Brenna Bird, the attorney general of Iowa, is suing to take away the county’s funding because the head of that county’s police force promised to “make every effort to block, interfere, and interrupt” deportation operations based on ICE detainers, which Bird said was against the Constitution.
This comes at a time when the Trump administration is working with the rest of the government to crack down on illegal immigration and crime among migrants in the US.
A Republican named Bird says that the sheriff’s “longstanding” policy of stopping immigration enforcement operations based on detainers “hindered and discouraged cooperation with federal immigration authorities in violation of Iowa law.”
A detainer is a formal request by ICE to other law enforcement to hold a person that the agency has good reason to think is an illegal alien who is a threat to the community’s safety and well-being.
ICE officials have said that when police don’t follow through on detainers, they put their neighbourhoods at risk by letting dangerous illegals back into the community.
Sheriff Dan Marx of Winneshiek County, Ill., said on Facebook on February 4 that he would not comply with ICE detainers because they are “simply an unconstitutional *request* from ICE.”
Marx told people in the now-deleted post to call his office if they see “any federal agents” and that he and his staff are “always willing to help with verifying credentials and the legitimacy of any paperwork federal agents should have to make sure your rights are not being abused.”
“If the fed’s actions and paperwork are within constitutional parameters (such as proper and valid judicial warrants/court orders) we will assist if needed or requested to ensure their actions are carried out professionally and in the least intrusive fashion possible,” he added.
“If their actions or paperwork are not within constitutional parameters,” he said, “then we will make every effort to block, interfere and interrupt their actions from moving forward.”
Some of the things the sheriff said were against the Constitution were “non-judicially vetted detainers,” which he defined as “simply an unconstitutional *request* from ICE or other three-letter federal agency to arrest or hold someone.”
Marx said “the only reason detainers are issued is because the federal agency does not have enough information or has not taken the time to obtain a valid judicial warrant.”
“Simply put, they are not sure they are detaining the right person and need more time to figure it out,” he said. He added, “these detainers are violations of our 4th Amendment protection against warrantless search, seizure and arrest, and our 6th Amendment right to due process.”
At the end of his long post, Marx said that his “long-time stance on not recognising detainers” and his work with immigration police would be based on “constitutional standards… not opinions, politics, or emotions.”
In response, Republican Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds made a formal complaint to the attorney general that the sheriff had broken a state rule that requires law enforcement to work with federal immigration authorities. That led to a review, and Bird found that Marx’s office had followed “every single ICE detainer request” since 2018, despite what he said about not following the rules.
Last week, the attorney general gave Marx until Friday to change what he said so it would be legal in the state. When he refused to make the correction, Bird sued to stop all state money from going to Winneshiek County until the sheriff agreed to follow state law about working with federal immigration officials.
Bird says Marx’s post, which she called “full of legal and factual errors that made people less likely to enforce immigration laws,” broke chapter 27A of the Iowa state legal code.
The lawsuit, which was sent to the Polk County District Court, is based on section 27A.4 of the Iowa legal code. This section says that if a county knowingly breaks this chapter, the county will not be able to receive any state funds.
Bird said about her claim, “sanctuary counties are illegal under Iowa law.”
“Sheriff Marx was given the chance to retract his statement, follow the law, and honour ICE detainers, but he refused—even at a cost to his home county,” she noted. “He left us with no choice but to take the case to court to enforce our laws and ensure cooperation with federal immigration authorities.”
A spokesperson for the Winneshiek County Sheriff’s Office told Fox News Digital that the office and sheriff “are unable to provide any comments at this time due to the pending litigation.”
Benjamin D. Steines, the auditor for Winnishiek County, would not say how much money the county stands to lose because of the same lawsuit.
“Iowa is not a safe haven for people who are here illegally.” This sheriff made threats to “block, interfere, and interrupt” immigration enforcement. “Those people will be held responsible,” Bird told Fox News Digital.
She said that her office “gave the Sheriff a chance to fix his violation of state law and work with immigration enforcement, but he refused—knowing that it would hurt his home community.” He only needs to fix the issue and follow the rules for this to end.
“Years of a Biden-Harris border invasion takes a serious toll—even on Iowa, and we’re a long way away from the border,” she said. “Thank goodness President Trump got right to work to protect the border, stop drug trade, and lower crime. As Attorney General of Iowa, I will keep fighting to make sure that our state works with federal immigration authorities to keep our neighbourhoods safe.
