Hennepin County sheriff hasn’t decided how much to aid ICE, even if it helps end surge

Hennepin County Sheriff Dawanna Witt said she hasn’t decided how much to cooperate with federal officials when it comes to handing over immigrants in the country illegally who are held in the jail she oversees in downtown Minneapolis.

Witt told reporters on Feb. 6 she’s had four meetings with White House border czar Tom Homan and continues to weigh her options. Homan said earlier this week that better access to immigrants in Minnesota jails was necessary in order to draw down the monthslong Operation Metro Surge.

Witt operates Minnesota’s busiest jail, with a capacity of about 750 people. She has found herself in the middle of ongoing efforts by federal, state and local officials to curtail an immigration enforcement surge that has upended life in the Twin Cities since December.

Witt acknowledged feeling squeezed by both sides.

“There seems to be this overwhelming thought that somebody is going to win all and go home,” she said. “It’s not going to be one side wins all here.”

Currently, Hennepin County doesn’t work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement unless they have a warrant signed by a judge. In the first nine months of President Donald Trump’s second term, Hennepin County denied 181 requests from ICE to hold people so they could be detained.

Witt is considering informing agents when someone they want is about to be released from jail. She knows a lot of her constituents would oppose that sort of cooperation.

Witt said she won’t hold people beyond the end of their legal cases, a potential civil rights violation. Homan had suggested the federal government could absorb some of the legal liability counties would face for holding immigrants beyond when they should be released.

“That’s not something that can legally be done here,” Witt said.

It’s also a matter of limited jail space. Witt noted the jail is typically near capacity, with a median stay of 30 days, and most of the people there are accused of violent felonies.

Witt said Homan assured her that immigrants accused of crimes in Hennepin County would still be available for prosecution if ICE took them into custody. But Witt also noted that hasn’t happened in other jurisdictions.

At the center of these deliberations are ICE detainers, which agents file with local jails to get custody of unauthorized immigrants. While entering the U.S. without permission is a crime, most immigration cases are treated as civil matters.

Hennepin County had cooperated more closely with ICE in the past, but outcry from constituents and delays in agents going to pick up subjects of detainers led the sheriff to end that cooperation.

Homan is also pushing other sheriffs to help with ICE enforcement. Ramsey County also has a large jail. Officials there have not said how they plan to cooperate.