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Rutherford County Mayor Joe Carr demands the censure of a county commissioner for calling the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement a “terrorist organization.”
Carr, a Republican, criticized Rutherford County Commissioner Hope Oliver for what the elected Democrat said about ICE during an Aug. 25 Public Safety Committee meeting.
Oliver’s comment in question followed public comment speakers’ concerns about the presence of ICE in Rutherford County.
“ICE has been an organization that’s been around for a long time, but it has not been emboldened (as) a terrorist organization like it’s turning out to be,” said Oliver, who represents a District 1 with many minoritiese in north La Vergne. Audience members responded with loud applause and hollers to show their agreement.
Rutherford County Commissioner Hope Oliver, for District 1 speaks out at a Public Safety Committee meeting, on Monday, Aug. 25, 2025, where many people spoke out and demonstrated against the possibility of the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Department signing a a contract with ICE.
Oliver’s comments come after President Donald Trump ordered ICE in January to carry out significant detainments and deportations of immigrants without documented legal status to be in the U.S.
The president’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, passed by Congress this summer, also includes extra funding to support ICE efforts.
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Carr opposes comments, supports ICE
Regan Gomez holds a ÒICE Out of TennesseeÓ sign along with other anti-ICE signs during the public speaking portion of the Rutherford County Public Safety Committee meeting on Monday, Aug. 25, 2025.
The county mayor two days after the public safety meeting rebuked the comments from Oliver about ICE on a WGNS Radio show.
“A terrorist organization, as defined by the U.S. government, is like Mexican cartels enslaving of children for sex trafficking, raping women and beheading men,” Carr told The Daily News Journal Sept. 2.
“It was a horribly egregious and a horrible thing to say.”
Joe Carr
The mayor said ICE agents should not be compared to terrorists.
“They are just enforcing the laws of the country for those who are here unlawfully,” Carr said.
A former state representative from 2008-2014, Carr advocated for Tennessee legislation on immigration policy, including a law in 2011 requiring employers to use the federal government’s E-Verify online records to confirm the eligibility of employees to work in the U.S.
Carr also touts about writing the nation’s first state law prohibiting sanctuary cities in 2009.
The mayor suggested the Republican majority 21-member County Commission hold Oliver accountable by censuring her unless she’s willing to recant what she said and apologize. The commission also includes two Democrats and three independents.
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Oliver stands by her comments about ICE: ‘It’s racial profiling’
Hope Oliver
Oliver told the DNJ that she stands by what she said about unidentifiable ICE agents.
“We see it every day in the media masked (ICE agents) attacking people and terrorizing people,” Oliver said.
“They are claiming to be ICE, but they are not showing any identification, no warrants, and they’re masked. How do we know who they are? That is not right.”
Oliver said local law enforcement officers identify themselves.
“They are a part of our community,” said Oliver, who noted the presence of school resource officers and others in law enforcement.
“We see them in the grocery store. We go to church with them. We see them at the ball game. We know who they are.”
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Oliver: Immigrants detained by ICE ‘need to have due process’
Commissioner Oliver during the Aug. 25 public safety committee meeting praised local law enforcement.
Oliver also told the DNJ that immigrants detained by ICE “need to have due process.”
“It’s racial profiling,” Oliver said. “You don’t see them picking up white people. They are picking up brown and black people.”
Oliver said Carr’s opinion of her comments is “his problem, not mine.”
“As far as rebuke is concerned, his party has someone in office (who has been investigated on charges of) inciting an insurrection (that led to) assaulting and killing of police officers,” Oliver said.
“So the rebuke needs to start within his own party.”
Oliver’s comments to the DNJ allude to Trump’s speech to supporters — which has been criticized by some — ahead of the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, when Congress was in session to certify the election of then Democratic President-elect Joe Biden.
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Leader of county’s Democratic Party supports Oliver
Matt Fee
Matt Fee, the chair of the Rutherford County Democratic Party, responded to the mayor’s radio comments by posting a social media video in support of what Oliver said about ICE.
“She did not say anything that was inaccurate,” Fee told the DNJ. “What else are you supposed to call ICE agents when they are all over the streets in America masked and unidentified. What they’re doing has a chilling affect on communities where they are afraid to call for police support when a crime is happening. What ICE is doing is not in support of public safety.”
Fee noted that he along with Oliver were among those who attended a town hall meeting in May pertaining to immigrants, law enforcement in La Vergne and emergency medical services.
La Vergne Police Chief Christopher Moews organized the town hall event because he suspects deportation fears might have contributed to a delayed emergency call for a 6-month-old baby, who died around Easter. The chief urged people at the meeting to call 911 for emergencies.
Impact of ICE enforcement: Death of 6-month-old baby ties to immigration, emergency service concerns in La Vergne
Commissioner Harris backs Oliver’s ‘right to say whatever she wants’
Craig Harris
Any effort by the county commission to censure Oliver would typically start with the Steering, Legislative and Governmental committee led by Chairman Craig Harris.
“We are not going to do that,” Harris told the DNJ. “I haven’t had any commissioner call me to do that.”
Harris also said he supports Rutherford County Sheriff Mike Fitzhugh’s approach in notifying ICE after the arrest of foreign-born people on criminal charges in Rutherford.
The sheriff told the audience at the Aug. 25 public safety meeting that his office since 1996 has adhered to any federal detainment warrant on immigrants for 48 hours after they’ve completed required sentences before release for ICE agents to pick up.
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Harris disagrees with comments, but calls censure retaliation
Commissioner Harris said he disagrees with what Oliver said about ICE even if he opposes censuring her.
“She as a commissioner has a right to say whatever she wants,” said Harris, who announced June 24 that he’s campainging for county mayor in 2026 to replace Carr.
“I just think this is nothing but retaliation.”
Carr previously considered for censure
Oliver and Harris in 2024 were among 11 commissioners who voted to censure Carr after the mayor had signed a constract for a solid waste transfer station project without first obtaining the required approval of the Purchasing Committee he leads as chairman.
Government accountability: Rutherford commission censures Mayor Joe Carr for signing waste contract without approval
Carr: It’s not about ‘retaliation’ but ‘distorted’ facts
The mayor disclosed his mistake on signing the solid waste transfer station contract before obtaining approval of the Purchasing Committee, which includes county commissioners distrustful of his leadership.
Carr said his call for the commission to censor Oliver for her public comments about ICE is not retaliation.
“She doesn’t get to falsely accuse ICE for doing what a terrorist organization does,” Carr said. “She has her facts wrong, and they are terribly distorted.”
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Carr contends that Oliver should be held accountable for what she said as an elected official at a public meeting about ICE.
“It is her First Amendment right, but she doesn’t get to exercise her First Amendment right with impunity,” the mayor said.
“As a public official, she doesn’t have a right to say things that are factually untrue without consequences.”
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Reach reporter Scott Broden with news tips or questions by emailing him at sbroden@dnj.com. To support his work with The Daily News Journal, sign up for a digital subscription.
This article originally appeared on Murfreesboro Daily News Journal: Rutherford Co. Mayor Carr rebukes commissioner calling ICE terrorists
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