Freeborn County Sheriff shares details on agreement with ICE

ALBERT LEA, Minn. (KTTC) – Freeborn County Sheriff’s Office is one of the five Minnesota law enforcement agencies that signed agreements Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) this year. Sheriff Ryan Shea said he applied for the federal agency’s Warrant Service Officer program—one that “allows ICE to train, certify and authorize state and local law enforcement officers to serve and execute administrative warrants on aliens in their agency’s jail.”

“If we were to arrest somebody, they’d have criminal charges,” he said. “We ask them where they’re born. That’s the standard question that gets asked. If somebody says they’re born outside of the United States, the protocol is to contact ICE to see if they have any interest in the person, because we don’t know who’s here legally and who’s here illegally.”

If ICE has interest in the arrested person, Shea said an officer from the agency must travel to Freeborn County to hand a warrant to the detainee, explaining why they are being held by ICE and why there is such a warrant. By taking part in the Warrant Service Officer program, the sheriff explained it eliminates the need for the ICE officer to commit this travel.

“They can fax that to us, and we’ll have deputies in the correction center trained to be able to do that to the person, so they get the information quicker on why ICE is holding them and has a warrant for them,” he said. “It is less time that the unknown is out there for them, and it is less taxpayer money having to be spent to get the work done.”

Shea confirmed the county sheriff’s office is not going into the public and arresting people for the federal agency. He emphasized this is a paperwork procedure strictly for the county’s detention center and the people who are already arrested with criminal charges.

“We’re not going to be out in the community searching for people for ICE,“ the sheriff said, “That’s their job. I don’t want people to fear calling 911 for help because they’re worried about any immigration status. Our deputies that are out on the street are not doing anything with immigration status on people out in the public.”

The sheriff’s office currently has nine staff members who will be undergoing training related to warrant services. At this time, the program has not taken effect, and it depends on when the federal government approves the application. “I don’t know if that’s going to be two weeks, two months, or six months from now when we get to it.” Shea said.

Cass, Itasca, and Jackson Counties are also participating in the agency’s 287(g) program. On top of Warrant Service Officer, the two other models for the program include Jail Enforcement and Task Force. ICE stated on its website, as of Monday, the agency has signed 456 agreements for 287(g) programs covering 38 states. For the Warrant Service Officer program, it wrote that it signed agreements with 180 law enforcement agencies in 27 states.

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