WKNO TRANSCRIPT
CHRISTOPHER BLANK (HOST): Protests are growing across the country against the Trump Administration's crackdown on undocumented immigrants. Here in Tennessee, Republican lawmakers have welcomed Trump's actions, and just as the president has called for sanctions against California's governor, the state GOP is thinking along similar lines. With us again is political analyst Otis Sanford. Welcome back.
OTIS SANFORD: Thank you, Chris. Thank you for having me.
BLANK: Nashville Mayor Freddie O'Connell is a vocal critic of what ICE has been doing in his city. And he's made it clear that their local police won't be helping with that. But the mayor additionally requires daily reports to be made about federal interactions there. This has enraged state Republicans who say it threatens to reveal the identities of ICE agents and also interfere with their operations. So state leaders have filed a new bill that could remove elected officials for sharing any information "related to specific future immigration enforcement operational activities." Otis, first of all, why should a mayor get these kind of reports in the first place?
SANFORD: I'm not sure that he needs to get it in that much of a detailed fashion, Chris. I think both sides are going too far here. Obviously, the mayor is on record as being an opponent of what's going on with these ICE raids. And it may be that he has the right and the authority to know the interactions that are going on. But to identify ICE agents is going way too far. But on the other hand, I think the legislature is overreacting here because they want to appease the administration of Donald Trump as much as they can.
BLANK: In the past, ousting politicians from office was a rare form of punishment in Tennessee, usually when a lawmaker commits a crime. But lately it's becoming a kind of go-to way of keeping Democrats in line. And there have been several local examples of that. So, why does this measure go too far in in your mind?
SANFORD: Mayors have a responsibility to protect and serve the citizens of their city. So, you can't just completely usurp the authority of a mayor just because you don't like some of the things that they're doing, as long as they are not violating a law. This is picking on the mayor of Nashville because he's a critic of the president in the crosshairs of Republicans who again want to appease this president.
BLANK: One surprise, I think, is that Memphis is usually the state's problem child. But we have heard surprisingly little on immigration from Mayor Paul Young. Why do you think that is?
SANFORD: First of all, Paul Young has a lot of other things to be worried about. Second, the immigration issue is not that big of an issue here in Shelby County. Paul Young does not want to antagonize a lot of Republicans in the legislature because he's trying to get along with them so he can, you know, get some of the things that Memphis needs and wants. But one of the big issues here that I see is that Republicans in the legislature just care more about trying to exact some controls over Nashville right now because Nashville is a growing city. It's a popular city. It is making money. And they want to have some more control over there.
BLANK: In the meantime, Congress is also voting on Trump's spending bill. And various reports indicate this could pose some problems for Tennessee around healthcare and services for poor people. For one, 250,000 Tennesseans could lose their insurance. More than 700,000 could lose SNAP benefits of some kind. And many of those are elderly folks who get food through programs like Meals on Wheels. Hospitals like St. Jude could lose research funding. Rural areas could see more closures of small hospitals. To me, this seems like a quality-of-life issue that affects people across the state. But why don't Republican voters think this might affect them?
SANFORD: With all due respect, Republican voters are asleep at the switch here. And they are content to say: anything that this current administration wants goes. Hopefully, that won't be the sentiment going forward here. This should be one thing that the state legislators, Republicans, should be addressing, and they're not addressing. They are not looking out for the welfare of their citizenry, especially poor people. This is not a Memphis issue. This is not a Nashville issue. This is a statewide issue because, as you just said, a lot of rural areas in the state are going to be adversely impacted by this. You know, until people rise up and let their elected leaders know that this is not acceptable and until those elected leaders finally get a spine and do something about it, it's just going to continue to be open season on poor people, people of color, on people in need, children. It is outrageous what's going on here and people do need to speak up.
