Iowa Attorney General dismisses ‘sanctuary county’ lawsuit against Winneshiek County sheriff

Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird announced Friday that she would be dismissing a lawsuit filed in March against Winneshiek County Sheriff Dan Marx that accused him of failing to comply with federal immigration enforcement.

Marx — a Republican who has been Winneshiek County sheriff since 2015 — stated in a Facebook post in February that his deputies would comply with federal requests that are within what he saw as “constitutional parameters.” But he did not believe federal detainer requests to keep someone in jail were constitutional since they “are issued … because the federal agency does not have enough information or has not taken the time to obtain a valid judicial warrant.”

If U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement or other federal agencies attempted to take action in Winneshiek County using paperwork that he saw as unconstitutional, the Facebook post said, the sheriff’s office would “make every effort to block, interfere and interrupt their actions from moving forward.”

The Facebook post has since been removed, at Bird’s request, but Marx refused to post a retraction that Bird’s office wrote for him, which stated his post was wrong and made incorrect statements about his office’s policies regarding detainers.

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“Sanctuary counties are illegal under Iowa law,” Bird, a fellow Republican, said in a statement announcing her lawsuit in March. “Sheriff Marx was given the chance to retract his statement, follow the law, and honor (ICE) detainers, but he refused — even at a cost to his home county. He left us with no choice but to take the case to court to enforce our laws and ensure cooperation with federal immigration authorities.”

Marx filed a motion in May asking for a judge to dismiss the case, which he called “thought policing,” since the post that had sparked the debate had been removed and the sheriff’s office has complied with all 21 detainer requests it received from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement since Nov. 26, 2018, according to an investigation by Bird’s office.

In her announcement Friday, Bird agreed that Marx is now in compliance with state law.

“Given that Winneshiek County has now fully complied with 27A, the state law prohibiting sanctuary cities and counties from receiving taxpayer funds, the state is dismissing the lawsuit to enforce 27A,” Bird said in a statement. “Winneshiek County and Sheriff Marx are in compliance with 27A. They have committed to continue to honor ICE detainers and cooperate with federal immigration authorities.”

Trish Mehaffey, of The Gazette, contributed to this report.

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