Editor's notebook: U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles dishonors Memorial Day with political stunt

Yahoo

27-05-2025

U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles, Republican of Tennessee's 5th District, at Memorial Day press conference with, from left, Reps. Kip Capley, Lee Reeves, Gino Bulso and Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson. (Photo: John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout)
Many Tennesseans, elected officials and regular people alike, used the Memorial Day holiday as it was intended: to honor the men and women who died in military service to the U.S.
So it's not unusual to see a lawmaker holding forth on the solemn federal holiday. Among those Monday was U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles, Republican of Tennessee's 5th District, who held a press conference at the Tennessee Capitol.
But Ogles and his fellow speakers didn't dwell on military service or the significance of the day, beyond a couple of throwaway comments to acknowledge that yes, it was Memorial Day.
No, Ogles — who rarely makes public appearances in Nashville — opted to harangue the small group of reporters present about the perceived 'immigrant invasion' of Nashville and to denigrate Nashville Mayor Freddie O'Connell.
There's much to take apart here, including that 'public' part of public appearance is doing a lot of work. The group included about 10 members of the media, all of whom had to RSVP after receiving an announcement about the event at 3:15 p.m. Friday.
Not allowed in the Capital? Members of the media who didn't make it onto the list, protesters and even a visiting couple who just wanted to check out the digs.
The congressman railed about 'his home,' presumably referring to Nashville. But Ogles grew up in Williamson County, lives in Maury County and was flanked at his press conference by three Williamson County lawmakers, one Lawrence County representative and one 'Nashville mother and victim of illegal alien gang violence.'
Dr. Deborah Newitz, the latter, was the victim of a Williamson County home break-in by four men, who, she said, she later learned were 'part of an extensive organized nationwide group of South American illegal immigrants.'
'Among jewelry and cash, these men stole several family heirlooms and a box of inexpensive but irreplaceable Mother's Day gifts from my children made for me when they were young,' said Newitz.
I don't condone break-ins, and I was the victim of one when I was home: it's terrifying and you lose your feeling of security. So I don't make light of Newitz's fear. But if the only crime victim Ogles could come up with was a resident of Tennessee's wealthiest county who kept talking about 'our mayor' — referring to O'Connell, when her mayor is Brentwood's Nelson Andrews — he's got weak sauce.
Then, there's Ogles' weeks-long beef with O'Connell — not even news at this point — which stems from a recent two-week period during which U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement teamed up with the Tennessee Highway Patrol to conduct traffic stops in predominantly immigrant areas of Nashville. The agencies detained 196 immigrants who are allegedly in the country without permanent legal status.
But are they really? We don't know, and neither does O'Connell, who has fired off letters to ICE demanding to get the names of those detained and what they have been charged with.
Tensions run high among officials, community organizations after ICE enforcement in Nashville
Bless O'Connell's heart. Even as Nashvillians on the left cry he's not done enough to push back on the feds, here's Ogles announcing the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security — which is chaired by Tennessee 7th District Rep. Mark Green, who did not attend the presser — and the U.S. House Judiciary Committee will investigate O'Connell's actions on the immigrant raids.
Investigate O'Connell for what? Does the Judiciary Committee not have better things to do than spend resources to delve into the nefarious intentions of a strongly worded letter?
Ogles made a mockery of Memorial Day by choosing to hold a xenophobic stunt and branding it as patriotic.
More than 750 immigrants are recipients of the Medal of Honor — the highest award in the country recognizing military service members for acts of bravery and heroism above and beyond the call of duty. A calculation shows that over 21% of the 3,528 total recipients of the Medal of Honor have been immigrants.
Many, though not all, Medal recipients receive the award posthumously, having died in service, and not all of the immigrants who received the award became naturalized citizens. And that's to say nothing of the 760,000 immigrants who, according to the Immigrant Learning Center, have served in the military over the last 100 years.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services reports having naturalized more than 187,000 members of the military since 2002, with 52,000 of those coming in the 2020-2024 period.
It's incredibly unpatriotic of Ogles to hijack a revered federal holiday and spit in the faces of immigrants who have served this country for his political stunt.
Ogles and his other guests, which included Metro Nashville Councilmember David Benton, Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson and Reps. Lee Reeves and Gina Bulso, all Williamson County Republicans, talked about immigration in terms of 'the rule of law.'
I asked Ogles, during the brief question and answer session, about his own issues with the rule of law — he's been the subject of a federal investigation over allegations he violated federal campaign finance laws — but he quickly cut me off.
Spectacles have become Ogles' thing. Days after President Donald Trump assumed his second term in office, Ogles proposed amending the 22nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to permit Trump a third term in office. He proposed a bill to strip the District of Columbia of home rule.
These stunts may be his way of distracting from his finance irregularities and stories about his tendency to inflate his resume.
Elected in 2022 in a gerrymandered district, he managed to beat back both a primary and general election challenger in 2024, but he's sure to have another strong primary opponent in 2026 and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has made Ogles a political target.
He may find his stunts, disrespect of lawmakers in the district and attacks on immigrants turn out the 2026 vote — but not in a way that will favor him.
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