Media Milwaukee student journalists reached out to multiple Wisconsin county sheriffs and asked them about immigration. Here are some of those responses:
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