Resident urges county oversight of sheriff's ICE agreement

Jim Kennedy, who identified himself and a Kenosha address during public comment, urged the Kenosha County Board to monitor a January agreement he said was finalized between Sheriff Zirner and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and to install transparent oversight. Kennedy said the contract “obligates Kenosha County to provide at county expense staff in our detention facilities to work as deputized ICE agents under ICE authority and supervision to carry out custody and administrative tasks related to county detainees who are immigrants in order to facilitate their transfer from county custody to ICE custody.”

Kennedy told the board he had submitted three recommendations to the judiciary and law committee and asked that those recommendations be used by the judiciary, finance committee and the full board as a basis for “a strict oversight process that is transparent to the public.” He asked that custody transfers be limited to “undocumented immigrants with clear and recent histories of criminal violence,” requested regular open-session reports on transfers into ICE custody and on the county costs associated with deputies’ ICE-related duties, and flagged contract language he said makes Kenosha County responsible for litigation costs arising from deputies’ ICE work. The transcript records his concerns but includes a garbled dollar amount for the contract (transcript: “$2.87 g”); the amount is not specified in the meeting record.

The public comment did not include a response from Sheriff Zirner or county counsel during the meeting. The recommendation now rests with the judiciary and law committee and the finance committee, per Kennedy’s request; the transcript shows Kennedy urging committee action and public reporting but does not record formal committee direction or a board vote on oversight at this meeting.