Citizenship status reporting and the Dane County Jail
Policy perspectives
By Jonathan Gramling

    Since 9/11, U.S. policy on immigration has become intertwined with the U.S. efforts to seek out and prevent terrorism. Although the 9/11 hijackers
entered the U.S. through Canada and other coastal entry points, policy makers mile border with Mexico. While enforcement of immigration laws as it
related to illegal entrants was sporadic depending, in part, on the health of the U.S. economy, it appears that Immigrations and Customs Enforcement
(ICE), which took over the duties of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) when it was transferred to the Dept. of Homeland Security, has
stepped up its enforcement efforts.
    “Two weeks ago, more than 250 people were detained all over the six states of the Midwest and over 24 people here in Wisconsin,” said Alex Gillis,
head of the Immigrant Workers Union, at a rally on March 10 on the steps of the City-County Building. “What we are denouncing today is that they are
using ICE deportations for political reasons.”
    Sheriff Dave Mahoney, in a later telephone interview, stated that he also felt ICE was stepping up enforcement. “In years previous, it was very rare for
them to take any action at all,” Mahoney said about ICE after the Sheriff’s office had notified ICE by e-mail that someone had stated they were in the
country illegally. “In late 2007, we saw an increase in the number of holds being placed on individuals in the county jail who were undocumented
aliens.”
    Gillis places the blame for this problem on the lack of immigration reform. “In 2004, George Bush promised a comprehensive reform to fix a broken
immigration system,” Gillis said. “They failed to create a policy that helps create a just community for everyone, especially for the workers. We are
bringing this up because we have been immigrants for over 100 years. We are not criminals. We are workers who are in need. The only question we
have today is what are the wages that we deserve? Our status as undocumenteds makes us very vulnerable. They are paying us peanuts. That is the only
reason they keep the system broken. Four years ago, they assured us there was going to be immigration reform. Four years later, not only didn’t they fix
it, but now they are also deporting us. Today, they are deporting people everywhere in the country. They are destroying our families. They are breaking
up our community. We live in fear and they are creating artificial barriers within the community. We want to denounce this. We want a moratorium on
deportations until politicians do their job, which is to make good legislation for everyone.”
    Gillis and other members of the Latino community raised questions about the Dane County Sheriff Dept.’s relationship with ICE and the level of
cooperation the sheriff should be providing ICE. According to Gillis, the sheriff should be doing what is required by law — and nothing more. “The
sheriff doesn’t have to hold anyone because of their legal status,” Gillis asserted. “He shouldn’t even ask people their status. The sheriff has to do what
he has to do. If someone is charged with any crime or felony, there is due process. Many people are in jail for 1-2 nights for charges that turn out to be
not real. But during those two days, the sheriff has time to call the immigration services and deport people. Where is the justice in that? We are asking
the sheriff to not ask, don’t tell. Don’t ask because it isn’t your job. Don’t ask their legal status. Don’t tell ICE.”
    The whole question of determining people’s status is a tricky one. According to the sheriff’s office, on their intake form, they ask people their birth
date and if they are a U.S. citizen. People are also asked to produce an ID that will prove who they are. The sheriff is bound by the Vienna Convention
to notify the consulates of specified countries when their nationals have become involved with the criminal justice system. According to the sheriff,
once the ID is produced, the questioning stops and people are not asked about their status.
    However, Mahoney also contended that some individuals freely provide their status during the booking process. “For the entire 28 years that I have
been a law enforcement officer in the sheriff’s office, if we have an individual who informs us during the booking process after having been brought to
jail on a valid charge, if they indicate that they are in the country illegally, we have made notification to ICE currently and INS previously,” Mahoney
said. “We have done so through an e-mail. The onus is then on that agency to take action if they so wish. We have a departmental policy of not
profiling, of not asking immigration status, to not get involved in the national immigration policy of this country relative to victims of crimes, witnesses of
crimes or routine traffic stops. The only time that we would ever ask anyone’s immigration status is when they have been brought to the Dane County
Jail with a probable cause statement indicating that they have been brought under arrest for having committed some offense.”
    While Dane County makes approximately 18,000 arrests per year, Mahoney said that in 2007, 367 people admitted they were in the country  
illegally and an e-mail notification was sent to ICE. Of those, 61 had holds placed on them by ICE. “The hold could consist of an interview and we
know that some interviews occur over the phone and some in person,” Mahoney said. “Some of those individuals could be held pending adjudication of
their charges they are in the jail for currently. Some may have been eligible for bail and ICE has picked them up for transfer to another county jail who
contracts with ICE for the purpose of holding individuals. Others could have been held for deportation. They may have dropped the hold on some of
them.”
    While the notification to ICE is a voluntary action on the sheriff’s part, Mahoney emphasized that it was a cooperative arrangement that has been in
place for at least 28 years and he has resisted other requests of ICE. “We’re not under a federal obligation to cooperate by making that notification,”
Mahoney admitted. “That is true. There are a number of things that we have been asked to do that we have refused to do. An example of that is we
have been asked to deputize each of our staff members to be an ICE marshall, if you will, of the ICE unit. I said we have no interest in doing that. We’ve
been asked on two occasions since I’ve been in office to assist ICE in roundups. I’ve refused to do that. I believe our obligation ends with notifying ICE
when we have an individual brought to our jail on valid criminal charges.”
    After the open forum at a Dane County committee meeting several weeks ago, Mahoney agreed to continue meeting with Latino community leaders
about the issue and to review the monthly statistics concerning this issue with them. “I don’t believe ICE is deporting everyone who indicates they aren’t
in the country legally,” Mahoney said. “That was the fear of many in the community and I think the facts show, in fact, that they aren’t deporting
everyone. We will continue to monitor that. I’m continuing to meet with community members relative to the concern that our policy may hinder
individuals coming forward as victims or as witnesses to crimes.”
    Gillis also continues to have concerns. “We’ll keep fighting until we get justice.”
(Far left) Alex Gillis (spoke about the Dane County
Jail’s reporting of undocumented workers
to ICE; (Left) Cutouts representing people who have
been moved out of the Dane County Jail.