The Metro Nashville Council told The Tennessee Star on Friday that it has identified as many as 1,548 emails that could include documents justifying the nearly $1.5 million granted to two pro-illegal alien nonprofits, but estimated the documents will not be ready for public release until November 13.
The Star filed the public records request after Mayor Freddie O’Connell requested $735,000 for the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC) and $718,000 for Tennessee Justice for Our Neighbors (TNJFON), which both provide legal services, advice, or attorneys to illegal aliens facing deportation.
A spokesman for the Metro Council told The Star that Metro Information Technology Services (ITS) identified “approximately 1,548 potentially responsive emails,” and stated that the Metro Council calculated an “estimated date of production based upon a review of 100 emails per week.”
The Star sent its public records request to Nashville on June 11. It received responses from the Metro Clerk, the Metro Council, and the Office of the Mayor, which all replied to the Tennessee Public Records Act (TPRA) request in different methods.
The Metro Nashville Clerk first replied by providing The Star with 51 emails, which revealed an overlap between Mayor Freddie O’Connell’s campaign and TNJFON, but produced no documents to explain why Metro granted nearly $1.5 million to TIRRC and TNJFON.
O’Connell’s office has since claimed all relevant documents are subject to attorney-client privilege and cannot be released.
These responses come despite TCA 7-3-314(b), Tennessee’s law that requires nonprofits to submit documents when seeking grant funding from metropolitan governments. The law additionally mandates cities make these documents available for public inspection.
A spokesman for the Metro Clerk’s office, citing legal advice emails that were provided by the Metro Law Department, told The Star that Metro was only held to TCA 7-3-314(c), which requires contracts with nonprofits to be made publicly available after they are signed.
The Metro Council passed its budget for Fiscal Year (FY) 2027, including the nearly $1.5 million for TIRRC and TNJFON, early last month.
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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. Background Photo “Nashville City Hall” by Luckiewiki. CC BY-SA 4.0.
Well said Seth!
And they won’t be fully available until AFTER the election. How ’bout that.
Nothing can justify illegal activity. Freddie and council should be held accountable.
There is no excuse for spending this money on people that do not even belong here, when so many of our on people are still needing help. We know where your loyalty lays.
Freddie is working really hard along with the corrupt Metro council to cover their blatant budget blunder they were caught red handed doing thinking they could sneak it past the citizens and no one would notice. What a disgusting mayor and council.
This is an unjustified misuse of taxpayer money, people should go to jail for this.