Masked federal agents on the scene near where a federal officer shot a Minnesotan for the third time in as many weeks. (Photo by Madison McVan/Minnesota Reformer)

The Barron County Sheriff on Wednesday said in a social media post that area residents shouldn’t trust the news media about Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s presence in the area. 

In the post on Facebook, the sheriff’s office challenged the accuracy of local news reports on ICE activity in the area that prompted “a flurry of calls and messages” to the sheriff’s office. The post stated that ICE was in Barron County on Sunday looking for two individuals but did not locate either of them. The post also said that information about ICE should come from the agency itself. 

“The Barron County Sheriff’s Department encourages everyone to read past the headlines and question what they see or hear in the news, and especially on social media, as it relates to ICE operations,” the department wrote. “Do your own research and visit the Immigration and Customs Enforcement website to see what their operations entail and who they are apprehending.”

The post appears to reference Trump administration claims that ICE is targeting the “worst of the worst.” However, recent reporting from CBS News found that less than 14% of the 400,000 immigrants arrested by ICE in President Donald Trump’s first year in office had been charged or convicted of violent crimes. 

Data from Wisconsin has shown that the immigrants ICE has arrested here have largely been people charged with but not yet convicted of crimes — a practice that some county law enforcement officials have complained prevents the conclusion of local criminal cases. 

Additionally, ICE has frequently lied about its encounters with the public and the people it has arrested. After an operation in Manitowoc County in which ICE arrested several dairy workers — one of the highest profile ICE actions in Wisconsin of the past year — ICE claimed that one of the men arrested was a sex offender. However the man it referred to had been in ICE custody for months prior to the Manitowoc County arrests. ICE claims about violent activity by Renee Good and Alex Pretti, have also been disproven. 

ICE has been expanding operations throughout western Wisconsin since the surge of personnel into Minnesota began in December. In the Facebook post, the Barron County sheriff’s office said it would cooperate with local ICE operations. 

“As previously stated, if ICE comes to Barron County and requests assistance of the Barron County Sheriff’s Department, we will support our law enforcement partners,” the Barron County sheriff’s post stated. “Unlawful obstruction and interference with any operations will not be tolerated.”