What are some of the reasons that people in the community are brought in and detained? For instance.

ICE is involved in departmental sec­­urity and most of this is available on the website. We are tasked with enforcing as well as National Security and Public Safety tasks. So that means not at the border, but our sister agents are charged with interior border protection. The borders and they are the ones checking visas as people go through at points. Also looking at goods that are moved into the country and insuring that they have all the proper documentation.

So what we do at ICE as far as completing our mission to protect the border from cross border crime and illegal immigration is that we are ensuring that the illegal movement of people and goods is minimized or limited based on INA.  So the INA is the federal law that provides jurisdiction, to our Agency, necessary to enforce the laws that are written there. There are general classes of aliens, that are ineligible to receive visas or they are ineligible to enter this country. That is spelled out very clearly in our Constitution under the Immigration & Nationality Act.  When you ask about instances where we would be looking for people, they always need to be related to Public Safety, terrorism, or illegal immigration, it must have one of those three components in order for us to have any interest in that individual.

If you look more closely at the INA, which I really recommend you do, there are two different sections; there is the Section 212 and Section 237. Section 212 will give you the general classes of the major groups of individuals that would be served with a notice to appear and go to court, because they are here illegally; and one is illegal entry and the other is communicable disease, drug abuse, moral turpitude, control substance and multiple criminal convictions, espionage and terrorism activity. Also, Nazi persecution or genocide, it they can traced back to other countries where they participated in their country’s genocide, where we have had cases going back to Rwanda where those people who were participating in the killing of their people, were hiding out in our country, and we would not come across them until that point.

So that is under Section 212, and under Section 237, it goes on to explain what categories of individuals would be eligible for deportation or removal. So one is, they would get a day in court, another way is a Lawyer could give them other options.

The other section goes over whether or not someone would be qualified to be removed and that includes people who violate a status that they are here under. If they did come here on a visa, and just never left, just like in many other countries there would be a consequence. Those people are not entitled to a day in court because they have already been allowed to renew and did not take all the steps so they can be immediately removed. In addition to that, there is also alien smuggling, so if someone is bringing groups of other people across the border, you’ve probably heard about the tractor trailers across the South, where it happens quite often. It also happens in the interior, in different cases where they might be moving, people who are not in control of their own identities or their own payroll. That is what we classify as Human Smuggling. If they obtain a Visa by fraud, or if they have a conviction of a crime of moral turpitude within five years of entry that can also constitute an automatic removal. Aggravated felons, controlled substances or firearm offenses, or mostly because they are not citizens, they do not qualify for firearms. Also, domestic violence will fall under that, violation of a protective order, or false claim to a United States citizen, or lying to law enforcement, and finally any terrorist activities. So 237 is basically saying that any of these people can be removed without a hearing. However, most are usually summoned to appear at a hearing, at the Immigration Court, which is not under Homeland Security, but under the Department of Justice. And then those judges will hear both sides, the side of the government and what their case is, and whether or not that person is removable, is not here on a legal basis, and that individual has the opportunity to have Counsel, and representation at that hearing, and ultimately the Judge decides if they stay or go… or if they have a bond or any other situation, that our Agency is tasked with carrying out the orders issued by that Judge.

How do people who are unlawfully here go from living in the community to being detained by one of your agents? If someone is arrested, for example, does the jail notify you as to their arrest?

That’s a great question. Actually what happens is that if that person has never been encountered before, they are probably able to live quite some time within the community. There could be instances where they commit a crime in their country of origin or maybe wanted on Interpol, but they can sometimes go 10 or 15 years, that happens all the time. In other cases, if someone interacts with local law enforcement, once you are fingerprinted that goes into a national data base that then is distributed to both Homeland Security and the FBI. If that person got in through our Southern, or Northern border or a port of entry, and they were provided a notice to appear because perhaps they did not have a Visa when they came in, and they were given a date because our court system is so backed up. It could be three years down the road.

If they do not show up for that court date and then go live in a community for five, 10 or 15 years, they could do that, and probably not ever hear from us.

So living under the radar is a risk, but what is the benefit of appearing at the court date for the notice to appear to get their citizenship?

Absolutely not. To get your citizenship you go through a different Agency. The Citizenship and Immigration Service Agency, which is also under DHS. The reason they are having consequences is that they are here illegally. So maybe it is better for them not to go to court.

Do Milwaukee officers, if they come across a drunk driver, do they contact a local ICE agent?

As soon as someone is fingerprinted, it goes into a national database, and that database then flags DHS as well as the FBI for that individual. It those prints are in the system, they become a target. It’s not the jails that contact us, we have officers that continually monitor different public sites that have individuals listed there for that reason. If we can take custody from a local jurisdiction without having to go through a community, assuming they are in jail for a criminal offense, it reduces the risk our officers are taking and the community itself, because they are weaponized and do not want to take drastic measures at any time.

It’s a notification we receive through the national data base of all of our fingerprints.

So how or when does a person crossing the border get initially fingerprinted?

When someone presents themselves at the border, when you are served that notice to appear, you will be fingerprinted at the same time.

Once ICE is notified by the fingerprint database, do they know where to go to detain the person?

Manda: Well no…that is why our officers are trained as police, because they have to do investigations and a lot of background work. Sometimes people don’t stay at their given addresses. Or some give the wrong address, so sometimes it takes real detective work to find them.

So the jails don’t know if they have an (unauthorized immigrant)?

No not at all… and sometimes depending on the jurisdiction they specifically do not want to know.

So what is the point of the 287g then?

Oh. that is a great question. If our officers determine that we do have a person we are targeting in our local jails, that is when we serve a detainer. A detainer is asking that jail, once he or she has served their time.. call us and we will take custody.

Let’s say an (unauthorized immigrant) is arrested for drunk driving, they first serve their time and then they are taken?

Actually, it’s up to each jurisdiction. Sometimes individuals would prefer to be removed then to sit in jail. That is worked out between the state and district attorneys.

It used to be that 287g was different than what it is today. Now 287g is only a jail model, that means that ICE enters to memorandums of understanding with a facility that says, we will train an officer in immigration law, in everything our officers are aware of that could include weapons training, or hand to hand combat. In return, that local facility instead of contacting ICE, every time they have an individual who meets the standard or already has a removal order from a Judge, then that officer can make that initial interview. 

For example, there is only one 287g program in the whole Chicago AOR.. which includes  Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri and Wisconsin. In the last year, they have only had one case that was fitted from having that officer there and that individual was not even removable.

What do your field agents at your various offices do?

They would do the same thing as any other officer around the country. There are three different divisions, one is fugitive operations, this is where individuals already have a removal order. They are in this case doing the police work to locate the individual and make the arrest. They document it and fill out the reports, a big component of what they do.

In addition, they have the criminal alien program. That is where they have officers who are monitoring jail rolls, sometimes they will go courthouses and see who is on the docket there, for a variety of different crimes, and then see if they match any of the targets for their region or their state. Often times it could be we thought they were in Milwaukee, but now they are in Kansas City, and it actually takes an officer to determine that and pass it off.

The third category is our alternative to detention. These are people who have already been arrested or apprehended and have been served an NTA, and there is area of that enforcement or removal operation that monitors..like probation or ankle monitors. They are expected to check in at certain times, they may or may not already been before a Judge.

The other piece I have not mentioned is Homeland Security investigations. These are the ones that look closely at the prevention of terrorism, and combating illegal movement of people and goods. So they are conducting investigations, on counterfeiting, human trafficking and cyber exploitation, money laundering… all different things.

After serving local sentences, where does ICE hold the detainees?

It depends because some facilities have Video Tele-Conferencing options. If they have that option, sometimes ICE will work with that facility to enable that person to appear via VTC, before they are released. Otherwise, if they are released and ICE takes custody, yes, they can wait in a different facility until they are removed.

There are immigration courts all across the country, and if that individual would want to live in Indiana after their local release, there is a court there in Indiana so they might be transferred somewhere closer to that court. Or like from Milwaukee, the closest court for immigration is in Chicago. So it could be that they then would be moved closer to Chicago.

If it is determined that someone is (an unauthorized immigrant)… what is the outcome likely to be? Do 100% …get deported? What would the purpose of a court date if 100% did get deported?

Another good question! We don’t keep a record of wins or losses. It’s up to the courts to decide. So it’s hard to give you a percentage. I can tell you in our last quarter date, from February 2018 Quarter 1 – Quarter 3, that we removed 189,000 people from just the six state area.

The post We Ask, ICE Answers appeared first on Disappeared: 10,000 and Counting.

Aissa Olivarez, staff attorney at Community Immigration Law Center

She began by saying that she’s noticed a lack of discretion by ICE, in that they are much more aggressive than ever before, disregarding certain precautions about pending charges and minor offenses. “Now, we’re just seeing it be done with little discretion,” she said.

Basically, there are no punches pulled under the new administration. A good deal of undocumented citizens without a criminal record, she says, are being detained and, subsequently, deported. Under the Obama administration, she says, people with a violent history, or fugitives from justice would be targeted. (She also says that Obama deported many people, though, and more than U.S. citizens would know.) Since its inception, ICE, in her words, has always been active in the Latino community. One thing of note, which she said the mainstream media should cover more of, is the legalities of renewal orders, how people are fighting governmental state attorneys and how the undocumented citizens are not fighting cases.

“It’s a huge due process issue. Non-profit organizations don’t have the ability to provide a defense attorney, in many cases,” she says. To her, immigrants are fighting an uphill battle, in that they usually aren’t represented at all – given the exorbitant fees – and usually accept removal orders. She says that many ICE detention centers are overpopulated, that people are sleep deprived and suffer from malnutrition. Many are willing to be deported after experiencing the conditions.

-Interview by Andrew Boldt

John Sesini, Immigration Lawyer, Sesini Law Group

He’s been a lawyer since 1991 and is in his 20^th year of working in immigration law. His firm takes on family related cases that include marriage, juveniles, VAW, asylums, removal defense, “crimmigration” (criminal immigration), visas and naturalizations. Most of his clients find him through word of mouth and advertisements.

He said he works with ICE a lot, normally in the court room. He said their exchanges range in topics from supervision, working out bonds, and work with the immigration judges. He said that there was more cooperation with ICE under Obama, and it has been significantly more difficult since Trump came into office. He said that most of his clients used to be able to bond out, and now that just isn’t going to happen under Trump. They aren’t going to get released out of custody.

He said that the rumors of people being rounded up on the streets are absolutely true. He said that there are ICE operations that frequently go up to Green Bay and look for specific people, many of whom have criminal backgrounds, but many don’t. Normally, he said, that his clients have ICE detainers on them by the time he starts to work with them.

He said that there has been an increase in ICE activity, and that he thinks that there will continue to be an increase. He definitely said within the last year that that increase has happened. His words were “I think it’s going to continue to get worse.” He said that there is normally a way, once someone’s been deported, to get them back legally, but that has been harder since Trump.

Sesini also represents hundreds of DACA students, as well. He is unsure of how many children are being deported in Wisconsin, in comparison to those near the border.

-Interview by Catie Middleton

Cain Oulahan, immigration lawyer

He said he has been practicing “exclusively immigration Law since 2011. I’ve been working on immigration cases for over 10 years. I do deportation defense and naturalization, DACA.”

As for the new Milwaukee County Sheriff Earnell Lucas, he is hopeful. He said he believes Lucas “will want to make Milwaukee a very welcoming place for immigrants. So, I don’t see him aggressively pursuing enforcement, cooperation with ICE. He’s likely to focus on run the jails efficiently and enforcing state laws within Milwaukee County.”

He explained the 287g program.

“It’s a program that exists under Federal Law that allows local law enforcement agencies to apply to have special training for their officers, and there are two parts to this program. First, have officers at the jail trained, deputized. The other program is field operations, where officers may be in the field conducting traffic spots and also be able to carry out immigration enforcement.”

He does not believe the new sheriff would be likely to apply for it. The only one that has is Waukesha County.

Without a 287G, how would ICE get involved?

“ICE still has access to law enforcement information they can see who is there, and make requests to the jail, called detainers. Most jails are generally cooperating with those. But cooperations vary, like Dane County who is not fully cooperating. So besides detainers, ICE is always doing their own field operations. So they can find people whether they have cooperation locally, or not.”

Does Ice target a specific demographic? He says the Obama administration “had one set of priorities but the Trump administration has much broader parameters. Basically anyone in the country without status is now a target. Some of course are higher priorities than others.. like gang affiliations or serious convictions or involved in terrorism. But due to limited field enforcement, (they) usually prioritize people with criminal records, including DUIs, who tend to be targeted more.”

He explained that if a person misses a court date “they will be deported in absentia. They don’t get to go back to court at that point. They would be removed by ICE. On rare cases they may have a reason to reopen their case. For example, if they missed the official notice, that is an automatic basis to reopen. But you would need a lawyer in that case.”

Detained people have some rights, he said. “Yes, they do get that opportunity to request a hearing before a judge as well. ICE will give the person an option, to agree to be deported, thereby waving their rights to a hearing. Or they can request a hearing before the judge. The only time a person would not have a right to a court date, is if they are illegal and an aggravated felon. If you have a green card you would always have a right to a court appearance. Only undocumented, can be deported without.”

He thinks the country’s immigration laws “are definitely outdated. I don’t think they offer enough for well-intentioned people who should be able to be here. In terms of the process, I think it has some fair aspects to it, like allowed to have a hearing and due process, but it is difficult for them to have a lawyer, to afford one or find one. They have no right to a lawyer (public defender). So, children can’t find or afford a lawyer, they are defending themselves, and is that fair to a child? In some cases, pressure of lying from ICE to enter their homes without a warrant, can cause problems. There is a big problem how this administration is handling asylum applicants. They are violating their national law, not allowing people to claim asylum. Generally, the laws are fair but outdated. But the way they get enforced, there is a lot of unfairness.”

Of unauthorized people, he added: “A vast majority are hard working people, who want to make a living and support their families and have to come to think of this country as home. They are giving back and are very positive people. Sure some of criminal records, in many cases a bad mistake they made when they were younger. And in many cases have tried to turn their life around and make up for it. It is very rare that I encounter someone who has bad intentions. A vast majority are really good folks and are only a problem because they lack status.”

-Interview by Amanda Maniscalco

Davorin Ordcic, immigration lawyer

Davorin Ordcic has been a lawyer since ‘01. He started out in commercial corporate litigation and until he handled asylum applications and found that he liked.

Since 2006. he has exclusively worked in immigration law.

“I was drawn to it because I do have an immigrant background,” he said, explaining that his father is Croation (not born in the U.S.) and his mother is Slovakian.

During his career, he coined a term which would come to symbolize part of the immigration debate: crimmigration, the intersection between immigration and crime.

When asked about the term, he said, “Crimmigration is the nexus relationship between immigration and criminal law. That’s probably what I’m known for.”

Ordcic said new Milwaukee County Sheriff Earnell Lucas is someone the immigration community has hopes for.

“The expectation is that he’s not going to honor ICE detainers at the Milwaukee jail,” he said, adding, “I don’t know how that’s going to play out.”

Honoring detainers, he said, can be worse on the communities where more dangerous deportees are taken.

“Sometimes local jails make a huge mistake by honoring ICE detainers,” and then describing a man with a first-degree sex assault charge of a child who was deported before he could be prosecuted.

He said the incident was not isolated and is an often-overlooked issue.

“I have seen this in several instances,” he said. “ICE cares most about their enforcement policy, even if they have pending felony charges. That’s not really being victim-friendly.”

As for the detainers, he said, “ICE cannot force these to be honored.”

Ordcic believes here are issues with ICE detainers because of the fourteenth amendment’s vague application of who is eligible to receive due process.

He explained that ICE detainers are, “a request from ICE to a local jail which asks people believed to be in violation of immigration law to be held 48 hours longer so they can be taken into ICE custody.”

If families post bond, they can still be held for the additional 48 hours, and oftentimes, this will trigger an ICE detainer. Even after they post bond, the families never get it back if the person is deported and they have to seek an additional bond for immigration court.

If a non-citizen is convicted of a crime, ICE puts them on a special docket to secure a removal order; however, that order is only executed when their sentence is up and in the meantime, taxpayers foot the bill.

“There are a lot of challenges, both statutory and constitutional,” he said. “I think that ICE detainers are unlawful. The 48 hours is a total joke; there’s no mechanism to enforce that.”

If people complain about waiting in jail, the are often immediately deported.

Ordcic said ICE has the right to go up to anyone and say, “Where were you born?” He advises his clients ask if they are free to go. If the ICE agent says “No,” he tells them to ask “What reasonable suspicion do you have that I’m here without status?”

And the answer can’t be ethnic because the fourth amendment prevents ICE from ethnically profiling people.

However, that begs the question; who is being targeted by ICE? Average people or criminals?

“The truth is in the middle,” he said. “A lot of people that get placed into immigration courts, either there is an ICE detainer or they show up to their probation office and ICE is there.”

Ordcic said ICE specifically targets:
(1) People with arrest/criminal convictions,
(2) People with outstanding removal orders,
(3) Previously deported reentries, which incurs substantial prison time.

Meeting unauthorized immigrants when they check in for probation is a lot safer for ICE. However, while finding supposed targets, they will arrest them even if they have no record.

This is a big fear in the communities where his clients live.

“I got a big uptick of consultation after Trump was elected,” he added.

But despite extreme rhetoric from conservatives and liberals, Ordcic said the reality is much less sensational.

“The biggest, most common reason people end up in immigration court is drinking and driving — it’s a common way to be placed on the ICE radar,” he said.

-Interview by Talis Shelbourne

The post Immigration Lawyers Speak Out appeared first on Disappeared: 10,000 and Counting.

Dane County Sheriff Dave Mahoney

He began by saying that he has been enticed by ICE to apply to 287g, but he has refused on each occasion, not even applying. “I have no interest, nor do I anticipate having any interest in the future,” he said. In the early aughts of his tenure as sheriff – a position he has held for 12 years – the booking process would require that they inquire about individuals’ immigration status, because of the discrepancies and requests from some embassies.

He continued by saying, if they could not identify an individual, they would fax ICE, to determine if they had any information on an individual. Sometimes, ICE would request a hold on that person, while a potential hearing loomed; however, Mahoney has not honored such ICE requests, because the federal government has changed the fingerprinting process, and details from the National Information Center (NIC) are given to ICE when a non-citizen individual gets arrested.

If Dane County places a hold on that individual, it has no bearing on instances of bail or release upon eligibility. He went on to say that Madison is not a sanctuary city, because they still place holds on individuals (San Francisco is a true sanctuary city, according to the sheriff).

Every year, in Dane County, 30 to 40 individuals have holds placed on them. No holds are honored, in the case that ICE wants Dane County to hold someone – who is in the process of posting bail – for 48 hours.

“Over three-quarters of the federal courts have determined that ICE holds are not legal, that they violate the Fourth and Sixteenth Amendments of the Constitution, specifically search and seizure, and due process,” said Mahoney.

Mahoney said that ICE holds are rarely reviewed by a judge, so it stands as more of a favor. If a warrant is issued by a judge, however, the hold will be honored, as opposed to an administrative request. Outside the jail, non-citizens are issued tickets (for an offense like, say, speeding) and are let go. ICE needs a judicial warrant or probable cause – the only ways Dane County cooperates with ICE, as they do not go on round-ups, nor do they hold individuals on a “favor.”

The process of immigration enforcement, according to Mahoney, needs to be better explained to communities that could be subject to an entity like ICE. The misinformation or lack of information, on the federal level, has heightened fear in those communities. According to Mahoney, victims are more hesitant to come forward to local law enforcement, making the community less safe.

-Interview by Andrew Boldt

Milwaukee Police Chief Alfonso Morales

The Chief says that the “policy (on immigration) has changed as of last year in regards to immigration.”

He feels like it is not necessary at this time to change the policy since as of how it stands now, immigration is being taken care of at a federal level. However, he goes on to say, “I cant tell my law enforcement to act on or not to act on immigration laws.”

He says that when people are involved in a crime, armed robbery, nonfatal shooting or homicide or through a drug investigation, that’s when the police are involved in the issue of immigration status.

“Milwaukee is not a sanctuary city,” says the chief. “We are here to enforce the laws. However, when we want to gain the public trust, we want the public to know that when they are victims of crimes, witnesses of crimes, that they should not fear the police.”

He says his job is to work with the community and bring the trust back into the community.

The Mexican Consulate head in Milwaukee, who was at the same meeting where the chief was interviewed, says that people who are victims of domestic violence or petty crimes or theft, often don’t contact police because of the fear that if they were to have contact with law enforcement that their immigration status may be questioned.

-Interview by Amanda Maniscalco

New Milwaukee County Sheriff Earnell Lucas

“I do not want to send the sheriff’s office through a lot of heart ache and misery just because there’s a new sheriff. I have no intention in making any immediate changes other than those that I have announced already. We are going to go in and determine who is committed to in restoring the honor and integrity and trust back into this organization. And then we’ll make those assignments and everyone will help lead the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s office,” Earnell Lucas said.

Asked how he planned to shape his policy on immigration, Lucas said:

“From the start of my campaign, I’ve stated that I was not going to collaborate with ICE when it relates to detain individuals. A request from ICE is no different than a request from anyone in this room. This request is not to be ordered from a judge and therefor… I’m mindful of the fact that when an individual comes into custody of the MCSO and if they satisfy whatever local charges they are detained for, they are released by Madison or posted bail, that should we detain that individual from any time over, we could be violating their constitutional right.”

He added: “I’m not going to drive wedges into our community for the purposes of ICE.”

He talked about working with the MPD, more specifically the chief of police, Alfonso Morales. He wants the discussion with the community to be open. He says they are working to create a safer community, but not by in the means of hunting down illegal immigrants. They are not going to actively be searching to illegals, therefore, in the community they will not be associating with ICE.

It should be noted that ICE does have their own agents and task force that does go into the community when given a tip or once ICE thinks that they found this person, they will go wherever they are to detain them.

When it comes to the jails, Lucas has been clear from the gecko that he will not apply/enforce the 287G program. A

Throughout his campaign, at every speech, and today, he still says that even though it is himself and others in the Sheriff’s Dept, along with the MPD, it is all of us, Milwaukee as a whole that will end up changing things. He stands by sticking together.

 “I plan to serve with honor and integrity. There is a lot of work to do here in Milwaukee. We have a number a problems but we are committed to make change.”

Then LaCrosse County Sheriff Steve Helgeson

Lacrosse County Jail does not try to determine the status of a person. They only try if that person has committed a felony or serious crime including rape or robbery. “We had an undocumented Mexican who raped and murdered a college student,” he said. This was an instance when they did contact ICE to make sure they covered all of their bases. ICE put a detainer on him, and he received life in prison.

They do not look into minor offenses. The sheriff wants the citizens of LaCrosse to feel safe to contact them about a serious crime. If a person is illegal, they will not contact ICE unless the crime is serious, as stated before. “We try to be cautious. We want our citizens to trust us and want to trust in our citizens,” the sheriff said.

They are not interested in having 287g a part of their program. Sheriff Helgeson said that he does not believe there are a lot of detainers.

Interview by Jaylyn Fahey

Captain Rob Drew, Jail Administrator, Polk County Sheriff’s Department

Captain Drew said that they do have ICE hold detainers readily accessible from their software, and that fulfilling an Open Records request for them would require searching all of their paper inmate files manually and would take several hours.

Typically, he said, they receive one or two ICE detainers requests a year. It is not their policy or practice to hold a person solely on an ICE detainer. They require a hard copy of an actual warrant in order to honor that detainer, and hold that person for ICE.

He did say that they do note the ICE detainers, but they will not hold the person unless there is a physical warrant or the person has been charged with other crimes at that time. There must always be other charges (or a warrant) for them to be held for ICE.

He said that the Polk County Sheriff’s Department does not believe that ICE detainers are a legal justification of arresting and holding someone.

-Interview by Catie Middleton

Winnebago County Sheriff John Matz

John Matz, currently Winnebago’s county sheriff, has been working 30 years in law enforcement. In addition to working 30 years in law enforcement, Matz has served over 20-years in the Wisconsin Army National Guard.

Matz’s son also served in the National Guard, and is currently a Dane County Sheriff’s Deputy. Both father and son served in Iraq at the same time, supervising a military prison. Matz said ICE has not been to their county of Winnebago, and ICE will let them know if they did end up coming. Matz said he has not heard or seen any ICE agents in their area as of late. He said they do follow the ICE detainer protocol, and he said they give them 48 hours to come get the individual.

-Interview by Brad Hanney

The post Where Law Enforcers Stand appeared first on Disappeared: 10,000 and Counting.

Now, as Earnell Lucas is preparing to become the next Milwaukee Sheriff, he has been concentrating on bridging the gap between the two departments, working with new Chief Alfonso Morales to bring back trust within the community and working to create a safer environment.

When it comes to the trust in the community, the Mexican Consulate, in a meeting at the South Side City Hall, detailed that people who are victims of domestic violence or petty crimes or theft, often don’t contact police because of the fear that their immigration status may be questioned.

“We are here to enforce the laws. However, we want to gain the public trust, we want the public to know that when they are victims of crimes, witnesses of crimes, that they should not fear the police,” says Morales.

Chief Morales and the Mexican consulate sat down together to talk with people of the South Side community, and Milwaukee as a whole. Many Hispanic and Mexican community members showed up for the meeting. For the reason of connecting with the Hispanic community, the conversation was conducted in Spanish.

Neither Morales nor Lucas are planning to cooperate with ICE. As Morales states, “I can’t tell my law enforcement to act on or not to act on immigration laws.” Under the new policy and immigration being taken care of on a federal level, Morales isn’t the one to tell his people to act or not to act on immigration.

While Lucas has been long against ICE. “From the start of my campaign, “ Lucas says, “I’ve stated that I was not going to collaborate with ICE when it relates to detaining individuals.”

However, this does not prevent the ICE task force from sending agents into the community when given a tip. Once ICE thinks they found an illegal person, they will travel to wherever they are in order to detain them.

This is why the Milwaukee Sheriff Department is actively collaborating with the Milwaukee Police Department on measures to protect individuals within the community.

“I plan to serve with honor and integrity,” says Lucas. “There is a lot of work to do here in Milwaukee; we have a number a problems, but we are committed to make change.”

The post Bridging the Gap appeared first on Disappeared: 10,000 and Counting.