Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird is suing to defund an entire county after its leading law enforcement authority vowed to “make every effort to block, interfere and interrupt” deportation operations based on ICE detainers, which he called unconstitutional.
This comes amid the Trump administration’s concerted whole-of-government approach to cracking down on illegal immigration and migrant crime in the United States.
Bird, a Republican, argues that the sheriff’s self-proclaimed “longtime” stance of interrupting immigration enforcement operations based on detainers “impeded and discouraged cooperation with federal immigration authorities in violation of Iowa law.”
A detainer is a formal request by ICE to other law enforcement authorities to hold an individual the agency has good reason to believe is an illegal alien who poses a threat to the well-being and safety of the community.
ICE officials have said that by refusing to honor detainers, law enforcement agencies put their communities at risk by allowing potentially dangerous illegals back onto the streets.
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Despite this, Winneshiek County Sheriff Dan Marx pledged not to cooperate with ICE detainers in a Feb. 4 Facebook post in which he asserted that a detainer is “simply an unconstitutional *request* from ICE.”
In the now-deleted post, Marx encouraged people to contact his office if they encounter “any federal agents” and said he and his staff are “always willing to assist with verifying credentials and the legitimacy of any paperwork federal agents should have to make certain 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 said.
“If their actions or paperwork are not within constitutional parameters,” he went on, “then we will make every effort to block, interfere and interrupt their actions from moving forward.”
Actions the sheriff claimed are not within constitutional parameters include what he called “non-judicially vetted ‘detainers,’” which he claimed “are simply an unconstitutional *request* from ICE or other three letter federal agency to arrest or hold someone.”
Marx claimed that “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 claimed, adding, “these detainers are violations of our 4th Amendment protection against warrantless search, seizure and arrest, and our 6th Amendment right to due process.”
Marx concluded the long post by saying his “long-time stance on not recognizing detainers” and involvement with immigration enforcement will be based on “constitutional standards … not opinions, politics or emotions.”
In response, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, a Republican, filed an official complaint with the attorney general about the sheriff violating a state law mandating law enforcement cooperate with federal immigration authorities. This prompted an investigation in which Bird found that, despite his defiant rhetoric, Marx’s office had complied with “every single ICE detainer request” since 2018.
The attorney general gave Marx a deadline last week to amend his statements to comply with state law. When he refused to issue a correction, Bird launched a lawsuit to pull all state funding to Winneshiek County until the sheriff agrees to comply with state law regarding cooperating with federal immigration authorities.
Bird argues that Marx’s post, which she said was “rife with legal and factual errors that discouraged enforcing immigration laws,” violated chapter 27A of the Iowa state legal code.
The lawsuit, which was filed in the Polk County District Court, cites section 27A.4 of the Iowa legal code, which states that a county “shall be ineligible to receive any state funds if the local entity intentionally violates this chapter.”
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Commenting on her suit, Bird said that “sanctuary counties are illegal under Iowa law.”
“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,” she said. “He left us with no choice but to take the case to court to enforce our laws and ensure cooperation with federal immigration authorities.”
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A representative for the Winneshiek County Sheriff’s Office declined Fox News Digital’s request for comment, saying the sheriff and office “are unable to provide any comments at this time due to the pending litigation.”
The Winnishiek County Auditor, Benjamin D. Steines would not disclose how much money the county stands to lose, citing the same litigation.
“Iowa is not a sanctuary for illegal immigration. Anyone who threatens to ‘block, interfere and interrupt’ with immigration enforcement, as this sheriff did, will be held accountable,” Bird told Fox News Digital.
She noted that her office “gave the Sheriff an opportunity to fix his state-law violation and cooperate with immigration enforcement, but he refused—knowing that it would cost his home community. All he has to do to end this is fix the problem and follow the law.”
“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 went on. “Thankfully, President Trump hit the ground running to secure the border, crack down on drug trafficking, and reduce crime. And as Iowa’s Attorney General, I will keep fighting to ensure our state cooperates with federal immigration authorities to keep our communities safe.”
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