Trump’s Early Actions Put Tennessee Officials in Spotlight

Tennessee's federal elected officials have largely responded to President Donald Trump's inauguration and executive actions with enthusiastic support.

On Monday, Trump announced the pardoning, commutation of sentences and dismissing of cases of the more than 1,500 people charged in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. But on that subject, Sen. Marsha Blackburn had no response to reporters' questions in the halls of Congress.

Several Tennesseans were arrested, charged and convicted for their roles in the attack, including former Williamson County Sheriff's Office deputy in training, Ronald Colton “Colt” McAbee, who was sentenced to nearly six years in federal prison for taking part in the assaulting of several police officers.

Several high-profile leaders of the attack were released from prison just hours after Trump took office. It's unclear if McAbee, who has been incarcerated at Federal Medical Center Rochester, in Minnesota, has been released, as on Tuesday, the Federal Bureau of Prisons listed McAbee's release date as “unknown.”

Tennessee's lone federally elected Democrat, District 9 Rep. Steve Cohen, condemned Trump's pardons in a Jan. 20 statement.

“Making heroes out of traitors and violent individuals undermines our democracy and makes a mockery of our justice system,” he said in the statement which also spoke out against the president’s first day executive actions.

“Within minutes of being sworn in, Donald Trump reaffirmed the depth of his disdain for the rule of law and his uncontrollable authoritarian impulses,” Cohen said. “He is using imaginary emergencies to invoke extraordinary powers to ignore the law and circumvent the people’s representatives in Congress.”

Tennessee leaders ready for immigration policy

Blackburn and the state’s other representatives have praised Trump's immediate and ongoing immigration crackdown.

On Tuesday, Sen. Marsha Blackburn announced that she would be sponsoring the Preventing Violence Against Women By Illegal Aliens Act in the Senate, a bill that passed the House last week.

The bill would allow for the U.S. to deem undocumented people as “inadmissible” to the country if they are convicted of “acts constituting the essential elements of stalking, child abuse, child neglect, child abandonment, a sex offense, conspiracy to commit a sex offense, a violation of certain protection orders, or domestic violence (including physical or sexual abuse or a pattern of coercive behavior when it occurs within certain close relationships).”

It would also expand the list of sex crimes and domestic violence crimes convictions that could serve as a basis for deportation.

In March 2024, Blackburn introduced the Clear Law Enforcement for Criminal Alien Removal (CLEAR) Act and the Make the Migrant Protection Protocols Mandatory Act both of which she reintroduced last week.

If passed, the Make the MPP Mandatory Act would reinstate “Remain in Mexico” policies. The CLEAR Act would empower states to “investigate, identify, apprehend, arrest, detain, or transfer to Federal custody aliens in the United States (including the transportation of such aliens across State lines to detention centers), for the purposes of assisting in the enforcement of the immigration laws of the United States in the course of carrying out routine duties.”

The bill would allow state and local law enforcement agencies to be reimbursed by the federal government for the costs of immigration enforcement. It would also cut federal law enforcement funding for “sanctuary cities,” and see the creation of around 20 new immigration detention facilities.

In January 2024, Blackburn introduced the Creating Obstructions Necessary To Address Illegal and Nefarious Entry Rapidly Act (CONTAINER Act), which she is brining back this year. It would allow border states to create temporary structures on federal land to act as makeshift border barriers.

During the Jan. 3 convening of the 119th U.S. Congress, District 7 Rep. Mark Green was given his assignment to continue serving as Chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security. In a Jan. 20 statement he commended Trump’s hard-line stance on immigration.

“Today’s executive orders signify a restoration of American sovereignty at our borders,” Green said in the statement. “With this strong foundation, the House Committee on Homeland Security will hit the ground running to work with the Trump administration and other Committees of jurisdiction to fulfill our commitments to public safety and the security of the homeland.”

Tennessee’s District 5 Rep. Andy Ogles was newly added to the committee Green leads and in a Jan. 16 statement said it was “unacceptable that every state has become a border state.”

“From combating human trafficking to keeping dangerous drugs from entering our communities, we have much work to do,” Ogles said.

Soon after Ogles was elected in 2022, he came under scrutiny for his past claims of working in law enforcement and that he has been “involved in the fight against human trafficking” even though records seem to prove there may be more nuance to that claim.

Following Trump's inauguration, he announced a flurry of executive actions, including an attempt to end birthright citizenship, something that has already been met with a lawsuit from attorneys generals in more than two dozen states, and the designation of drug cartels and gangs as foreign terrorist organizations.

In 2023, Sen. Bill Hagerty led a border security roundtable discussion in Nashville with former Acting Director of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and now-Trump administration “Border Czar” Tom Homan and local law enforcement officials, including Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Director David Rausch.

That meeting saw Homan advocate for direct intervention from U.S. federal law enforcement officials and U.S. military special forces to combat cartels in Mexico, but when speaking with reporters, Hagerty and Rausch failed to directly address the potential impact to Americans on American soil if cartels are targeted further by U.S. law enforcement or in a military conflict.

On Wednesday, Gov. Bill Lee announced his administration’s five-point immigration agenda which will be taken up as part of the upcoming Tennessee legislature's special session.

State official appointed to new department

On Tuesday, the state’s District 2 Rep. Tim Burchett announced in a social media post on X, that he'd been selected to serve on the Trump administration's newly-established Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which will be “modernizing federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency and productivity.”

The agency will be headed by Elon Musk, the world's richest man who leads both SpaceX and Tesla, and who spent more than $200 million during the 2024 election backing Trump and other Republican candidates.

During Monday's inaugural celebrations, Musk spoke from behind a podium bearing the presidential seal and energetically saluted the crowd with an outstretched arm, an act that sparked some public outrage for its obvious allusion to the Nazi salute. Musk has not out-right denied the gesture was such but has clearly shown his objection with the comparison by sharing posts of Democrats with their own arms outstretched saying the media has not accused them of such a gesture.

The Anti-Defamation League said it was an “awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm, not a Nazi salute, but again, we appreciate that people are on edge.” However, the salute was met with support and celebration online from far right figures and social media accounts.