A Chorus of Nothing
🃏 Riddle me this · O'Connell rejects Trump deportation offer · More ICE Blowback · Repeat offender all-star · Esquire profiles Bargatze · Much more!
Good afternoon, everyone.
Short of deputizing MNPD against ICE and the Department of Homeland Security, it’s unclear what recourse city officials seek in their efforts to act against federal deportation operations. We asked O’Connell this morning at his weekly roundtable if he would be sharing the offer put forth by DHS of $1,000 plus free travel for those who self-deport, and he gave what amounts to a hard no, falling back on the results of a poll to support his position. Read Megan’s coverage on the matter below.
What you'll begin to see in reporting on immigration in the city is how tightly bound non-profits like TIRRC, media outlets like the Banner, and representatives of the Metro government actually are. For all intents and purposes, they are working in unison towards the same ends. At this juncture, that is to throw up a chorus of complaints and assist illegals in avoiding federal law enforcement.
Just to repeat the obvious: Metro's fight against the feds is less likely to result in the protection of those they seek to protect than it is to give them a false sense of hope, leading to escalating ICE encounters.
As unpalatable as the whole situation is, the gross negligence of federal authorities and their failure to enforce immigration laws for decades, as they offered substanceless, impossible promises that those here illegally will be “safe,” leads to outcomes like this. It is a galactic moral failure that dishonors all party to it, including you and me.
In more cerebral matters, got a simple riddle today. Share it with your friends and family. Tell them to subscribe to The Pamphleteer. Reply with your answer. The first person to respond with the correct answer will get a $50 Southwest travel voucher. Here's the riddle:
A billiard ball with a small black dot on the exact top is rolled around a circle of radius equal to that of the ball. Assume no slippage or twisting. Where is the black dot when the ball returns to its original position?
Reply to this email with your answer.
Onward, Davis.
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🧊 More ICE Blowback Frustration with Metro officials over last weekend’s ICE operations in Nashville boiled over during the council’s special called meeting on Public Health & Safety on Monday. When asking Legal Director Wally Dietz “how Metro can live up to its promise of not separating families,” Councilmember Zulfat Suara expressed frustration over the mixed signals sent by Nashville officials.
“I want our citizens to trust us,” said Suara. “I want our citizens, when we say something, to believe that's what it is. If MNPD and our law enforcement is going to cooperate with ICE, that's fine. Just tell us, then we'll figure it out. But if we're not, then we need to be proactive and intentional about it.”
Councilmember Sandra Sepulveda took a different approach. During a series of questions directed at the legal director and MNPD, Sepulveda asked about jurisdiction and whether MNPD can “start enforcing and pulling over the ICE agents who are terrorizing our community” for tinted windows and other infractions.
Later in the conversation, she took aim at a social media post allegedly made by a former MNPD “El Protector,” which is a bilingual officer assigned to work with Nashville’s Hispanic community.
“I saw, today, a post from his Facebook account responding to someone saying, ‘Civil crime is crime. If you are here illegally, it is time to consider going back where you came from,’” said Sepulvenda. “My question is, for the El Protector program, how often is it evaluated and who is in charge of appointing that officer?”
Nashville SuperTalk 99.7 conservative radio host Matt Murphy has since requested for Immigration Czar Tom Homan to look into the council member. “Yes. I’m calling for [Homan] to investigate Metro Councilwoman Sandra Sepulveda for possible violation of 8 USC 1324,” Murphy posted on X. “She is aiding and abetting, [in my opinion].”
On Monday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced that the US government is offering illegals $1,000 and paid travel if they leave the country. "Self-deportation is the best, safest and most cost-effective way to leave the United States to avoid arrest," said Noem. While the option hasn’t been brought up during press conferences relating to the recent ICE operations in Nashville, President Trump has indicated that a pathway to citizenship may be available to those who choose to turn themselves in.
✈️ Mayor Rejects Trump Voluntary Deportation During today's media roundtable, Mayor O'Connell expressed that he does not intend to encourage those living illegally in Nashville to take advantage of the Trump Administration's voluntary deportation incentives.
“Generally know that we're focused, especially after we've seen Imagine Nashville and knowing that particularly our foreign-born residents have a very measurably higher level of belonging in this city, we would not want to disrupt that.”
Chief John Drake was also in attendance. He told the press he hadn’t become aware of this weekend’s ICE operations until the mayor’s office contacted him midday on Sunday. “I want to begin by reiterating that our police department had no knowledge of any ice enforcement going on this past weekend,” he said.
Chief Drake also addressed the hesitation growing among the community to contact the police. “We rely on everyone, regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, birthplace, to call us when they need help to report a crime,” said Drake. “We have our precision policing model. Precision policing is a do no harm approach to where we identify the individuals that are committing a harm and we do something with them, meaning we arrest people that are committing crimes, regardless of race, gender, etc.”
DEVELOPMENT
- NYC real estate titan pays $112M for Midtown tower (Post)
- Pie Town site eyed for residential project (Post)
✹ REPEAT OFFENDER ALL-STAR OF THE DAY
Torion Bean Jr. stole a Dodge Charger and killed 26‑year‑old Kimberly Benezue when he crashed it into her Mazda. Bean then fled the scene on foot, evading law enforcement for more than two years until his arrest earlier this week. As is tradition in Nashville, Bean has a lengthy prior criminal history and, at the time of the accident, was on probation for possessing a gun as a convicted felon. He became a felon after a 2018 crime spree resulting in two felony counts of vehicle theft and three felony counts of robbery. He is currently held at the Downtown Detention Center on $150,000 bond. (More Info)
✹ NATE BARGATZE GETS THE LAST LAUGH
Last year, Nate Bargatze, the forty-six-year-old comedian from Tennessee, sold more tickets to his stand-up shows than anyone else in comedy—including Jerry Seinfeld, Dave Chappelle, and Sebastian Maniscalco combined. That’s more than one million tickets for an $80 million haul. In October, he hosted Saturday Night Live for the second time in twelve months. Two months later, his third hour-long comedy special for Netflix premiered. Every week, you can hear his musing on the Nateland podcast. On May 6, his first book, Big Dumb Eyes, comes out, followed by another tour of arenas.
Bargatze is, quite simply, the most successful stand-up comedian working today.
THINGS TO DO
View our calendar for the week here.
📅 Visit our On The Radar list to find upcoming events around Nashville.
🎧 On Spotify: Pamphleteer's Picks, a playlist of our favorite bands in town this week.
👨🏻🌾 Check out our Nashville farmer's market guide.
TONIGHT
🎸 Wilco with Waxahatchee @ The Pinnacle, 7:30p, $102+, Info
🎸 Amy Grant @ Ryman Auditorium, 8p, $45+, Info
🪕 Authentic Unlimited @ Station Inn, 9p, $25, Info
🎸 Florist @ The Blue Room, 7p, $22.10, Info
🎻 Barber, Winger and Copeland @ Schermerhorn Symphony Center, 7:30p, $29+, Info
🎸 Wilco with Waxahatchee @ The Pinnacle, 7:30p, $102+, Info
🪕 The Cowpokes @ Acme Feed & Seed, 12p, Free, Info
🍀 Live Irish Music @ McNamara’s Irish Pub, 6p, Free, Info
🎸 Kelley’s Heroes @ Robert’s Western World, 6:30p, Free, Info
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Today's newsletter is brought to you by Megan Podsiedlik (Nashville), Camelia Brennan (Local Noise), and Davis Hunt (everything else).