Presidential Administrations

Using the TRAC data, we wanted to compare how many people were deported nationally and in Wisconsin during the two most recent presidents’ first full year in office.

For President Obama, that was 2009, while for President Trump, that was last year in 2017.

During President Obama’s first full year in office, 101,199 more people were issued detainers than during President Trump’s first full year in office.

However, during President Trump’s first year in office, 267 more people in Wisconsin were issued detainers.

Detainers Issued by Region, 2017

Once again, TRAC data demonstrated that the most detainers were issued in the southern and western areas of the country during 2017. A closer look at the top ten and bottom ten reveal which regions incur the most detainers.

Top Ten

Five southern states (Texas, Georgia, Florida, North Carolina and Virginia) dominated the top ten with 49,820 total detainers. Although there are only two western states (California and Arizona) in the top ten, they made up 36,548 of the detainers issued in 2017.

In a distant third, only two northeastern states (New York and Pennsylvania) from the top 10 were home to 7,999 detainers. In comparison, only one midwestern state, Illinois, made it in the top ten with 3,000 detainers.

Border States with Mexico

California, Texas, and Arizona were all included in the top 10 and 64,907 total detainers were issued there. Interestingly, there were only 551 detainers issued in the fellow border state of New Mexico.

Bottom Ten

Four northeastern states (Vermont, Maine, Rhode Island and New Hampshire) made up the bottom ten with 368 total detainers. Two southern states (D.C. and Delaware) had the second-most detainers in the bottom ten with 282. One lone western state, Montana (71), was in the bottom ten as well as one lone midwestern state, North Dakota (108). Alaska (27) and Hawaii (101), which are not part of the mainland, rounded out the bottom ten.

Wisconsin’s National Ranking, 2017

Wisconsin is literally in the middle of the pack – 25^th in the nation – in terms of how many detainers were issued nationwide in 2017.

Detainer Rates by Population, 2017

Using Census Bureau and TRAC Data, we compared how many detainers were issued against the population of each U.S. state.

For context, California and Texas were the most populated states in the country (39,536,653 and 28,304,596 and respectively) in 2017, while Wyoming and Vermont were the least populated states in the country (579,315 and 623,657, respectively) in 2017.

Four states – Texas, Arizona, California and Georgia – which were all included in the top ten states with the most detainers issued were also in the top ten states with the most detainers issued per 10,000 people. Texas and Arizona were highest, issuing 10 detainers per 10,000 people.

Seven states – Vermont, Maine, Rhode Island, Montana, North Dakota, Alaska and Hawaii – which were all included in the bottom ten states with the least detainers issued were also in the bottom ten states with the least detainers issued per 10,000 people. Vermont was lowest, issuing 0.26 detainers per 10,000 people.

Wisconsin, which had a population of 5,795,483, was 33rd on the list with about two detainers being issued per 10,000 people in 2017.

Detainers per Wisconsin County, 2005-2018

Using TRAC data, we developed a histogram to conduct a comparative analysis on how many detainers there were per county.

Simply put, there were 15 counties with between 0 and 10 detainers. The remainder of the data is listed below:

• There were 37 counties with between 11-50 detainers
• There were 15 counties with between 51-100 detainers
• There were six counties with between 101-200 detainers
• There were nine counties with between 201-300 detainers
• There were four counties with between 301-400 detainers
• There was one county with 501-600 detainers, one county with 701-800 detainers, one county with 1101-1200 detainers and one county with more than 1200 detainers.

Wisconsin Counties with the Most Detainers, 2005-2018

Wisconsin Counties with the Fewest Detainers, 2005-2018

ICE Detainers in Midwestern States, 2005-2018

Wisconsin is 12^th among midwestern states in terms of how many detainers have been issued from 2005-2018 and last among all states which touch Wisconsin’s borders (Minnesota, Michigan, Iowa and Indiana)

Over the past 14 years, there have been 764 detainers issued on average per year in Wisconsin.

Also, over the past 14 years, the state of Wisconsin has had 32,973 fewer detainers than Illinois (the leader in Midwestern states) and 9,806 more than North Dakota (the Midwestern state with the least detainers).

Note, this parallels data from the year 2017, which demonstrated that the least detainers were issued in North Dakota (108) among midwestern states and the most detainers were issued in Illinois (3,000).

Frequency of Felonies, 2017-2018

Using records from Wisconsin’s Department of Corrections, we developed another histogram to determine how many Wisconsin state prisoners who had been issued detainers were found guilty of committing felonies.

The data revealed that nearly every prisoner who was issued an ICE detainer between 2017-2018 was convicted of at least one felony.

In fact, most prisoners (55) had one felony, 40 prisoners had two felonies and 11 had three felonies. Outliers included one person with zero recorded felonies, two people with more than ten felonies and eight unknowns.

Sex Offender Registry Status, 2017

We noticed that most of the Wisconsin state prisoners who had been issued detainers were found guilty of committing a sex crime. Consequently, we decided to make two comparisons:

1. Compare the number of overall prisoners* with detainers to the adult Wisconsin prison population
2. Compare the number of prisoners with detainers who are registered sex offenders to the number of incarcerated Wisconsin prisoners who are registered sex offenders.

*The DOC data from their year in review does not specify which prisoner have detainers. Therefore, in determining percentages, we assumed the 98 was included in that figure (therefore, 98 out of 23,519 and 42 out of 6,048).

We found that Wisconsin prisoners with detainers made up 0.41 percent of the entire Wisconsin prison population.

In addition, Wisconsin prisoners with detainers who are on the sex offender registry make up 0.68 percent of Wisconsin’s incarcerated registered sex offenders. In context, the Wisconsin DOC noted that there are over 23,000 adults in the sex offender registry program.

Prison Population Comparison, 2014-2018

Using the DOC’s weekly population reports from the last weeks of 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and the most recent week of 2018 for which we data, we compared that to the number of the Wisconsin state prisoners with detainers for each corresponding year.

After conducting our comparison, we found that Wisconsin prisoners with detainers represented less than one percent of all Wisconsin prisoners.

• In 2014, they represented 0.16 percent of all Wisconsin prisoners
• In 2015, they represented 0.17 percent of all Wisconsin prisoners
• In 2016, they represented 0.27 percent of all Wisconsin prisoners
• In 2017, they represented 0.42 percent of all Wisconsin prisoners
• In 2018, they represented 0.18 percent of all Wisconsin prisoners

Detainers per Jail/County

The map shows how the areas with the most detainers (with the exception of Trempealeau) are concentrated in the eastern, and especially the southeast, portion of Wisconsin. Each dot represents a jail with the number of detainers as well as the county, city, jail name, jail address, and sheriff/warden/jail administrator. The information was compiled using TRAC data.                                               

Data Sources:

• U.S. Census Bureau
• Syracuse University’s TRAC Data
• Prisoners with ICE Detainers: Wisconsin Department of Corrections Prison Data
• 2017 Wisconsin Incarcerated Sex Offenders: Wisconsin DOC 2017 A Year in Review
• 2017 Wisconsin Population Numbers: Wisconsin DOC Inmate Profile 2017

Please report any inaccuracies or typos.

The post Truth in Numbers appeared first on Disappeared: 10,000 and Counting.

What laws are unauthorized immigrants breaking?

It’s a violation of our sovereignty. They trespass into somebody’s country and try to set up residency.

What did he do as sheriff to cooperate with ICE?

I’m following the law in terms of pretty clear. I have an ethical obligation to cooperate with other law enforcement agencies in pursuit of justice.

It doesn’t enforce immigration law in every authority, which is why we were applying for 287G. What I did was cooperate with ICE and you’ll have to ask ICE officials what they were doing, what they were looking for, what they found. All I did was turn over booking information. Anybody including you has the, uh, legal right to booking information every single day of the week.

On whether he was ever concerned that victims or witnesses to crime would not cooperate out of fear of deportation:

No, there is no empirical research to show that that is actually happening.

Is Wisconsin doing a good job on immigration?

It’s county by county. Waukesha county is doing a great job. Their sheriff applied for and received 287g.

Once a person was in the jail, how did he figure out they were not legally in the country?

We don’t. All we do is turn over the information. They go through all the bookings of people who were arrested and they decide who they’re going to investigate. We don’t ask anything. Booking information? Yeah. See, this is a propaganda, the myth that Voces is out there peddling.

I don’t know what every other sheriff was doing. I only have the authority over the Milwaukee County jail.

Normally that’s ICE. They’re the ones that determine the legal status, not us.

There is thing called a code of ethics, right? Such a thing called the United States constitution. I followed the Constitution. I followed the code of ethics. All of a sudden, that’s controversial.

What does he think should happen to people trying to get into the country on the border?

The southern border needs to be protected as part of the president’s solemn duty.

And like I said, it’s a, it’s a, it’s an issue of us sovereignty, a sovereign nation. We’re a sovereign nation because we have borders, we have identifiable borders. Borders have to be protected. Okay? And enforcing your duty that you swore to, like the president, becomes controversial? How come it wasn’t under Obama doing much the same thing? … He didn’t get blasted by the New York Times, The Washington Post and CNN for doing it. But now because the guy in the White House, they don’t like him [so] all of a sudden, they want to make a big deal about it.

This is a political situation is what it is. It’s a political argument. It’s a political hit job on this president. He’s doing what every other president before him, including Bill Clinton did. But now all of a sudden, it’s controversial. That’s the politics. The president, like I said, he’s right on the politics here though…he’s going to win the political war here. The only thing that is going to get in the way is this ninth circuit in the western part of the United States … Judicial activists are getting in his way, prohibiting him from doing his solemn duty. This is a political argument. Now he will win in court. You also have to pay attention to the politics and he’s doing a great job of paying attention to the politics.

Who are these people on the border?

No, not undocumented immigrants. Excuse me. They were illegally in the country. That’s a wordsmithing game by the left to try to confuse people who are not informed. They are not undocumented immigrants. They are trespassers, they are illegal aliens. That is a legal term. It’s used on firearms regulations or background checks [and] it’s used throughout the United States Department of Justice. But they came along, “they” meaning the left, including Obama and changed [it] to make them more palatable to people. They’re illegal aliens in the country illegally. They are not migrants. They’re not immigrants. They’re in the country illegally. They trespassed into the United States. If you did that to Mexico or you did it to Iran or you did that to China, you would be arrested and jailed. But all of a sudden the United States wants to enforce immigration laws and they become the bad guy. This is nonsense. That’s why I’m glad that this president is pushing back and pushing back hard on this issue.

Should the path to citizenship be reformed?

I don’t know.

It should be hard to become a United States citizen. Being a United States citizen is something special … You should have to demonstrate do you want to be in this country. You support this country, you’re going to live by law, then you’re going to be productive. That’s what every country does in terms of who they’re going to allow in. But again, United States does it now [and] we’re the bad guy. We’re not the bad guy.

The post Q & A With David Clarke appeared first on Disappeared: 10,000 and Counting.

Pucci, an associate professor and chair of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Linguistics Department, has spent 20 years in the land of lingo. But she has also spent time translating credible fear asylum interviews and listening to immigrant stories.

Those experiences reshaped Pucci’s understanding of the immigrant debate as well as the words used to describe it.

“(We) should look very carefully at the terminology,” she said. “(‘Illegal alien’) would make you think that an immigrant or a person who comes from another country is something to be afraid of. And people who are ignorant or not in contact with many immigrants are made to be fearful.”

In fact, the way people attempt to inform themselves is often reflected by what they search in Google.

For example, from June 17 to June 23, the word “illegals” was one of the most popular search terms in Google, according to Google Trends.

Such phrases are commonplace on social media platforms like Twitter, where terminology alone differentiates political ideologies on immigration.

“The political impact is not to be underestimated,” Pucci said. “We have a president who uses those terms all the time and basically fabricates fear. (It) whips up some fear, so they agree with certain kinds of measures that are less than human and unfair.”

Pucci was referring to the Trump Administration’s “zero-tolerance” family separation policy, which Jeff Sessions discussed at a law enforcement conference in early May.

Among others, that policy, said attorney Peter Earle, has made many in the community fearful of government, and specifically, the police.

“The milk has been spilt,” he said. “I think that the federal government, the Trump administration has probably irreparably poisoned the well with regards to Latino communities’ willingness … to cooperate [with law enforcement].”

David Clarke, the former sheriff of Milwaukee County, said there is no proof that fear of the governmental deportation affects crime reporting among people unauthorized to reside in the U.S.

“There is no empirical research to show that that is actually happening,” he said.

However, Jill Messing, David Becerra, Allison Ward-Lasher and David Androff’s research, which involved surveying over 1,000 Latinas, found that for each 1-point increase in fear of deportation, Latina participants were 15% less willing to report being victims of violent crime to police.

Many strong opponents of people crossing the border without government authorization still believe defining immigrants as “illegal” is necessary and, under the constitution, legally precise.

Clarke is one of those opponents and he said immigration enforcement is a solemn, constitutional duty.

“All of a sudden, the United States wants to enforce immigration laws and they become the bad guy? This is nonsense. That’s why I’m glad that this president is pushing back and pushing back hard.”

One of the ways Trump is pushing back?

In July, CNN uncovered emails from the administration’s Justice Department outlining a new protocol of exclusively referring to people in the country without government authorization as “illegal aliens.”

In the email, it is stated: “To clear up some confusion and to be consistent in the way we draft our releases, the following is OPA’s (Office of Population Affairs) guidance on describing alien status in the U.S. When a defendant’s illegal presence in the U.S. is an established fact in the public record … they should be referred to as an illegal alien.”

Clarke agreed.

“That is a legal term,” he said. “They are illegal aliens. They are not migrants. They’re not immigrants. They’re illegal aliens in the county illegally.”

… if you don’t have a paper document, it doesn’t mean you don’t exist.

— Sandra Pucci

Pucci said terms like “illegal alien” unnecessarily criminalize people when they’ve only committed a civil offense.

“I think the intent is to ‘other’ someone,” she said. “It obviously dehumanizes people.”

The League of United Latin American Citizens’ Darryl Morin said “undocumented immigrant” is the term most people living in the U.S. without authorization prefer.

However, that term has its limitations as well.

The Justice department’s document specified that, “The word ‘undocumented” is not based on U.S. code, and should not be used to describe someone’s illegal presence in the country.”

Clarke said the term “undocumented immigrant” was invented for political reasons.

“That’s a wordsmithing game [played] by the left to try to dupe people who are not informed,” he said. “They are not ‘undocumented immigrants,’ they are trespassers.”

Pucci agreed that the term “undocumented” is problematic, but for different reasons:

“Everyone is documented in some way,” she said, taking a moment before pointedly adding:

“And if you don’t have a paper document, it doesn’t mean you don’t exist.”

Constitutional ambiguities have also added to the confusion. As Earle pointed out, the fourth amendment of the constitution (and the fourteenth) applies to everyone:

“If a person in the United States (is) documented or undocumented, citizen or non-citizen, resident alien or nonresidential, it doesn’t matter; they have a fourth amendment right in the United States,” he explained.

Nothing is neutral.

— Sandra Pucci

This debate around the language of immigration extended into media circles in 2013, when the Associated Press announced it was changing its policy on referring to people living in the U.S. without government authorization.

In an AP blog post, Paul Colford, the former vice president of AP media relations, wrote, “The Stylebook no longer sanctions the term ‘illegal immigrant’ or the use of ‘illegal’ to describe a person.”

Colford was quoting a lengthy statement from Senior Vice President and Executive Editor Kathleen Carroll, explained the AP Stylebook’s thought-process behind the change.

For example, the term “undocumented” was rejected for its imprecision.

“A person may have plenty of documents,” Colford wrote. “Just not the ones required for legal residence.”

Instead, the entry which featured “illegal immigration” now states: “Except in direct quotes essential to the story, use illegal only to refer to an action, not a person: illegal immigration, but not illegal immigrant. Acceptable variations include living in or entering a country illegally or without legal permission. Do not use the terms alien, an illegal, illegals or undocumented (except when quoting people or government documents that use these terms).”

Pucci said the AP’s choice to continue using “illegal immigration” still presents an issue.

“The word ‘illegal’ is inappropriate,” she said.

So what would be best?

In our series, Media Milwaukee has chosen to use the term “unauthorized immigrant” as the most accurate, neutral way of referring to people crossing the border and/or residing in the U.S. without government authorization.

But, as Pucci pointed out, “Nothing is neutral.”

For Pucci, “illegal immigrant” is one term which is definitely not neutral, even though it represents one of the most widely used terms to refer to this country’s unauthorized immigrants.

But what does the term really mean?

In the term, the word “illegal” acts as a modifier of the word “immigrant,” pricking at the ever-present, hot-button intersection of crime and immigration while provoking thoughts of fear, insecurity and resentment.

As Media Milwaukee’s open records documents show, there are unauthorized immigrants who actually commit violent, felonious crimes; however, they represent a very small percentage of the unauthorized immigrant population.

And while some argue the term is fair because living in the U.S. without authorization is a crime, under that premise, anyone who has broken a law in this country — from jaywalking to blowing through a stop sign — is a criminal. But of course, every U.S. citizen with an OWI isn’t referred to as a “criminal American.”

So what’s the difference?

Immigration lawyer Davorin Ordcic said there is none.

“A frontal lobe is a frontal lobe, whether it’s in a U.S. citizen or in Mexico,” he reasoned. “The level of dumbassery is not distinguishable from dumbassery in U.S. citizens.”

While this linguistics question may be more technical than that, it echoes a deeper conundrum bounding among authorial circles. Throughout history, America as a whole has struggled to identify groups in a way which accurately reflects their reality, but doesn’t reduce them to one — oftentimes, unflattering — state of being. Today’s debate over immigration and its rhetoric, is merely the latest iteration of that dilemma.

Bu Pucci said even if we don’t have the answers yet, it’s important that we keep trying to find the right words.

“Ask a lot of questions. Do a close reading first. Then step back and start looking at the framing, what the context is and what the perspective is,” she said. “Keep in mind that (this) is a very heated topic fueled by a lot of issues that have nothing to do with immigration.”

The post Finding the Right Words appeared first on Disappeared: 10,000 and Counting.

His great grandfather and grandfather both owned newspapers, but his father decided to follow the food industry all the way to Milwaukee.

The Puerto-Rican-born owner of El Conquistador, an English and Spanish-language newspaper, started working at the Shepherd Express’ fore-bearer, the Crazy Shepherd.

Then after a while, he and a few friends started a newspaper in their basement.

That paper now boasts the title of Wisconsin’s #1 Latino newspaper, covering events in Milwaukee, Waukesha, Racine and Kenosha.

At first, they printed in English and Castilian Spanish, but they eventually went to the regional Spanish spoken in Telenovas.

That nuance was one of many Huyke has had to reconcile as the owner of a bilingual newspaper.

“It is complex and not complex,” he said. “We like to be neutral about the story; we like to present both sides and let the reader make that decision.”

This has made covering immigration particularly difficult. Especially since Huyke said many of the Hispanics who have come to cities like Milwaukee without authorization are fleeing danger from either violence or poverty.

“There are piles and piles of coats, jackets, and shoes and people are so exhausted,” he said, describing border crossing paths.

Many who cross do so under the burden of an impossible dilemma, Huyke said: “Do I wait five years on this waiting list to come legally and feed my family? Or do I take my chances, cross the border and feed my family now?”

As Media Milwaukee’s review of the statistics illustrate, most avoid trouble with the law if they can.

Huyke said that’s not by accident.

“In 2000, the Latino population in Milwaukee was huge. Houses were being bought, insurance was being paid,” he said. “They go out of their way to make sure no red flags, no red lights pop up around them.”

And most of the time, they don’t. When they do, Huyke said it’s usually from men who come without their families and turn to alcoholism to cope with the separation.

“They are ones who are here alone and their families are back home. Then they start drinking to help them go to sleep, the next thing you know, they are not sleeping, they’re driving, they’re partying,” he said. “When you look at the culture, the male dominance, it prevents people from telling them I’m hurting. You keep quiet, you drink until the cops finally catch you.”

Huyke said those arrests are the most stressful on the community.

“When you are saying you are coming after a hardcore criminal, a guy who got drunk is not a hardcore criminal,” he said.

For Huyke, it’s not a matter of lawlessness. “Nobody wants a mass murderer living next door to him — but when you start looking at the arrests that have been made, it can be people who had a bad lane change or were drunk,” he said.

And he said it’s unfair to target young men who have made the same bad decision millions of other American citizens make.

For example, Huyke can remember when unauthorized immigants only had to pay a fine if they were caught with a busted taillight. Now, he said, they have to worry about being deported.

“These are the guys that are coming in, they don’t care if you have a clean record, a bad record, whatever. Their whole mission is, I have got orders, you are on those papers, you are done,” Huyke said about ICE. “It’s hard to have a heart when you are doing this job, so I can understand.”

Over the past 21 years of running El Conquistador, it’s just one of the things Huyke has come to understand.

Another is the education, income and English-language gap between Milwaukee’s and Waukesha’s Latino population.

Historically, construction of the freeway pushed out Latino families who relocated to the southside, where there were more factory jobs. As they sent their children to better schools, those generations moved to areas in Waukesha, resulting in a socioeconomic gap. Now, Latinos in Milwaukee speak Spanish more often and usually have a lower economic standing than those in Waukesha.

Huyge said the gap has resulted in different attitudes, especially from more recent generations of Latinos.

“I’ve seen third-generation Latinos who even say, ‘Lock them up, throw away the key.’ And it’s kind of heartbreaking when you see them,” he said, adding, “You’ve been educated, you’re making money; greed plays a factor, selfishness plays a factor.”

For the country to move forward, Huyke said the millions of unauthorized immigrants already here should be able to become citizens.

Most of them are hiding in plain sight, he said, but they always live with the fear that their families could be broken apart at any time.

“[Trump] says whatever he wants on TV and he walks away … (but) they live with that fear,” he said. “We should have some sort of a partial amnesty.”

The post Victor Huyke: The Man With the News Gene 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

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He’s worked with national politicians on both side of the aisle, from Barack Obama to George W. Bush.

Media Milwaukee asked Morin about immigration and ICE.

How does ICE operate?

There was a time and there still are some very good people upholding their sworn duty. We know there are good people, but we have seen a turn. We have seen a pivot in the manner in which ICE operates and how far they will go, which has turned into an attack on human dignity. We received numerous reports during some raids in Madison that they were telling people, they were the police. One of the messages, we are trying to else is the police are here to defend and protect. So when you have ICE going around saying, we’re the police – which they are not – it fractures the trust. Whether intentionally and unintentionally. We’ve seen individuals picked up in front of their children. And the majority of times we see these aids, there are no support systems put in place for the children who will be left behind.  Imagine a child getting off a bus, expecting to be greeted by a parent and there is no parent?

Should asylum be eliminated?

It will be found unconstitutional because it does not say port-of-entry, it says anywhere along the U.S. border. And it is my personal belief, that the Trump administration is doing this because they wanted to see some kind of action that would appear to support the false information they have been propagating about the “caravan.”

How can people locate their loved ones who have been detained?

There is an 800 number you can call but it’s very difficult to get answers. We’ve had people go weeks without knowing where they’re parents out.

Allegations where detainments are happening on the border; people are enticed to waive their rights and agree to deportation and leave their child behind. Children 2-3 are sitting before a judge in a courtroom and a judge has to ask them why they are eligible for asylum.

What do unauthorized immigrants prefer to be called?

“Undocumented immigrant” is the one that is most used.

Call the IRS and ask how an undocumented immigrant is supposed to pay their taxes. Because Congress insisted and set up a system to where the undocumented pay their taxes. (He estimates 75% pay taxes even though they’re not eligible for anything except emergency room health care and a public education.)

What do dairy farmers think?

Some of the best advocates for fixing our broken immigration system are dairy farmers. Cows don’t just give milk in the summer in the fall; they need to be milked daily or they will die. They have been huge advocates of immigration reform.

Wall vs 2013 Bill

Immigration Bill 744. If anybody was serious about securing our borders, if anybody was serious about growing our economy, if anybody was serious about wanting to uphold being the champion of human rights, etc., people would say we need to pass that 2013 bill. Nobody loved it because everyone wanted to compromise on it, but it would be effective. Paul Ryan, he initially supported this as well. It would allow people with no criminal records, ability to work and speak English and pay taxes a way to earn their citizenship. We’re also not tearing families apart by taking them out the country when they’ve already become embedded in our community.

Jails & Bonds

There are a number of attorneys out there, sadly, that will give the impression that the individual does have a case, but [they] insist on receiving a lot of money up front for their services, only to find out later on that they didn’t have a case. So they wind up giving all their money over and they had no case.

Unconstitutional holds?

There is no legal requirement. If  ICE sends a detainer request to a police department, there is no requirement that that department has to detain those people. There is a constitutional question there. If you even go to the ICE website, they say that it’s a request. It is not a court order. ICEe does have the ability to go and get court orders, but in many instances, in nearly all, they just prefer to make the request. And that’s why so many law enforcement officials don’t adhere to the detainer request.

What makes Milwaukee’s community unique?

A study was done by Milwaukee’s population by the Greater Milwaukee Foundation, and one of the findings of that report was there was a huge workforce in the Latino population in general. While they had a high work force participation ate, they still suffered from poverty and extreme poverty. Even though they’re working or working hard and in many cases, multiple jobs, they are still in poverty and extreme poverty. They are learning English at a faster rate than other communities in the past. The second generation is losing their bilingual skills as they transition to only English.

What is reporting immigration status like?

We know that there are a number of people who fall victim to all sorts of crimes but do not report because of immigration status. We know there are women and children and in some instances, men as well, that suffer from DV and it goes unreported. We also know there are landlords who charge outrageous hikes in rent and tell them they will report them if they do not pay. *Happens in workforce also.* There are all forms of exploitation.

Why are driver’s licenses important for unauthorized immigrants?

There is more support than people would initially think to give some form of driver permit to the undocumented here.

They are eligible then to get the training they need so they can drive safely and it also makes them eligible to purchase insurance. It would also make it easier for them to get a loan out on a car instead of paying cash. And it also lets them know who they are pulling over. And if there is someone who is a bad actor, it will help to identify and locate them.

We do have an issue – and it’s more prevalent in some parts of the state than others – with profiling.

Under the auspices of a broken taillight, they just wanted an excuse to pull over the car and see if the person has a driver’s license.

In some jurisdictions, they ask for a ssn. This is supposed to be used to track people down and take ticket money out of their taxes. But it can also be used identify undocumented people.

How did voter ID affect the Hispanic population?

One of the reasons that we sued is because, in its initial format, we had the most stringent voter ID standards in the country. We heard that it’s easy enough to go to the DMV,  there are many places in Wisconsin where the DMVs are only open one or two days a month and they are not necessarily nearby. Milwaukee does have a fair amount of Puerto Rican residents here and you weren’t allowed to get them in the states; you had to go to Puerto Rico to get those.

Is there profiling?

We welcome the changes Chief Morales made when he assumed responsibility as chief of the MPD. We are looking forward to continuing to working with the department and partners all throughout Milwaukee to rebuild the trust that has been lost. Public safety is the number one issue in Milwaukee, and we need everyone to work hand-in-hand.

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