During a discussion Thursday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 am to 8:00 am – host Leahy talked with Steve Glover about the recent debate challenge he proposed to Mayor David Briley in regards to the executive order issued on Tuesday. As predicted by Leahy, Briley was a no show.
During the segment, the men talked about recent guest and Angel Mom Michelle Root’s loss of her daughter to an illegal immigrant and how that relates to Nashville Mayor David Briley’s focus on protecting illegal immigrants instead of legal United States citizens. “I think the part that bothers me the most is apparently the current Mayor is putting more emphasis on people that may be here illegally versus those of us who are legal,” said Glover.
Leahy: On Tuesday in the 7 o’clock hours, Steve Glover who’s a candidate for Metro Council at large and served two terms on the city’s metro council and before that served on the Nashville school board issued a challenge to Mayor David Briley.
And that is to come into the studios here, in the seven o’clock hour today to debate the legality of the executive order that David Briley issued on Tuesday. In my view, probable questionable legality of that order where he ordered Metro employees not to cooperate with federal employees or federal ICE agents who have detainers for illegal aliens. Steve Glover showed up. You are here!
Glover: I’m here.
Leahy: Where is Mayor Briley?
Glover: I have no idea. I don’t keep his schedule.
Leahy: He did not show up. He did not answer the call.
Glover: Well, I’ve called him in the last three or four months about as many times as he’s called me. None.
Leahy: He didn’t answer your challenge to debate the legality of this illegal alien executive order he issued on Tuesday. He’s been Mayor for a year and a half. Didn’t find a need to issue such an order until Tuesday, a week and a half before an election which he’s, by most accounts, way behind. Metro Council at large member John Cooper. We have a chair right next to your’s here.
Glover: Correct. I’ll take a picture if I need to. (Chuckles)
Leahy: We have a microphone right next to it. And the chair is empty. There is no David Briley. And he’s not here to defend his executive order instructing the Metro employees not to cooperate with ICE.
Glover: Correct. And I’m Facebook living right now.
Leahy: You’re Facebook living.
Glover: So in the event, people want to see this, they’re welcome too. So here I am, there you are.
Leahy: We are here.
Glover: And, there would be the empty chair.
Leahy: There’s the empty chair of David Briley who’s apparently afraid, cannot, unable to, defend the legality of his executive order. Now, we were just…
Glover: Let me do one thing real quick. As everybody’s listening to this, maybe on the Facebook live thing, they’re like, “What’s he talking about?” I’m at WLAC. We’re talking about the challenge I put up to the Mayor on the legality of the executive order in regards to illegal aliens.
Leahy: And so they go to your Facebook page? What is your Facebook page where you’re doing this right now?
Glover: Steve Glover for Nashville or Steve Glover. Either one.
Leahy: I suppose we could do that here on our own Facebook page at the Tennessee Star. But you have beat me to the technology of it.
Glover: Trust me, I didn’t beat you on anything on technology. I’m about as stupid as it comes to technology.
Leahy: So you can track that there. Had Mayor Briley showed up today to defend the legality of his executive order. He could be Facebooking live. He could have had television cameras in here to broadcast the defense of that but he’s not doing it. So the question to you is, did you listen to the Angel Mom, Michelle Root in our six-thirty hour?
She was telling a horrible story about how her 21-year-old daughter, Sarah Root was killed in January of 2016 by Eswin Mejia. Eswin Mejia was an illegal alien from Honduras. Entered the United States in 2013. May well have come under this DACA program that President Obama implemented which was not constitutional.
Still being challenged. Probably not legal but nonetheless allowed to stay in the country. Committed a couple of crimes. there were warrants for his arrest. He had been in Tennessee during some of this time. There were warrants for his arrest and on this evening in Omaha, Nebraska beautiful 21-year-old Sarah Root, at a stoplight and Eswin Mejia, the illegal alien from Honduras was drunk driving his pick up 70 miles an hour and hit her and basically killed her. And he’s now free.
Glover: I mean all I’m going to say is simply this. I can’t imagine as a parent, I simply can’t imagine, as I was listening. I was sitting there lifting up prayers to her going, “Oh my gosh.” That would destroy me if one of my kids, if my kids, my grandkids. There’s so much at stake here.
Leahy: Yeah. And by the way, Angel Mom Michelle Root is not a fan of David Briley’s executive order telling Metro employees not to cooperate with lawful detainers issued by the federal government to secure illegal aliens in their custody. Tell us what’s wrong with this executive order.
(Commercial break)
Glover: Well I think everything first of all. You can’t go against the state and the United States. Simple as that. We have a pecking order and that’s the way our country was set up. And so, therefore, we have to follow that pecking order. I think the part that bothers me the most is apparently the current Mayor is putting more emphasis on people that may be here illegally versus those of us who are legal.
And that’s wrong. It’s exactly backwards of what it should be. And that’s one reason that I’m willing to sit here and I’m willing to debate. But make no mistake about it. He’s not doing any different today than he’s done with me over the last year and a half. He doesn’t call us. He didn’t call me and talk about legislation. He feels like he’s beyond that. I didn’t realize that we had a king situation here in Nashville.
Leahy: So we have a new alliterative description of ‘desperate David backward Briley.’ (Leahy chuckles)
Glover: Again, those are your words. I said I didn’t realize we had a king. I’ll stand by what I said.
Leahy: Well, this order is egregious. It’s an egregious violation of the rule of law. I’ll just read a couple of things from it. This is what desperate David Briley thinks makes sense. Unless they are issued with a valid and properly issued legal warrant as opposed to a detainer no Metro agency or Metro employees or agents will give ICE or Border Patrol access to a person being detained by or in custody of that agent or agency.
No Metro agency or Metro employee or agent will transfer any person into ICE or Border Patrol custody. That right there is a defiance of the law. Not only the federal law but of the state law. That’s not a good thing. No Metro agency or Metro employee will permit federal ICE agents of Border Patrol agents to use Metro facilities, information or equipment including any agency electronic databases for investigative interviews.
Or any other investigative purpose or execute an immigration enforcement operation. And let me say a legal immigration enforcement operation. The detainers are legal. They have different standing than a judicial warrant.
Glover: Correct.
Leahy: But, the reason I believe they issued detainers that are issued by the Department of Homeland Security is because there are so many illegal aliens. There are so many that they are clogging up the court systems and can’t get access enough to issue those kinds of warrants. So we’ve got that going on. This is a blatant violation of the rule of law. Perpetrated by, in my view by Mayor Briley.
Glover: So here’s my view. The Mayor has at their discretion a great deal of power with regards to what happens in the city. One part you did not read there was something that he directed our Metropolitian law department to go find out how do we repeal the House bill. Repeal!
Leahy: The state…
Glover: Why would you ask something to be repealed if it wasn’t the law? It was in what I read the other day, it was in his statement. Repeal. Go look and find out how do we get the state to repeal this. What do we have to do on this?
Here’s what we have to do. Follow the law. Let’s have our Metro legal department doing the important things we need to be doing every day regarding the people of Nashville and the people who pay their taxes and everyone that’s in Nashville legally. You don’t ask our law department. Because see, here’s what he’s got at his discretion.
A boatload of lawyers. When he decided they were going to overturn the voters their choice on the fairgrounds. A boatload of lawyers. When he decides, when he decides, a boatload of lawyers. And the other side, US, you and me if we want to challenge something we’ve got to go hire an attorney.
Raise the money, do all these other things. You know, if we have to put a legal and a fair playing field out there for everyone. So if it was legal, I don’t believe he would have put in his mandate to repeal. Figure out how to repeal the state House bill.
Leahy: Yeah, exactly. This is a little bit unrelated but perhaps not. I don’t know if you followed the story about an inmate in Davidson county jail. A fellow by the name of Roberto Josue Viera Aybar. And he’s like, if you look at his picture, he’s Mr. Tattoo all over the place. 22 years old. He was in custody for murder. Those were the charges.
He was released mistakenly and is just back in jail now. They got him. He’s back. But I’m going to ask the obvious question about Roberto Josue Viera Aybar because I’m looking to find out this information and I can’t find out anything about this fellow.
He was previously charged in connection with the murder of Luis Antonio Lopez of Nashville whose body was found burned in the woods in Whitfield county Georgia in 2017. Now, my question is, is Roberto Viera Abar an American citizen?
Glover: I don’t know.
Leahy: Or is he an illegal alien?
Glover: Once again I don’t know.
Leahy: We don’t know the answer to that question. But apparently they don’t want to tell us. I would be very interested in finding out the answer to that question as well. But again, we don’t know whether he is or is not. But the general theme is, I get the impression that the most important people in Nashville…
Glover: For Mayor Briley.
Leahy: For Mayor Briley are illegal aliens who have committed additional crimes who are in custody. I think those are the most important people to him. Followed by illegal aliens who’ve not committed other crimes other than entering the country illegally. And then, behind that, actually citizens of the United States who are also residents of Davidson county.
Glover: And you know the sad part is, you don’t know what he’s thinking. Nor do I. He had the opportunity to be right here where we could sit down and talk about it and debate it.
Leahy: Yeah.
Glover: Look, no ands, ifs or buts. I wanted to debate this with him and ask him why he thought he had the privilege to do this and to put all our other folks in jeopardy here. But see, once again. You’re guessing what he would say. You’re guessing what he’s thinking. I am too. Because why? He’s not here.
Listen to the full hour:
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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 am to the Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
Photo “David Briley” by David Briley. Background Photo “Nashville City Hall” by Nicolas Henderson. CC BY 2.0.
Don’t forget about the 18 year old nanny raped in broad daylight by a criminal alien from Honduras. She was raped in front of two small children at Percy Priest Lake. ( the suspect was also linked to a second rape)