From 2022 through 2024, Metro Nashville awarded nearly $3 million to the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC) using federal funds it received from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) of 2021, one of the top legislative achievements by former President Joe Biden.
The first sum of just over $1.8 million was awarded on June 7, 2022, when the Metro Nashville Council voted to give the money to TIRRC in order to fund 87 percent of a “two-year pilot program” to “expand critical immigration legal services in Davidson County.”
TIRRC’s initiative was purportedly eligible for the Biden-era stimulus program because the nonprofit offered to “expand critical immigration legal services in Davidson County,” where the pandemic money would assist “a diverse and vibrant immigrant population, many in need of immigrant legal services.” Specifically, it was meant to help TIRRC “provide essential services to keep families united and increase access to opportunities, scale TIRRC’s staff and program capacity, promote community education and legal services,” and “invest” in another nonprofit, the Tennessee Justice for Our Neighbors (TNJFON).
More ARPA money was sent to TIRRC on November 11, 2022, when the Metro Council approved an additional $272,042, funding the remaining 13 percent of the pilot program.
Some portion of the 2022 ARPA money was specifically awarded for TIRRC to transmit to TNJFON, but by time the Metro Council authorized another $1.6 million in ARPA funding on March 7, 2024, the money was divided by Metro between TIRRC and TNJFON.
Metro last year awarded an additional $797,484 to TIRRC, as well as $833,195 to TNJFON.
In total, TIRRC received almost $2.9 million in ARPA funds from June 2022 to March 2024.
TIRRC received the 2024 injection of ARPA money despite the publication of an independent, third-party audit outlining “material weaknesses” and “significant deficiencies” with TIRRC’s accounting during the previous year.
Though there is no public evidence indicating that TIRRC used its taxpayer money to help seed the fund, the Watkins Uiberol accounting firm found that in 2023, TIRRC neglected to track how $383,497 in taxpayer money sent as part of a contract with another group was ultimately spent, both failing to “adequately monitor” the money was used and whether the group complied with requirements to receive it.
It remains unclear whether the other nonprofit was TNJFON, as Watkins Uiberol did not name the organization TIRRC failed to monitor within its audit, though the accountants wrote that the money was first sent to TIRRC by Metro Nashville. The sum which was improperly monitored was labeled as “COVID-19 – Coronavirus State & Local Fiscal Recover Funds” in the audit.
The apparent failure to track how almost $400,000 in taxpayer money was spent had already been documented by the auditors before Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell announced the controversial “Belonging Fund” earlier this month, revealing the joint effort between Metro Nashville and the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee would support illegal immigrants affected by the Trump administration’s recent immigration enforcement in Nashville.
While O’Connell has insisted Nashville sent no taxpayer money to the fund, the mayor’s office said TIRRC was one of three nonprofits which provided more than $30,000 in seed money for the “Belonging Fund” when it was created.
Notably, while 42 U.S.C. 803(b)(3) authorizes local governments to transfer ARPA stimulus money to nonprofit organizations, Uniform Guidance issued by the the U.S. Treasury Department (USDT) in 2 CFR 200.331 explains that such governments are operating as pass-through entities, and are required to verify subrecipients like TIRRC comply with federal grant requirements.
Specifically, local governments must determine a subrecipient’s risk of failing to comply with federal grant requirements, the terms and conditions of individual awards, and must evaluate the subrecipient’s performance after transferring the federal money.
The circumstances under which TIRRC received nearly $3 million in Biden-era pandemic spending come to light as U.S. Representative Andy Ogles (R-TN-05) has requested congressional probes into O’Connell for his actions in response to federal immigration enforcement, including establishing the “Belonging Fund.”
“We would have an investigation, we would turn over our findings to the Justice Department. Then, of course, they would review it from there,” said Ogles during a recent appearance on The Michael Patrick Leahy Show.
He later told Michael Patrick Leahy, the editor-in-chief of The Tennessee Star, “Keep in mind, there’s federal dollars that go to the city of Nashville and again, if they’re funneling that money to a nonprofit that’s aiding illegals and evading federal law enforcement, that would be a crime. So there’s a lot to unpack here, and we’re being proactive and holding them accountable.”
O’Connell has claimed he has no cause for concern, and previously contemplated a lawsuit against the Trump administration, suggesting without evidence that it could be arresting people who were authorized to be in the country but driving without proof of their legal status.
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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].
Investigate and prosecute
The Left launders our tax money through multiple groups. Throw United Way of Greater Nashville too as they circulate corporate funds to Conexion Americas, Catholic Charities and others. The government outsources its civil rights violations, for example the Censorship Industrial Complex. Prohibited gain of function research. Even funding shadow groups to malign their political opponents at home and abroad. Undermining foreign electiins and domestic ones alike.
Despite Trump winning, the future of this country remains teetering on the edge because of the rot.
I wake up most mornings not wanting to know what I know about our government. Grant funding of so called non profits is a money laundering scheme that most of those involved are not even aware of. Ending the practice of theft impacts the well intended. That was by design. Those directly responsible are shielded from prosecution. Stop voting for people who are unaware. Gumby politicians are rubber stamping the fleecing of Taxpayers at the local, state and federal level.
there has to be wrong doings in there somewhere.
So, the Feds and Metro are spending money in Nashville to keep illegals here??? Shame.
What idiots we are; to allow an invasion that is impossible to undo for decades. Think before you vote.
I am so tired of people stuffing pockets. They hand out money like it’s Christmas and no one is responsible for where it goes
Every member of the council should be sitting in a jail cell.