Controversial Milwaukee Sheriff Wants To Formalize ICE Relationship

MILWAUKEE, WI — Milwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr., whose profile has soared nationally among conservatives, wants the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to immediately give his agency’s deputies and correctional officers the authority to enforce immigration laws.

Shortly after he took office in January, President Trump signed an executive order that ramps up what is called 287(g) program. According to the government’s latest figures, 37 law enforcement agencies in 16 states have the agreements, which groups like the Immigrant Legal Resource Center say aren’t necessary because local law enforcement agencies are already assisting federal agents in immigration enforcement.

And that includes Clarke, a Trump surrogate during the campaign.

In January, Clarke joined ICE in a two-day raid in Greater Milwaukee that resulted in the detention of 16 undocumented residents from Mexico. All had previously been convicted of crimes ranging from drunken driving and drug offenses to grand theft auto and receiving stolen property to assault with a deadly weapon other than a firearm, but likely causing gross bodily injury. Two of them had previously been deported and two others had outstanding deportation orders.

In a March 8 letter to Thomas Homan, ICE’s acting director, Clarke asked to formalize immigration enforcement through a partnership between the sheriff’s office and the federal agency to “receive delegated authority for immigration enforcement within Milwaukee County” under the 287(g) program.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel obtained Clarke’s letter under Freedom of Information Act request after Clarke posted a photo of himself with the document on the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page.

He wrote that he is “deeply concerned about the potential threat posed by illegal aliens to the safety and security of the citizens that reside within the nineteen cities, towns and villages in Milwaukee County.”

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Clarke said his immediate concern is to get corrections officers at the Milwaukee County Jail, which his office oversees, trained under the 287(g) program. The jail runs at more than 90 percent to capacity, he wrote, noting that a number of those incarcerated are found not to be legal residents. Eventually, though, he wants detectives to be trained as well.

Christine Neumann-Ortiz, who heads the immigration rights group Voces de la Frontera, told the Journal Sentinel that Clarke has greater problems than undocumented immigrants in his jail.

“A man recently died of dehydration in Sheriff Clarke’s jail, a newborn baby died in his jail, yet what he cares about is making his guards into immigration agents,” she told the Journal Sentinel. “He is trying to be provocative and stoke fear, all to increase his political standing among an extremist fringe and acquire personal wealth.”

The sheriff’s request has had a chilling effect in Milwaukee’s immigrant community, WISN-TV reported. Families, including some who were so young when their families left Mexico that the U.S. is the only home they have ever known, fear they will be torn apart.

Immigration attorney Ray Schrank told WISN the focus on undocumented immigrants comes at the expense of society “because people who are committing crimes are no longer being investigated or apprehended.”

Indeed, the Immigration Legal Resource Center said in its December report that local agencies preserve their resources for local priorities rather than assist federal authorities in rounding up undocumented residents.

Schrank, who works through the Faith Lutheran Church, tells his clients to stay away from areas where Clarke’s deputies patrol and to make emergency provisions for their children in the event they’re tagged for deportation.

“Anybody at the wrong place at the wrong time who is undocumented is at the risk of being put into detention and removed from the United States,” he told WISN.

Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn told the Journal Sentinel he’s not planning to deputize his officers for immigration reform. Gov. Scott Walker has said conflicting approaches to immigration enforcement could create problems, which was also one of the findings in the Immigration Legal Resource Center report.

Photo via Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page