NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — ICE Agents will stop wearing masks when protesters stop wearing them.
That's from Republican Speaker of the House Cameron Sexton (R) TN, who recently visited the White House to come up with immigration bills for the upcoming legislative session.
Sexton came on Inside Politics to discuss the Republican Super-majority's plans this session.
He did the interview just prior to the ice storm last week and before last weekend's shooting of another protester in Minnesota.
Sexton discussed some of the immigration bills that he worked on with White House officials, who said they want to make Tennessee a model for the rest of the nation.
He expects to pass a bill requiring public schools to determine whether students are here legally.
"What I will tell you is we should at least ask if they have legal status to come into our schools, not to remove them, but to define and see how big of a problem it is," Sexton said.
The disturbing scenes of protest in Minnesota are not stopping Tennessee lawmakers from cracking down further on illegal immigration here, with a focus on Nashville.
"Nashville is not a Sanctuary City, but they are allowing people to live here that are illegal that they probably know. And they are just turning a blind eye. Yeah I think they probably are," Sexton said.
He said it was appropriate for ICE Agents to wear masks - even though police officers do not.
He was asked, "If they are just arresting people who have committed some kind of crime, why do they have to hide their face?"
Sexton responded, "Well they are doing it to protect their families and their children because they are being doxed," which is the act of publicly revealing their identities.
Sexton also said, "Everybody wants to look at ICE and say they're wearing masks, they shouldn't.
Well, you got all the protesters wearing masks, they shouldn't. Why are they wearing masks? Well, more than likely, because what we know is they are being paid. There's a lot of paid protesters up there and you get paid more by the more chaos you do."
Sexton also said he also hopes to add another 20,000 voucher scholarships to the 40,000 that were approved last year.
They pay about $7300 for students to go to private school - and have been very popular.
But many students who get the scholarships are already in private school.
He was asked on Inside Politics, "Are you satisfied this is really getting new kids into private school or is it just subsidizing people who are already there?"
Sexton responded, "Well my question is, Are those not taxpayers? Do they not pay taxes in our state? Do those families who are sending kids to private school currently, why is that wrong?"
And Sexton said he is filing a bill to take power away from Metro on the East Bank development and give more power to the East Bank Authority Board that he sits on.
He was asked on Inside Politics, "Do you trust Metro?"
Sexton responded, "Well there's two hats on that one. As Speaker and a member of the General Assembly, there's a lot of leftist policies, we don't agree with the Metro Council and what they are trying to do. And I don't think they agree with everything we are doing. I think from that standpoint of when you create an East Bank Authority, but they have no authority, that's misrepresentation."
You can see the entire discussion, which again took place just before the ice storm, on Inside Politics, which airs Friday at 7pm and throughout the weekend on NewsChannel 5 Plus.
It is also available as a podcast.
Just download Inside Politics Nashville wherever you get your podcasts and start listening.
