Bird should drop her Winneshiek County vendetta

In 2018, the Iowa Legislature approved a bill mandating that local law enforcement agencies comply with federal immigration detainer requests. Local agencies must comply with requests to temporarily hold a suspected undocumented immigrant until federal officials can take custody.

It’s all spelled out in Iowa Code Chapter 27A,

“A law enforcement agency in this state that has custody of a person subject to an immigration detainer request issued by United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement shall fully comply with any instruction made in the detainer request and in any other legal document provided by a federal agency.”

The law also says, “A local entity shall not adopt or enforce a policy or take any other action under which the local entity prohibits or discourages the enforcement of immigration laws.”

The law makes no mention of restricting the free speech of a law enforcement officer. But that’s the position of Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird, who is suing Winneshiek County and its sheriff, Dan Marx.

It’s a lawsuit that never should have seen the light of day.

In February, Marx wrote a post for his Facebook page regarding immigration detainers. He said his department would comply with requests within “constitutional parameters.” If the sheriff’s office received a request violating constitutional rights, it would “make every effort to block, interfere and interrupt their actions from moving forward.”

Bird did not like what Marx wrote. She ordered Marx to take down the post and replace it with language written by Bird’s office. Marx took down the February post, but did not use the attorney general’s language in its place.

So, Bird is now suing Winneshiek County and the sheriff. Under 27A, if the lawsuit is successful, the county would lose state funding.

“Sanctuary counties are illegal under Iowa law,” Bird said in a statement announcing the lawsuit, which was filed in Polk County.

Since Bird's lawsuit was filed, Americans have seen additional reporting from multiple jurisdictions across the country showing mistakes have been made with people being improperly held on immigration detainers — including U.S. citizens. These mistakes affirm the original point Marx was making.

And Winneshiek County is not a “sanctuary county.” An investigation found that the sheriff’s office has complied with all 21 detainer requests received from Immigration and Customs Enforcement since 2018. The office follows the law.

“Obviously, I support ICE in their efforts to keep our country and community safe. They have a difficult, dangerous and important task before them. It remains my intent that our assistance be provided when those tasks are being carried out within the parameters of their legal responsibilities,” Marx said in a letter to the Attorney General’s Office.

So what the case boils down to is Bird’s dislike for what Marx wrote in February. She can’t stand a dissenting opinion, even though it has had no effect on the county’s compliance with detainer requests, which is the point of the law.

Marx, according to Bird, must be punished. His county must be defunded. By making him an example, Bird likely hopes other sheriffs will fall into line in silent acquiescence.

An experienced law enforcement leader wants his office to comply with the Constitution. That’s what passes for insubordination in Bird’s eyes. She knows cracking down also scores political points.

Marx’s office is incompliance, and his post was taken down. Bird should drop the lawsuit, diffuse the funding threat and leave Marx to his duties as sheriff. That’s why Winneshiek County voters elected him.