Dunn County Sheriff, Kevin Bygd recently addressed the status of signing an ICE agreement for the Warrant Service Officer Program. Below is the press release from the Sheriffs Office:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Based on legal advice from the attorney who represents Dunn County’s liability insurance carrier,
Wisconsin County Mutual, Sheriff Kevin Bygd signed a Memorandum of Agreement to allow selected
staff members to be trained as Warrant Service Officers.
Under this program, Dunn County Sheriff’s Deputies are authorized only to serve federal detainers on individuals who are already in custody at the Dunn County Jail on local criminal charges. This agreement
does not grant deputies authority to enforce federal immigration laws or to participate in immigration enforcement activities such as arresting individuals based solely on suspected immigration status. The purpose of the agreement is to provide limited liability protection when holding an individual in our
custody for up to 48 hours on a federal detainer after local charges have been resolved. In instances where we have encountered individuals with federal detainers, those individuals typically had significant criminal histories, and the detainers were associated with serious offenses.
Dunn County Deputies encounter non-citizens on a regular basis and, when appropriate, may arrest or cite individuals for violations of state or local law — just as they would with any other person. We do not
contact federal authorities for every interaction involving a non-citizen, nor do we have authority to
independently enforce federal immigration laws.
On average, the Dunn County Jail encounters approximately one individual per year who has a federal
detainer, despite regularly housing non-citizens. Last year, we encountered two individuals with federal
detainers. One individual was sentenced to prison on local felony charges, and the detainer followed him
to state prison. In the other case, the individual was arrested on local charges, and the federal detainer was withdrawn before those charges were resolved and he was released from jail once the local charges were resolved.
I hope this clarifies any misinformation that may be circulating.
Sheriff Kevin Bygd
