Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Immigration Enforcement topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Sheriff outlines county role in immigration enforcement, says 287(g) MOU mitigates legal risk
Summary
Washington County Sheriff told the board that immigration enforcement is primarily federal, described how local booking and fingerprint-sharing can trigger ICE detainers, and said he signed a 287(g) memorandum of understanding that allows jail staff to serve administrative immigration warrants during a 48‑hour hold period.
Sheriff (name not specified) told the Washington County Board of Supervisors that immigration enforcement is largely a federal responsibility and described how local booking procedures can lead to ICE involvement.
“Immigration is largely a federal issue,” the sheriff said, explaining that civil immigration-status violations are not criminal matters for local law enforcement and that local officers have limited authority to enforce them. He said the county jail collects identifying information at booking—photos, fingerprints, stated country of birth—and that fingerprints are sent to the Wisconsin state system, then to the FBI, which shares them with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
The sheriff described three immigration-related hits an officer might encounter: an “N‑series” status-based hit from the National Security Entry‑Exit Registration (civil), a failure-to-appear after arrest (criminal), and a returned deported felon (criminal). He said the latter two are criminal matters that can result in arrest, while the status violation is civil and handled by federal authorities.
He said the jail automatically sends two daily reports to ICE: a 24‑hour bookings report of foreign‑born individuals and a report of all foreign‑born inmates currently in custody. ICE may place detainers based on that information; the sheriff said the county has held people up to 48 hours after state charges conclude for ICE pickup when ICE issues a detainer.
To address legal questions about detainers and to reduce financial risk to taxpayers, the sheriff said he signed a memorandum of understanding under the 287(g) program that assigns limited federal authority to jail correction sergeants so they can serve administrative immigration warrants during the 48‑hour period. “I signed the MOU…to mitigate the risk, the financial risk to our taxpayers for that 48‑hour window,” he said.
He said that as of his report the jail held 248 inmates and seven persons on ICE detainers; he also noted the sheriff’s office participates in the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP) to recover some federal dollars for custody costs. The sheriff identified a single deputy who is federally sworn to work part‑time with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and said supervisors have ICE deportation officers’ contact information for escalations.
The sheriff emphasized community trust and said enforcement actions are confined to the jail and should not deter victims or witnesses from calling 911. He described three 287(g) program models and said he selected the warrant‑service model rather than a jail‑enforcement or task‑force model.
Board members had no formal action on the presentation. The sheriff’s description of current practices, the 287(g) MOU, the daily reporting to ICE, and the count of detainees were the substantive outcomes of the item.
