Border czar credits ‘significant cooperation’ for end of ICE surge, but sheriffs say policies haven’t changed

Border czar Tom Homan said Thursday that “significant cooperation” from local law enforcement helped lead to the expected end of Operation Metro Surge, but sheriffs across Minnesota say their policies have not changed.

The Minnesota Star Tribune asked sheriffs in all of the state’s 87 counties this week if they signed a new agreement with federal officials or changed their immigration enforcement policies since Homan’s arrival. As of Thursday afternoon, roughly 40% of sheriffs had responded and none of them had changed their policies.

Access to jails has been one of the key points of contention during the massive immigration operation, which the Trump administration said was targeting the “worst of the worst” and immigrants with criminal records. Since arriving in Minnesota, Homan had met with individual sheriffs and the statewide sheriff’s association.

“Our Office does not conduct civil immigration enforcement, and our policies remain unchanged,” Hennepin County Sheriff Dawanna Witt’s office posted on social media. “The mission of the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office remains unchanged: to keep the peace and protect public safety.”

Witt has faced growing pressure from Homan and other federal officials to increase her cooperation on immigration enforcement. The Hennepin County jail in Minneapolis used to provide office space for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, but that arrangement ended nearly a decade ago. The Sheriff’s Office does not ask about immigration status, hold people for ICE or notify agents when an immigrant they are seeking is released from jail.

Megan Larson, Witt’s spokeswoman, said Thursday the Sheriff’s Office does not alert ICE about an inmate “unless they have a signed judicial warrant with them to hold and notify them.”

Anoka and Ramsey counties have similar policies of limited cooperation with ICE. An Anoka County spokeswoman said prisoners’ anticipated release dates are available online.

The Minneapolis Police Department said its policies are also unchanged.

Other counties are more cooperative. Sheriffs across the state maintained that they have always cooperated with immigration officials to the furthest extent allowed under state law.

Homan alluded to this during his Thursday morning news conference.

“I have not met one county jail that says no to us. They want to work with us,” he said.

Most sheriffs inform ICE when they believe someone in their jail is in the country illegally. They also notify ICE when the subject of a detainer request is about to be released from jail.

What law enforcement will not do is hold immigrants beyond the end of their criminal case because it is a potential civil rights violation. Anoka and Nobles counties have been successfully sued by immigrants they held beyond the end of their sentences — a similar case is pending in Carver County.

Hennepin County said it quit working with ICE because the agency would sometimes fail to pick up inmates with detainers.

On Thursday, Homan said officers are now placed throughout the state so that they “can respond quickly to sheriffs that want to release somebody and notify us. We need to be nearby so we don’t hold them unnecessarily.”

Kandiyohi Sheriff Eric Tollefson contracts with ICE to hold detainees in federal custody in his jail and also has an agreement to serve detainers to people being held on criminal matters. But Tollefson said he still cannot hold anyone in his custody beyond the end of their criminal case.

“We don’t have the statutory authority in Minnesota to hold people based on [ICE] detainers,” Tollefson said. “Once they are processed out of local custody, they have to walk out the doors.”

Local police also argue helping with federal immigration enforcement is a waste of limited resources to keep their communities safe.