Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office Will No Longer Honor ICE Detainers

ICE detainers will longer be honored by the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office, but ICE will be notified prior to a suspected undocumented immigrant release from jail.

By H. Nelson Goodson

Hispanic News Network U.S.A.

August 22, 2018

Milwaukee, WI - On Tuesday, the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office (MCSO) announced a new policy that the department will no longer accept or honor Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainers without an official court warrant signed by a judge. A federal court had ruled that ICE detainers are not legal binding, but that only a warrant signed by a judge can authorized the hold of a suspected undocumented immigrant who was processed by the sheriff's office for another violation. Once the inmate is scheduled for release and there is no basis to continue to hold the suspected undocumented immigrant, the inmate will be released, but ICE will be notified that the inmate would be released within 2 to 3 hours before the release process is completed, according to the MCSO. The MCSO notification to ICE would allow ICE to arrest the undocumented immigrant when released from the jail.

The MCSO policy change came after the ACLU requested for the department to stop honoring ICE detainers in early August.