart with his high-cost bus initiative. When will Nashville elect a decent, conservative mayor? Likely not in my lifetime.
It appears that the House Judiciary Committee and ICE are zeroing in on Mayor Freddie, ha. I wonder if Nashville’s law enforcement agencies will do the right thing and support ICE, or will they turn a blind eye and stand down. This could be a monumental political event for Tennessee that hopefully will turnout really bad for the leftists and their useful idiots.
https://redstate.com/nick-arama/2025/05/28/nashville-mayor-probe-n2189703
ALL ILLEGALS ARE CRIMINALS. They broke our Sovereign Law, the moment they entered our country. President Trump & HHS has announced a generous program for illegal aliens to voluntarily self-deport. If they participate, they will be given air transportation, $1000.00 & the opportunity to apply legally, once they are vetted.
If they get arrested & deported, they will never be given the opportunity to apply for legal status. Ever.
Sounds like the way to go.
Because, they will be scooped up in ICE raids, & lose that privilege forever.
Freddie O’Connell should be prosecuted.
Boy Sheriff Darren Hall sure is quiet.
In Tennessee, an accomplice is someone who knowingly, voluntarily, and with common intent participates with the principal offender in the commission of a crime. They are criminally liable to the same extent as the principal.
Specifically, an accomplice can be defined as someone who:
Aids or abets: the commission of a crime.
Facilitates: the commission of a crime.
Knowingly, voluntarily, and with common intent: participates with the principal offender.