Four different departments within Metro Nashville confirmed they received the public records request filed by The Tennessee Star, seeking any records explaining the purpose and justification for the grants proposed for the pro-illegal-immigrant nonprofits Tennessee Justice for Our Neighbors (TNJFON) and Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC). The nonprofits would receive nearly $1.5 million combined in the budget submitted last month by Mayor Freddie O’Connell.
The Metro Nashville Department of Finance was first to confirm receipt of the Tennessee Public Records Act (TPRA) request submitted by The Star, confirming it was entered into Metro’s system in a Friday morning email.
By the end of the day, The Star received additional notifications from Metro’s public records system, indicating that the Law Department, the Mayor’s Office, and the Metro Council had all received copies of the TPRA request.
According to Metro’s Public Records Request Policy, requests are received by the Nashville Public Records Request Coordinator, who will forward the request “to the appropriate Metro records custodian(s)” who hold the relevant records.
The TPRA requires Metro, if the records are not promptly made available, to respond within seven business days by making the records available, denying the request in writing and stating the basis, or providing a written response stating the time reasonably necessary to produce the records.
Michael Patrick Leahy, the editor-in-chief of The Star, filed the public records request to obtain any submissions by TIRRC and TNJFON ahead of the budget submitted by O’Connell, which includes $735,000 for TIRRC and $718,000 for TNJFON.
If there are no records of submissions by the nonprofits ahead of the proposed 2027 funding, as indicated to The Star by the Metro Clerk of Nashville, the request sought the most recent materials the nonprofits submitted to Metro.
While a spokesman for O’Connell told The Star that the grant money for TIRRC would not fund legal representation, legal assistance, counseling, or advocacy for illegal aliens, Metro Clerk Austin Kyle told The Star the grants will provide extensions of funding for the same services as the city’s 2022 grants with TIRRC and TNJFON, which were both awarded grant money to develop a legal services pilot program.
Those grant contracts specifically included support for immigrants in deportation proceedings, seeking protections from deportations, navigating immigration court, and similar services and topics. Metro Clerk Austin Kyle told The Star that the primary change to the proposed 2027 spending is that the money will no longer come from the Biden-era American Rescue Plan Act.
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Tom Pappert is a 2025 recipient of the Dao Prize and the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star. He also reports for the Star News Network. Follow Tom on X. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Freddie O’Connell” by Freddie O’Connell.
