Dubuque County sheriff rejects ICE agreement despite pressure from sheriff’s association

The Dubuque County sheriff is telling that county’s supervisors he won’t sign an agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement despite pressure from the National Sheriff’s Association that failing to do so might lead to the county being considered a sanctuary jurisdiction.

The Iowa State Patrol is the only law enforcement agency in the state that has signed an immigration enforcement deal, known as a 287(g) agreement, with ICE.

“Due to the limited resources available to the Federal government, law enforcement agencies across the country are being requested to sign Memorandums of Understanding that essentially force local agencies to have trained ICE representatives on their staff to do the government’s immigration work,” Dubuque County Sheriff Joe Kennedy, a Democrat, wrote in his letter to the Board of Supervisors.

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The letter included a copy of an email he received from ICE in March explaining the agreements and inviting him to sign. In Kennedy’s response to the email, he stated he didn’t feel the agreement would be a good fit for the county as its doesn’t have officer time or jail space to spare for federal enforcement. He stated his department is happy to provide officers to assist in an arrest if called upon by ICE, but by declining the agreement, deputies wouldn’t be expected to take on the immigration enforcement responsibility themselves.

A response from an ICE official read,: “No worries sir, I completely understand, and I thank you for your time in this matter.”

But a second email was noted by Kennedy, which he received May 2 from Jonathan Thompson, the executive director and chief executive officer of the National Sheriff’s Association. That email encouraged the sheriff’s office to join the agreement and seemed to imply that any counties that didn’t sign on could be considered sanctuary counties under an executive order from President Donald Trump.

The email references an executive order Trump signed April 18, called “Protecting American Communities from Criminal Aliens.” The order directed the U.S. Attorney General to publish a list of states and local jurisdictions “that obstruct the enforcement of Federal immigration laws (sanctuary jurisdictions)” within 30 days of the order being signed. Jurisdictions on the list would then be reviewed by federal officials to “identify appropriate Federal funds to sanctuary jurisdictions, including grants and contracts, for suspension or termination, as appropriate.”

The order does not specify what actions will specifically trigger a jurisdiction being added to the list, and the email Kennedy received did not state specifically that agencies must sign an agreement to avoid being listed. “If your office has not yet entered into a 287(g) program … and you are interested in doing so before the list is formally published, we strongly encourage you to act quickly,” the email said.

In Kennedy’s letter to the supervisors, he said he believes the county may be placed on the list “for the sole purpose of ‘shaming us’.”

No other counties in Iowa have entered into agreements, either.

Linn County Sheriff Brian Gardner said he hasn’t made the agreement because of staffing limitations, but the Linn County Jail does house ICE inmates under a federal contract.

“We have … worked cooperatively with all our city, state, and federal law enforcement partners,” Gardner said.

The Iowa State Patrol signed a 287(g) agreement in March, which created a task force of three state troopers who are trained and authorized to perform immigration enforcement in Iowa.

In April, a complaint was filed with the state patrol and ICE by Escucha Mi Voz, an Iowa City nonprofit, about a traffic stop that occurred in April and appeared to have been conducted under the 287(g) agreement. A trooper stopped a car containing seven Latin American construction workers April 18, just outside of Dubuque, as they were on their way home to Iowa City after work. The trooper asked for their IDs and checked their immigration statuses, keeping them for almost an hour.

Escucha Mi Voz hosted a protest earlier this week at the Cedar Rapids State Patrol Office, in which they hand-delivered the complaint — which the patrol has yet to respond to — and a petition with 800 signatures asking the patrol to end the agreement.

“Dubuque County Sheriff Kennedy’s principled stance should serve as a model for all county sheriffs to follow,” Alejandra Escobar, an Escucha Mi Voz organizer, said in a statement Friday.

“... Escucha Mi Voz Iowa calls on all county sheriffs in Iowa and nationwide to respect immigrant communities, defend public safety, and reject participation in ICE’s 287(g) program,” Escobar said.

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