A bipartisan bill in the Wisconsin legislature would impose mandatory minimum sentences on people convicted of human trafficking. Advocates worry the penalty could be applied to victims.Close up shot of fingerprint paper | Getty Images

A bill that would require judges to sentence people convicted of human trafficking to at least 10 years in prison, or at least 15 years for trafficking a child, is advancing through the Wisconsin Legislature.  

Human trafficking involves the use of force, fraud or coercion for labor, services or commercial sex acts. Trafficking of a child includes knowingly attempting to recruit a child for commercial sex acts. The bill would also increase the maximum prison time a person can receive for trafficking. 

Sen. Van Wanggaard (R-Racine) wrote that the bill “will continue to put a dent in human trafficking in Wisconsin.” Rep. Jerry O’Connor (R-Fond Du Lac) listed five cases in which, he wrote, a person convicted of sex trafficking received between six and eight years in prison. It appeared that the cases took place in states other than Wisconsin. 

“AB 265 ensures that these soft-on-trafficking policies never happen in Wisconsin,” O’Connor wrote. He argued that the bill’s mandatory minimums ensure adequate punishment and prevent offenders from doing further harm. 

The criminal justice advocacy group Ex-Incarcerated People Organizing (EXPO) and the president of the Wisconsin Justice Initiative oppose the mandatory minimums, arguing that there is a lack of evidence they will be effective at reducing trafficking. EXPO argues in an email to the Wisconsin Examiner that mandatory minimums risk unintended harmful consequences and resources are better spent on areas such as prevention and victim services.  

The LOTUS Legal Clinic in Milwaukee, which works with survivors of human trafficking, expressed concern in a written comment submitted on the Senate version of the bill in September. Executive Director Erika Petty wrote that many of LOTUS’s clients might support the mandatory minimum in principle, but expressed concern about unintended consequences for trafficking victims. 

“Traffickers commonly shield themselves from criminal accountability by forcing their victims — often at a very young age — to post ads, recruit new trafficking victims, and facilitate encounters,” Petty wrote in her comment, which was brought up in the Senate Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety. “Thus, the victims themselves become vulnerable to criminal prosecution for human trafficking.”

The bill’s mandatory minimums would apply if a person is convicted of human or child trafficking in adult court, Amber Otis, senior staff attorney with the Wisconsin Legislative Council, wrote in a message to lawmakers on the committee.

Petty argued that under the bill, a victim forced to participate in trafficking of others would fall under the mandatory minimum, just like their trafficker. She provided language for lawmakers to consider; if added to the bill, it would create exceptions to the mandatory minimums that would give judges the ability to hand down lighter sentences or probation to people who offer evidence that their offense is the direct result of a violation of the trafficking statutes.

A 2017 Northwestern University Law Review article made a suggestion in the same vein as Petty’s, proposing that Congress create a “safety valve” for “lead prostitutes,” or “bottoms,” who are both victims and perpetrators of trafficking, to allow them to receive a sentence lighter than a mandatory minimum if certain criteria were met. An article in Anti-Trafficking Review describes a case where a woman named Keosha Jones was both perpetrator and victim of sex trafficking.

Petty wrote that LOTUS attorneys currently had multiple cases involving convicted survivors. The clinic doesn’t handle criminal defense, but LOTUS can work with survivors on their rights as crime victims and see if they can alleviate a survivor’s criminal record, Petty told the Examiner in an interview. A survivor may have a criminal record as a result of trafficking that creates barriers to gainful employment and safe housing. 

While the bill was introduced by Republicans, the Assembly Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety approved it unanimously, and Minority Caucus Chair Lisa Subeck (D-Madison) and Rep. Shelia Stubbs (D-Madison) have been added as coauthors. It has since passed the Assembly. 

The Senate Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety approved the Senate bill along party lines, with the committee’s three Democrats voting against. 

People convicted of benefiting from human trafficking or receiving compensation from the earnings of debt bondage, the prostitution of others or a commercial sex act would also receive a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years, or 15 years for benefiting from child trafficking. 

The bill would also increase the amount of prison time a judge could hand down for trafficking and give prosecutors a longer window to charge someone with human trafficking. 

Victims have a defense in court, but concerns remain

The Examiner reached out to Sen. Wanggaard in September about LOTUS’s comment and suggested amendment. Wanggaard aide Scott Kelly said that “we do not believe an amendment is necessary.” 

If a trafficking victim commits a crime as a “direct result” of a violation of human trafficking law, the victim can use an affirmative defense in court. Kelly referenced the affirmative defense and the 2022 Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling in State v. Kizer, which involved a woman who killed a man prosecutors admitted had sexually abused her. 

The court held that an offense is committed as a direct result of a violation of the human trafficking statutes if there is “a logical, causal connection” between the offense and the trafficking. Other events or considerations must not have played a significant role in causing the offense. 

If a victim is charged and convicted of trafficking, that would mean the victim did not successfully assert the defense, Otis wrote. This could occur if the prosecutor proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant did not meet the elements of the defense. 

Even with the affirmative defense, Assistant State Public Defender Katie York of the Wisconsin State Public Defenders Office told the Examiner that she thinks the bill puts trafficking survivors at risk. 

York opposes the human trafficking mandatory minimum in general, and said it takes away the opportunity for prosecutors, defense attorneys and judges to evaluate each case based on individual circumstances. York said she thinks judges are well equipped to make decisions and she doesn’t believe that this area of the law needs more specific parameters. 

York said how well the defense can be used to protect a trafficking victim is “largely untested at this point.” 

Also, if there is a situation where a jury doesn’t think the defendant meets the “direct result” standard for the affirmative defense, the trafficking still might have been a contributing factor to the defendant’s involvement in the offense, York said. A judge could take that into account. 

“So they could be found guilty of trafficking, even if they tried the affirmative defense,” York said. “But, if the judge is looking at the full picture when they’re sentencing someone, which is what judges do, they would want to take into consideration how that person got involved in the trafficking.”

If a person got involved in trafficking because they were originally trafficked themselves, that would be an important factor for the sentencing judge, York said. 

A person might have some culpability, without having as much culpability as whoever drew them in or forced them into human trafficking, said Sarah Schmeiser, president of the Wisconsin Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. 

Schmeiser said prosecutors use mandatory minimums to force plea deals, as someone charged with a crime that carries a mandatory minimum sentence has an incentive to plead guilty to a lower charge with a lower penalty instead of risking the mandatory minimum sentence at trial. 

York thinks traffickers could use the mandatory minimum as a tool to further coerce their victims.

“So if… they say, ‘Hey, I need you to post this on Backpage,’ or ‘I need you to talk to this girl for me,’ or whatever it is to bring them into the trafficking, they’re putting that person at risk of criminal liability,” York said. “And then the trafficker can say, ‘And, now you better be careful and listen to what I have to say, because otherwise, you’re going to get in trouble with law enforcement and you’re going to go to prison for 10 years,’ or whatever the mandatory minimum is.”

Increased penalties 

Under the bill, someone convicted of committing or benefitting from human trafficking would be guilty of a Class C felony, which carries up to 25 years in prison. Receiving compensation from the earnings of debt bondage, a prostitute or a commercial sex act would become a Class E felony, which carries up to 10 years in prison. The mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison would apply to all human trafficking offenses.

Committing or benefitting from child trafficking would become a Class B felony, which carries up to 40 years in prison. Child trafficking offenses would carry the 15-year mandatory minimum. 

More time to prosecute

The bill would also increase the statute of limitations for human trafficking from six years to 10 years, allowing more time for prosecution. During an Assembly hearing, Investigator Luke Johnson of the Racine County Sheriff’s Office said many human trafficking victims struggle to leave their traffickers. 

“It is very easy for victims to be trapped in a life for many years before having a chance to get out or feeling comfortable enough to disclose to law enforcement or anyone else,” Johnson said. 

Of the human trafficking charges filed under the state law between 2018 and 2023, so far 14 charges have led to convictions, according to Wisconsin Court System data. For trafficking of a child, so far, 32 charges have led to convictions. This does not represent the number of people convicted, as a person can be charged more than once in a case. Charges of benefiting from human or child trafficking were less frequent. 

The National Human Trafficking Hotline reports it has identified 1,117 cases of human trafficking in Wisconsin since 2007, with 2,212 victims identified in those cases. There were 445 allegations of child sex trafficking across Wisconsin in 2021.

“It is imperative to note that in this underworld of crime, there are far more cases that are not reported to law enforcement,” Rep. Jerry O’Connor wrote in a comment on the bill. 

Burden of proof 

Senators discussed LOTUS’s comment during a hearing of the Senate Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety in September, with Sen. Dora Drake (D-Milwaukee) raising concern about charging and criminalizing victims. 

Committee chair and Sen. Van Wanggaard said he thinks investigators understand that a person might be coerced to participate in human trafficking. 

Otis’s email to the Senate committee noted that the district attorney has discretion over whether and how to charge someone with trafficking depending on the situation. 

It’s difficult to prove whether someone is a victim of human trafficking, York said. She added that the victim may not identify as a victim of trafficking, and may view their trafficker as a boyfriend or someone they relied on. 

“It’s a challenge to kind of go back and unpack years worth of trauma and history to say, ‘OK, this is what originally happened, and this is how we got to where we are,” York said. 

At times, a plea deal may work out better for the individual than using the affirmative defense, York said, due to the mental toll the defendant would experience from going in front of a jury and speaking about what happened to them. A mandatory minimum limits the ability to negotiate for the client, she said. 

Erika Petty of LOTUS suggested there could be a situation where someone is not ready to identify as a victim of trafficking at the trial stage, but the situation changes by the time of sentencing. 

Petty referenced a law that allows a person convicted of prostitution to submit a motion for a court to overturn their conviction if certain criteria are met, including that the person was a victim of trafficking for the purposes of a commercial sex act. Human trafficking convictions aren’t covered. 

Potentially, a survivor could appeal a decision, Petty said, but “those are all very specific, and have to align with timing and whatever underlying issue wanted to be appealed.”

Whose expertise informed the bill? 

Shortly before the Assembly voted on the bill, Rep. Robert Wittke (R-Caledonia) said the bill came to lawmakers from Investigator Luke Johnson. Johnson’s comments state that from 2023 to earlier this year, he had an opportunity to serve on a task force specifically targeting human trafficking and internet crimes against children. 

“I urge any of you that have any trepidation with this bill to sit down with those in the front line that actually do this work and actually see this firsthand,” Wittke said. 

During the hearing in the Senate in September, Drake asked Wanggaard and Wittke if they had reached out to any groups or partners that work with victims of human trafficking outside of law enforcement for input. 

Wanggaard said he didn’t know of any group recently that they talked with specifically about this draft, but said that “we have [done so] for most of the content in this draft.” He said he thinks law enforcement was probably the most vocal “because they’re seeing the same people out there, continuing to reoffend.”

Wittke said he didn’t go to any other groups and that “this came specifically from sitting down with Inspector Johnson.” 

Sen. LaTonya Johnson (D-Milwaukee) expressed concern about “only talking to one entity, and that is law enforcement, and we know that not all of our law enforcement officers have the tools necessary to decipher who those victims are.” 

The bill received support from the Wisconsin Sheriffs and Deputy Sheriffs Association and other law enforcement groups, as well as the nonprofit United Migrant Opportunity Services (UMOS). UMOS’s Latina Resource Center operates the Wisconsin Regional Anti-Human Trafficking Program, which helps victims of labor and sex trafficking. UMOS did not respond to requests for comment. 

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A bipartisan bill in the Wisconsin Legislature would launch a pilot project to provide health care and substance abuse recovery services to incarcerated people before and after release.(Photo by Caspar Benson/Getty Images)

This story has been updated to reflect the fact that the proposed bill would cover general health care needs in addition to substance use disorders

“When people don’t receive support, they tend to go back to what they knew,” Tom Denk, who was released from state prison in 2022, told the Wisconsin Examiner.

In an email, Denk said that he has experienced incarceration for a substance use issue and has had many friends who have had similar experiences. 

“One of my best friends was in prison with me,” Denk said. “It was his tenth time in prison — all for substance use issues. However, after he was released, this last time, he died from an overdose.”

Denk said he would like to see wrap-around services extended to include all prisoners. However, he supports a bipartisan effort in the Wisconsin Legislature to request a specific type of waiver of federal Medicaid law for a state demonstration project to provide eligible incarcerated people with up to 90 days of prerelease health care coverage. 

The coverage would include case management services, medication-assisted treatment for all types of substance use disorders and a 30-day supply of all prescription medications, which are the minimum benefits a state is expected to propose in its application. . There are 19 other states that have approved waivers, while nine, including D.C., are pending. 

In 2023, the Biden administration put out guidance encouraging states to test strategies to support the re-entry of incarcerated people into communities, according to the health policy research organization KFF.

While Medicaid is prohibited from paying for non-inpatient services provided during incarceration, states can apply for a partial waiver of that policy.

A bill in the Wisconsin Legislature, AB 604, would require the Wisconsin Department of Health Services to request the waiver from the federal government. Incarcerated people who would receive coverage must be otherwise eligible for coverage under the Medical Assistance program. It will receive a hearing Tuesday afternoon in the Assembly Committee on Mental Health and Substance Abuse Prevention. Its senate counterpart, SB 598, has been referred to the Committee on Health.  

In a press release, Sen. Sarah Keyeski (D-Lodi) said the bill would offer a way to reduce state and local health care costs for individuals with substance use disorders who are already eligible for Medicaid and are incarcerated in state prisons or county jails. 

The 2023 guidance states that the goal is not to allow prison authorities to transfer costs of providing needed prisoner health care to the Medicaid program. States have to reinvest federal matching funds received for carceral health care services currently funded with state or local dollars, according to a KFF publication last year.

Reinvested money must go toward activities that increase access or improve the quality of health care services for people who are incarcerated or were recently released, or for health-related social services that may help divert people released from incarceration from involvement in the criminal justice system, according to KFF.

Keyeski said the bill would also enhance access to care after release. 

“If we can initiate treatment for more individuals struggling with substance use disorders while they are incarcerated, we can both improve health outcomes once they are released back into their communities and lower rates of recidivism,” Keyeski said. 

Denk said that upon release, he had to search for a new provider, which “got more and more difficult to do.” He said that “case management would help with this issue — and reduce stressors that cause people to use substances.”

Support from lawmakers of both parties, activists 

Sen. Jesse James (R-Thorp) and Rep. Clint Moses (R-Menomonie) are among the bipartisan group of lawmakers who introduced or cosponsored AB 604.

James is the chair of the Senate Committee on Mental Health, Substance Abuse Prevention, and Children and Families, while Moses is chair of the Assembly Committee on Health, Aging and Long-Term Care. Sen. Howard Marklein, co-chair of the Joint Committee on Finance, is another cosponsor. 

“This bill is about saving lives and giving people coming out of the criminal justice system the best chance of recovery and reintegration into their communities,” James said in an emailed statement. 

The statement cited a North Carolina study of opioid overdose death rates between 2000 and 2015, which concluded that people released from prison are highly vulnerable to opioids and need urgent prevention measures. 

“When treatment begins pre-release and is maintained throughout reentry, we will see meaningful improvement in health outcomes,” James said.

Moses said in a statement that the bill will help give incarcerated individuals a positive start in a transitional phase in their lives, and would also reduce costs for local governments. 

The criminal justice reform advocacy groups EX-Incarcarated People Organizing (EXPO) and WISDOM expressed support for the legislation in statements to the Examiner. 

“For too long, people leaving incarceration have faced dangerous gaps in healthcare coverage — especially those living with substance use disorders,” EXPO stated. 

The legislation “recognizes what we see every day in our work,” according to the organization, “that people returning home are far more likely to succeed when their health and basic needs are supported from the start.”

In an email to the Examiner, Mark Rice of WISDOM said that many formerly and currently incarcerated people are struggling with poverty, mental illness and addiction. He said that “far too many people” detained in prisons and jails are needlessly dying and suffering due to health issues that could be fixed through increased access to care during and after incarceration. 

“The system must be fundamentally transformed so that health is prioritized over punishment,” Rice said. 

Under the bill, the Department of Health Services would submit the request for a waiver by Jan. 1, 2027. 

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The Waupun Correctional Institution, the oldest prison in Wisconsin built in the 1850s, sits in the middle of a residential neighborhood (Photo | Wisconsin Examiner)

The State of Wisconsin Building Commission on Tuesday approved releasing $15 million to prepare preliminary plans and a design report for major changes to Wisconsin’s prison system requested by Gov. Tony Evers. Wisconsin prisons have long been criticized for aging facilities, overcrowding and deaths. 

Republican lawmakers on the commission complained that Evers has not incorporated their ideas in his plan, but the commission ultimately voted unanimously to release the money to pay for the first step in the process of realizing it. 

At a press conference before the Building Commission meeting, Rep. Rob Swearingen (R-Rhinelander) said Republican lawmakers’ goal is “to ensure we have the information needed” for informed decisions about facility upgrades, prison capacity and responsibly closing the Green Bay Correctional Institution. 

Money for the planning will come from the state budget, which included the $15 million released by the commission Tuesday.

Under the project, the Wisconsin Department of Corrections would be able to close the Green Bay Correctional Institution, the department’s request to the commission states. Upgrades would be made to infrastructure at five other facilities, including the troubled Waupun Correctional Institution. 

The aging Waupun and Green Bay prisons have generated a public outcry over living conditions, as well as the deaths of several people incarcerated at Waupun and criminal charges filed last year against Waupun staff. 

Republicans criticize Evers’ approach

“Currently, [the Department of Corrections] is in a world of hurt,” Senate President Mary Felzkowski (R-Tomahawk) said at the Republicans’ press conference. She cited overcrowding at men’s and women’s facilities, facility infrastructure problems and the death of Lincoln Hills youth counselor Corey Proulx last year. 

Felzskowski referenced the prison proposal Evers put out in February and said he never reached out to the Legislature. 

“The Republicans in this building have plans, proposals that we’ve been working on for a long time, that we could’ve worked with the governor in a bipartisan fashion,” Felzskowski said.

Sen. André Jacque (R-New Franken) said that “what we have before us is, unfortunately, not a serious proposal.”

“…We look at a scenario where the governor says, ‘My way or the highway,’ when we know he’s not going to be in the governor’s mansion come 2027,” Jacque said, saying “it’s unfortunately a plan doomed to failure unless some additional steps are taken.”

Jacque attempted to add projects to the original motion: expansion of Taycheedah Correctional Institution, expansion of medium and minimum security beds at Jackson Correctional Institution and closure of Green Bay Correctional Institution by Dec. 31, 2029. But his motion failed with four members in favor and four opposed.

“Let’s just get something goddamn done here, please,” Evers said during the commission meeting. “…We got to fix the system, and we have an opportunity now.” In a statement, Felzkowski said she is cautiously optimistic following the building commission meeting and looks forward to “having productive conversations to move Wisconsin’s corrections system in the right direction.” 

What’s in the plan?

Under the project, the Waupun prison would become a medium security prison, and it would have upgraded housing units and  enhanced vocational programming. Gov. Tony Evers said he wants to revamp the prison into a “state-of-the-art ‘vocational village.’” 

The troubled Lincoln Hills School, which has remained open as a juvenile facility long after a deadline for closure has passed, would be converted to a 500-bed men’s medium security facility. 

Medium-security Stanley Correctional Institution, which is northeast of Eau Claire, would switch to maximum security, while John C. Burke Correctional Center in Waupun would become a women’s facility. Sanger B. Powers Correctional Center in northeast Wisconsin would receive housing expansion and kitchen replacement that would increase its capacity. 

The request to the commission included an anticipated budget and schedule, which put the total cost at $325 million and final completion in January 2031.  By releasing the planning money that had been included in the state budget, the eight-member commission, chaired by the governor and comprised of legislators from both parties, took the first step in the process. But Republicans and Evers continue to disagree on next steps. Evers promised Tuesday to include legislators in discussions throughout the process.

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David Bintz, who was wrongly incarcerated, stands outside Mountains of Hope, the nonprofit where he finally found temporary housing after trying local shelters. | Photo courtesy Jarrett Adams Law

David and Robert Bintz’s release last fall drew attention to a Wisconsin law about compensation for people wrongly convicted of crimes. Wisconsin law allows less compensation for wrongly convicted people than many other states, unless the state passes a bill awarding additional money to a specific wrongly convicted person. 

In decisions released last week, the Wisconsin Claims Board decided the Bintz brothers, now 69 and 70, will each be awarded $25,000 and attorney fees. The board recommended an additional $1 million for each brother to the Wisconsin Legislature. Two of the board’s five members dissented from the majority’s decision on David Bintz’s compensation. 

“We are thankful for the board’s recommendation and pray that [legislators] vote to approve the recommendation in expedited fashion,” Jarrett Adams, an attorney advocating for the brothers, told the Wisconsin Examiner in an email. 

Over two decades after their convictions in a 1987 murder case, the brothers were released from prison. In April, the Examiner reported on challenges the brothers have experienced, as well as gaps in support for people who reenter society after being wrongly convicted of crimes in Wisconsin. The compensation claims that the brothers submitted included mention of medical expenses, housing needs, additional neurological testing and day-to-day needs.

“Increasing the annual cap and adding a robust layer of services would be beneficial to exonerees who are trying to reestablish themselves in their communities,” Rachel Burg, co-director of the Wisconsin Innocence Project, told the Examiner over email in March. 

The board’s decisions state that both brothers sought the maximum compensation under the statute — $25,000 — and attorney fees, as well as recommendations that the Legislature award $2 million for each brother. 

Under Wisconsin’s law, the board decides whether the evidence of the petitioner’s innocence of the crime for which they were imprisoned is “clear and convincing.” If they find the petitioner was innocent and that they did not contribute to bring about their conviction and imprisonment by action or inaction, the board decides how much money the petitioner should receive. 

A three-member majority of the board found David met the requirement about not contributing to his conviction and imprisonment. 

“Nonwithstanding any contradictory statements, David maintained his innocence and was willing to go to trial to defend his innocence,” the decision states. 

The Examiner has reported on how in his request for compensation, David Bintz argued that he was interrogated for several hours and coerced into a confession, and on Brown County District Attorney David Lasee’s disagreement with that argument. Bintz’s request also said he was intellectually disabled.

Over a quarter of 375 DNA exonerations between 1989 and 2020 were cases that involved false confessions, according to the Innocence Project. 

State Sen. Eric Wimberger (R-Oconto) and state Rep. Alex Dallman (R-Markesan) disagreed with the other three board members regarding David Bintz. Both legislators are part of the finance committees in the Assembly and the Senate, respectively, and on the Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee. 

According to Fox 11 News, Wimberger said that “it had everything to do with the fact that David Bintz’s conviction was really his own fault and not anything the state did wrong” in reference to a conversation David had with a cellmate. David Bintz’s cellmate Gary Swendby said David talked about committing the crime in his sleep and also admitted his involvement while he was serving time for a different crime. 

“I think on the Robert Bintz side of things, there’s a lot of sympathy and perhaps there should’ve been a better investigation done,” Wimberger said.

A research project took up the question of how much money states pay exonerees per each year lost, specifically for exonerees who were paid. For Wisconsin, they found an average of $4,947 per year lost. The research was by the National Registry of Exonerations and Professor Jeffrey Gutman of the George Washington University Law School.  

Gutman analyzed wrongful convictions compensation in Wisconsin in the 2022 publication “Compensation Under the Microscope: Wisconsin,” which was updated in July 2023. 

Gutman wrote about Wisconsin exonerees wrongly convicted in state courts and  recorded by the National Registry of Exonerations, going back to 1989. Of the exonerees awarded compensation, he wrote that only one appeared to have been provided additional compensation from the Legislature following a claims board recommendation. 

In 2014, then-Gov. Scott Walker awarded an additional $90,000 to Robert Lee Stinson, after the claims board had awarded $25,000. Stinson had requested reimbursement for 23 years in prison at the rate of $5,000 per year.

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Smith and Wesson handguns are displayed during the 2015 NRA Annual Meeting and Exhibits in Nashville, Tenn. A new report found Wisconsin gun deaths have increased since 2002. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Jenevia Blanks’ young cousin was killed by gun violence, Blanks wrote in personal testimony included in a report released Tuesday that analyzes gun deaths in Wisconsin. 

“I want to keep sending a message to legislators that this violence is an epidemic, and something has to be done,” said Blanks, who volunteers with the advocacy group Moms Demand Action. “It’s not acceptable that we keep having so many lives cut short by gun violence.”

Firearms claimed the lives of 762 Wisconsinites in 2023, according to a report from the Wisconsin Anti-Violence Effort (WAVE) Educational Fund and the Violence Policy Center. This included suicides, homicides and other firearm deaths. 

The total number marks a decline from the 830 deaths reported for 2022 and the 793 deaths reported for 2021. The report also says that rates of overall suicide and firearm suicide in Wisconsin are similar to national rates, while homicide and firearm homicide rates are lower in Wisconsin than in the nation. 

However, overall rates of firearm suicides and firearm homicides have increased in Wisconsin since 2002. Since 2020, firearm deaths have reportedly outpaced motor vehicle deaths in Wisconsin. 

“One death from gun violence is too many,” Nick Matuszewski, associate executive director of the WAVE Educational Fund, said in a statement. “But 762 deaths is a disgrace and an urgent call to take the kind of actions that have been proven to save lives.” 

The 762 deaths include 502 firearm suicides and 236 firearm homicides. The report includes findings related to sex, age, race and ethnicity and rural and urban areas. 

WAVE reports that in 2023, suicides took up a larger percentage of firearms deaths in rural Wisconsin (88.5%) than in urban Wisconsin (58.2%). 

According to the report, guns were used in 54.6% of suicides and 83.1% of homicides in Wisconsin.

Black residents of Wisconsin were 40 times more likely to die by firearm homicide than white residents. The report states that an annual study by the Violence Policy Center found that Wisconsin had the fourth highest rate of Black homicide victimization in the nation in 2023. 

In 2023, 8,441 firearms were recovered in Wisconsin and traced, according to WAVE, most of which were handguns. The report found that 84.9% of firearms recovered in Wisconsin originated in the state.

The study was released the day before the Emergency Gun Violence Summit, which will take place Wednesday in Milwaukee. 

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The Palmyra public safety building. (Photo via Palmyra Fire Rescue Facebook page)

Under a proposed partnership with federal Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE), the Palmyra Police Department would focus on criminals — not on people simply because they might be immigrants without legal status, the department’s interim police chief told the Wisconsin Examiner in an interview last week. 

Interim Police Chief Paul Blount also said that partnering with ICE would allow department officers to get access to databases and resources to better fight serious crimes, such as drug trafficking and human trafficking.

Along with the proposed partnership deal, the Palmyra department has the potential to receive payments for its involvement. According to CBS 58 News, Blount said last week that the agreement might “be the difference in this next year of having officers on the street during the daytime and nighttime.”

Blount spoke with the Wisconsin Examiner for about 40 minutes Thursday about the village’s proposed ICE partnership. The arrangement, under the ICE task force model, would grant officers limited authority to enforce immigration law while performing routine police duties. The department would also receive reimbursements from ICE. 

Task force agreements with ICE were discontinued in 2012, but the government has revived the program in President Donald Trump’s second term, Stateline reported.

The 287(g) program allows participating local law enforcement to enforce certain aspects of U.S. immigration law in partnerships with ICE. While 13 Wisconsin counties have a sheriff’s department partnering with ICE, Palmyra would be the only 287(g) partnership in Wisconsin between a police department and ICE. 

The Palmyra partnership would also be the only 287(g) partnership in Wisconsin using the task force model. Other models focus on people who are already in custody. 

The proposal still awaits approval by the Palmyra village board. 

The American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin issued a press release last week criticizing the potential partnership, saying the department is “partnering hand in glove with ICE to carry out this regime’s plan to deport our immigrant neighbors and loved ones.” 

Chief: Little change for police operations

In his interview with the Wisconsin Examiner, Blount said that under the arrangement with ICE, the village police department would not be operating much differently than it does now. 

In addition to cooperating with the federal government, Blount said,  “Obviously the financial incentive that was newly added that goes along with it was another reason why we looked at this program, and said, ‘We’re already doing a majority of what this involves. So why would we not collaborate with them, and then we could have the financial incentive that goes along with it.’” 

The ICE website says officers may also exercise limited immigration authority as active participants on ICE-led task forces. 

In its statement, the ACLU said that the task force model “gives officers the green light to stop people they think might be immigrants on the street, question them about their citizenship status, and even take them into custody.”

Blount said the department will not go door to door to check individuals’ documentation or profile people who they think may lack documentation. Palmyra police will collaborate with ICE when someone is involved in criminal activity, wanted on a warrant or facing criminal charges, he said. 

Blount, who is also the director of public safety for the village, said he is one of three full-time officers in the department, along with five part-time officers. 

Asked whether a Palmyra Police Department officer might ask people about their immigration status if they are pulled over for traffic violations — rather than something that would lead police to take a driver to jail — Blount said he didn’t think that was likely. 

 “For a simple traffic stop, that is something that we would be allowed to do,” Blount said, “and I would say that I haven’t made a final decision on that yet. If it involves criminal traffic, the answer to that would be yes, if it’s criminal traffic. So there are certain things that rise to the element of criminal traffic law…but basic traffic [offenses] like a speeding ticket, probably not.”

Blount said that distinction would potentially be detailed in a policy if the village moves ahead with the partnership.  

In its statement, the ACLU of Wisconsin raised concerns about racial profiling. A 2011 Department of Justice investigation found widespread racial profiling and other discrimination in an Arizona task force. 

The ACLU also called for “a balanced approach to immigration that includes both humane border management and a pathway to citizenship.”

If Palmyra moves forward with the partnership, Blount said he is leaning “towards establishing policies and procedures to prevent any type of profiling that the agreement has the potential for.” 

ICE now lists Palmyra Police Department as a participating 287(g) agency with the task force model, with a signature date of Monday, Sept. 22. Blount said the department received federal approval on Wednesday. 

The department’s application for the task force model is pending review by the village board, Blount said, and the board’s vote will be posted on a meeting agenda before it takes place. 

Officers who will be involved must take 40 hours of training and education, which has not started yet, Blount said.  

A financial boon

Blount said the program would come with significant financial incentives from the federal government. 

At the time of his interview with the Wisconsin Examiner, Blount was unsure of the exact amounts that Palmyra would receive. He later sent the Examiner a press release from the Department of Homeland Security dated Sept. 17, which includes details about reimbursement opportunities that will begin Oct. 1. 

A 287(g) fact sheet on ICE’s website contains a section titled “Task Force Model Reimbursement Plan Benefits,” which include $7,500 for equipment for each trained task force officer, $100,000 for new vehicles, salary and benefits reimbursed per trained task force officer and overtime funds up to 25% of salary.

Agencies will also be able to receive quarterly performance awards, up to $1,000 per eligible task force officer, based on “the successful location of illegal aliens provided by ICE and overall assistance to further ICE’s mission to defend the homeland,” the ICE press release states.

In an email message, Village Board President Tim Gorsegner said the board hasn’t discussed the proposal yet, has no official position and will set up a future meeting to hear comments from the public.

In his interview, Blount said he believes he and the board are listening to community questions.

“We’ve had a fair amount of support and a fair amount of, lack of a better term, negativity and pushback for the potential pending agreement,” Blount said. “So we’re listening to both sides and listening to that feedback, and I think obviously the board then will make their decision based on that.”

Blount said he didn’t think the village board would weigh in on the specifics of how he participates in the agreement. 

“They usually don’t get involved in my operations per se,” he said.

This report has been updated with a response from the village board about the proposal. 

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