Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird is investigating whether Winneshiek County’s sheriff violated state law requiring law enforcement to comply with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainment requests.
Sheriff Dan Marx vowed in a Tuesday Facebook post that his office would “make every effort to block, interfere and interrupt” ICE’s efforts if they do not think them to be legally sound.
“If their actions or paperwork are not within constitutional parameters (such as non-judicially vetted ‘detainers,’ which are very different than warrants and are simply an unconstitutional ‘request’ from ICE or other three letter federal agency to arrest or hold someone), then we will make every effort to block, interfere and interrupt their actions from moving forward,” he declared.
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Iowa Republican Attorney General candidate Brenna Bird speaks during a Republican Party of Iowa election night rally, Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2022, in Des Moines, Iowa. ((AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall))
Detainers, the Des Moines Register summarized, “are requests from ICE to federal, state or local law enforcement to hold a person for up to 48 hours beyond the time they would ordinarily be released. The Department of Homeland Security uses that holding time to determine whether the person should be taken into federal custody and deported.”
But Iowa officials argue Marx has overstepped by not only defying the governor’s directives, but violating a 2018 law that requires local law enforcement agencies to comply with detainer requests.
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Gov. Kim Reynolds responded with an open statement of her own, declaring in a letter, “Iowa law provides a sheriff shall not adopt or enforce a policy or take any other action under which the sheriff prohibits or discourages the enforcement of immigration laws. Iowa law further requires that a sheriff shall not prohibit or discourage a law enforcement officer from assisting or cooperating with a federal immigration officer as reasonable or necessary, including providing enforcement assistance.”
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Iowa attorney general Brenna Bird speaks during the second day of the 2024 Republican National Convention, July 16, 2024. (Photo by Patrick T. Fallon / AFP) (Photo by PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images)
The Attorney General also responded with a press release on Thursday, noting that “We have received the Governor’s complaint against Winneshiek County and have opened an investigation.”
She also specified that “Iowa law is clear: counties and cities must comply with Iowa Code Chapter 27A, which specifically requires law enforcement to comply with ICE detainers or risk loss of state funding,” Bird said in a news release.
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Fox News Digital reached out to the Sheriff’s office and did not receive an immediate reply.
