Tom Pappert, lead reporter at The Tennessee Star, said his investigation into Metro Nashville’s taxpayer funding for nonprofits that provide legal services to illegal aliens has expanded beyond Tennessee, with federal records indicating at least a dozen cities may have used Biden-era American Rescue Plan Act funds for similar programs.
Pappert discussed the findings during Tuesday’s edition of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show, a week after The Star reported that Metro Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell’s administration refused to release most records related to the nearly $1.5 million appropriated in the Fiscal Year 2027 budget for the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC) and Tennessee Justice for Our Neighbors (TNJFON).
The mayor’s office produced only five documents in response to The Star’s Tennessee Public Records Act request, asserting that records explaining or justifying the appropriations were protected by attorney-client privilege.
“We’ve had a couple different responses, but the mayor’s office specifically claimed that everything that they have that would justify or explain why they spent 1.5 million to provide, among other things, legal services for illegal immigrants and deportation, well, all of that is subject to attorney-client privilege and could not be released to The Tennessee Star,” Pappert said.
He added that his reporting has uncovered evidence that Nashville was not alone in using American Rescue Plan funds to support legal services for illegal aliens.
“I’ve been scanning federal documents, and believe it or not, there are at least 12 cities that I believe have engaged in similar operations to pay for lawyers and legal services for illegal aliens,” Pappert said.
He contrasted Nashville’s approach with programs implemented elsewhere.
“In, say, Portland, Oregon, it was a little bit different. The city itself had a program by which they would pay for illegal immigrants to have lawyers using the same exact Biden-era American Rescue Plan Act money as we saw in Nashville, Tennessee,” Pappert explained.
He added that Washington, D.C. also established “a grant program using this Biden-era American Rescue Plan Act money, which nonprofits could apply for in order to provide more legal services to illegal immigrants.”
Pappert said Tucson, Arizona, also appears to have directed American Rescue Plan funding to nonprofits providing legal representation to illegal aliens facing deportation proceedings.
“So we’ve got three so far that are two confirmed, one seems very likely. I found nine more cities in federal databases so far, major left-wing cities for the most part, but also the state of Illinois, that appear to have created similar systems,” he said.
According to Pappert, the investigation is still in its early stages.
“This is just the tip of the iceberg, so to speak, because these are cities and counties and states that directly told the Biden administration and the federal government, ‘We’re going to use your money to pay for lawyers for illegals,'” he said.
“Other cities, like Nashville, were a little bit more clever, where they took the money in for whatever reason, and then it went out to these nonprofits,” he added. “I would speculate that by the time we’re done with this series, it’s going to be a long one, we’re going to expose probably hundreds of cities across this great country that, when Biden was in office, decided they were going to use your federal tax dollars, ladies and gentlemen at home, to pay for lawyers to keep illegal aliens in your country.”
Pappert also discussed whether cities have continued funding the programs after American Rescue Plan funds expired, citing recommendations from the Vera Institute of Justice that temporary federal funding be used to establish permanent legal support programs.
“So far, it seems as though in Washington, D.C. and Tucson, they have maintained these programs. Whether they’re still using the remnants of their Biden money or they’re using a different funding source, I have yet to determine,” Pappert said.
He noted that Washington’s legal support program predates American Rescue Plan funding, while Portland appears to have ended its city-run initiative in 2024, though he said he is continuing to investigate whether the city shifted support to nonprofit organizations instead.
When asked whether Metro Nashville’s approach was even more aggressive than Portland’s, Pappert replied, “At least when it comes to supporting illegal aliens, that does seem to be the case.”
“Maybe what it is is that Tennessee is a very efficient state, and for the most part, that’s a good thing. The Republicans in the General Assembly get things done well. The Congress representatives that we send to Washington do a good job. But perhaps the efficiency extends to the left, and Mayor Freddie O’Connell and the Metro Nashville Council are just better at being pro-illegal alien than they are in Portland,” he added.
Pappert also argued that Metro Nashville has repeatedly attempted to avoid the intent of Tennessee law through narrow legal interpretations.
“I think that it goes back to our experience with the public records litigation with Covenant and this current episode we’re in now with these files, where Metro Nashville, they are too clever by half,” Pappert said.
“They think they can manipulate and use formalized definitions from the law to get out of doing what the law actually wants them to do. In other words, they are following the letter but not the spirit of the law,” he continued.
Pappert urged the Tennessee General Assembly to revise state law governing metropolitan appropriations to nonprofit organizations and public records requirements.
“I would implore them, change how metropolitan governments are able to fund these nonprofits. Change the public records requirements in order for people to see what the money is actually going for. That is something they can do, and that is something that Metro Nashville will have no defense for except to figure out how they can use and abuse the laws once they have been changed yet again,” he said.
— Michael Patrick Leahy (@michaelpleahy) July 21, 2026
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network.
