The Milwaukee County Courthouse (Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner)

Update: ICE spokespeople directed Wisconsin Examiner to a post made on X (formerly known as Twitter) announcing the arrest of Kevin Lopez, 36, a Mexican citizen, who the post said is facing state charges of sexual assault of a minor, and sexual assault of an unconscious victim. The post states that Lopez had been previously arrested by local authorities for cannabis possession. Online court records confirm the charges against Lopez.

Another Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrest was made at the Milwaukee County Courthouse on May 7. Chief Judge Carl Ashley said he was told the arrest occurred after a court hearing. Since March, at least four people have been arrested for immigration enforcement in or near the courthouse. Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan was charged with obstruction after escorting a man sought by ICE into a public hallway outside her courtroom. 

The identity of the person arrested Wednesday has not been released. ICE officials have been unable to provide information at this time to Wisconsin Examiner.

In late March, Marco Cruz-Garcia, 24, a Mexican citizen, was arrested in the courthouse as he appeared in family court on a domestic violence restraining order. In a statement, ICE accused Cruz-Garcia of being a known member of the “Sureños transnational criminal street gang,” and cited his 2020 deportation order by a judge.  

Edwin Bustamante-Sierre, 27, a Nicaraguan citizen, was arrested days after Cruz-Garcia on April 3. ICE said in a statement that Bustamante-Sierre had been charged with reckless driving, endangering safety, reckless use of a firearm, use of a dangerous weapon and cocaine possession in Fond du Lac County and Milwaukee County.

On April 18, agents arrested Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, 30, a Mexican immigrant lacking permanent legal status, who faced three misdemeanor domestic battery charges. 

The arrest of Flores-Ruiz led to Judge Dugan’s arrest. On April 25, Dugan was arrested outside the courthouse, with agents leading the judge to an unmarked squad car in handcuffs. Protests erupted that day and over the weekend at the FBI Milwaukee office, which conducted a speedy investigation into Dugan, after right-wing media outlets claimed to have broken a story about Dugan helping the man evade ICE by leading him out a side door in  her courtroom.

A bipartisan letter from judges around the country objected to the unusual, high-profile arrest and “perp walk” of Dugan. 

Local officials in Milwaukee have spoken out against the ICE arrests at the courthouse, saying they are disrupting proceedings as community members seek crucial services and are discouraging people from coming to court.

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Kristen Payne, a member of Lead Safe Schools MKE. (Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner)

Update: The Milwaukee Health Department announced Thursday that 22 children were screened at the clinic, and two needed follow-up blood tests. The department said in a statement the turnout was lower than officials had hoped for, but that the department will host additional school-based screening clinics. The department also is advising families to visit pop-up clinics at Children’s Wisconsin hospital’s Next Door Clinic and the Sixteenth Street Health Center Community Outreach program.

As a lead screening clinic was being set up inside Milwaukee’s North Division High School Wednesday, a coalition of parents, teachers and locals gathered outside to voice their frustrations about the response to lead contamination in Milwaukee Public School’s (MPS). The group had gathered to “demand that lead contamination in our schools, our city and our state, be urgently and effectively addressed in a manner consistent with health science data,” said Kristen Payne, a member of Lead Safe Schools MKE, during a press conference outside the high school. 

The press conference brought together several groups including Lead Safe Schools MKE, Freshwater for Life Action Coalition, Get the Lead Out and Metcalfe Park Community Bridges. Inside North Division, the  Milwaukee Health Department set up a clinic in the cafeteria and prepared to screen up to 300 children. Concern over lead in MPS buildings has grown since January, after a student was reportedly poisoned. Just under 400 MPS students have been tested and several schools temporarily closed due to lead hazards so far this year.

“Testing our kids for lead poisoning is important, and it’s also not nearly enough,” Payne said. “Until the district, city and state work proactively to address root causes of lead exposure, these testing clinics will do little to prevent exposure of a harmful toxin.” Every year, more than 1,200 children in the city of Milwaukee test positive for lead poisoning, with an average age of 3 years old. With over 70,000 MPS students among the tens of thousands of children in the city, ensuring that enough children are getting tested can be challenging.

Katie Doss is the grandmother of one of those children who tested positive. “She was hospitalized,” said Doss, and  received a blood transfusion. The experience led  Doss to work with the Coalition on Lead Emergency (COLE) and city officials to help get as many children tested as possible. She eventually became a lead program coordinator. “Since then, I’ve got over 400 children tested,” said Doss.

Doss wasn’t alone. “I believe that my grandchildren have the right to go to school without the threat of exposure to lead,” said Maria Beltran, a local resident, grandmother and member of Freshwater for Life Action Coalition. “Lead exposure in children, like my entire family and myself — I have seven kids, seven grandchildren, and married — lead exposure in children can damage the brain and nervous system, cause developmental delays, learning challenges, behavioral issues, [and] hearing loss. Also in adults, lead exposure and lead poisoning can cause high blood pressure, kidney damage, brain damage, miscarriage, and infertility that I have experienced in my entire family as well.”

The group of parents and residents that joined Payne expressed their feeling  that MPS and the Health Department have been more reactive than protective when it comes to addressing lead contamination. Some questioned why only elementary schools, and not middle and high schools, are the focus of current testing and remediation efforts. Others felt that they’d been left in the dark as to how lead poisoning affected their loved ones, or felt that school officials were sending out last-minute warnings to parents about lead hazards. Such notifications often came as emails, sent in the evening hours or  near weekend days, parents at the press conference said. 

The coalition demanded that MPS test all buildings for lead in dust, paint, water and soil. Additionally, the group called on the school district to follow the American Academy of Pediatrics recommendations for lead-in-water readings <1.0 (parts per billion), and for better lines of communication to be established between school officials and parents. The group further demanded that the MPS Board of Directors pass a recently introduced lead-safety resolution, that city departments implement more proactive measures and that Gov. Tony Evers and the Legislature help remediate lead in schools statewide. 

Melody McCurtis, deputy director and lead organizer of Metcalfe Park Community Bridges, said that city officials are concerned with “growing the city without repairing the past harm that the current residents in this city is facing, especially in terms of lead.” McCurtis added,  “This city is prioritizing policing in our schools, prioritizing more than half of our city budget going to the police, but not going to prevention of crises like the lead crisis. It is going to take more than the Milwaukee Public School, the Health Department, and the city elected officials to come together to not just treat the issue, but to prevent it from happening.”

Inside the high school’s cafeteria, Health Department Commissioner Mike Totoraitis and Deputy Commissioner of Environmental Health Tyler Weber were helping oversee the final preparations for the screening clinic. They said  lead dust and paint are a target and the city’s youngest children are being prioritized for lead testing. “That’s not to minimize that there are other hazards here at the schools and potentially in the homes,” said Totoraitis. 

Although older children and adults will need to be included in testing eventually, it’s unclear how long that might take. The city is still re-grouping after plans to send specialized lead teams from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to Milwaukee were cancelled by the Trump Administration. The teams would have helped with blood screening analysis to detect trends and gather more information. Totoraitis said that the health department has monitored citywide data for screenings, and has not noticed any new trends. Milwaukee is  also working with partners in other states including Ohio and Michigan. More parents have been taking their children to pediatricians to get tested, which is encouraging, Totoratis said. “That is the best way for parents to know if their child has been poisoned,” he said.

MPS assumes that lead paint exists in any building built before 1978, and the school district has 54 schools built before 1950. Addressing the full scale of the problem will take creativity, dedicated effort and time, health officials say. Weber said that although it’s good that positive tests since January have been relatively low, many more children still need to be evaluated. 

“Oftentimes, the children that we see tested aren’t always the children that need to be,” said Tyler, noting that although more than 1,200 children test positive annually, only 40-50% of children are tested who need to be.

Doss told Wisconsin Examiner that it can be difficult to convince parents to get their children tested. “It’s extremely challenging,” said Doss. “There are a lot of parents that’s lost hope and faith in the community as far as getting the children tested. They want to know what’s going to happen on the reaction. If they get their child tested, will they be actually judged if the child comes back with lead and they don’t know where the lead is coming from?” 

Doss said some parents fear that a positive lead test will lead to their homes being visited by authorities, or even that their children could be taken away. “So that’s why it’s very important to let the parents know that it’s nothing that they did. It’s in our environment, it’s in our water, it’s in the paint…The only way that you can help your child is to get your child tested to know if your child has it. And you need to get your child tested once a year. It’s very important.”

The scale of the problem, and a lack of capacity within the health department, creates stubborn obstacles. “And our old housing stock, the red-lining that’s happened over time, the disinvestment in communities, and so it’s a lot for a single department to get to the point where we get ahead of this,” Weber said.  “‘Cause it is devastating to have to see every day the results that come in from different children, and respond to those.” 

Weber added that ideally lead levels in soil, homes, water and human bodies would be zero. “We’re an old city with a lot of deeply rooted challenges, and there’s a lot of work that we have to do collectively.”

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The crime scene around King Park in Milwaukee, where Sam Sharpe was killed by out-of-state police from Ohio. (Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner)

The Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office announced Monday that five officers from the Columbus, Ohio, police department will not be charged in the fatal shooting of Sam Sharpe, a man who was killed by the out-of-state officers during the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on July 16. 

Sharpe, 43, returned to Milwaukee’s King Park, where he was living in a tent for the last time to gather his belongings and his dog Ices to avoid a man who’d allegedly begun harassing and threatening him, according to Sharpe’s family. Sharpe, who was remembered as positive and well-liked by other King Park residents, shared a fragile sense of shelter and community with numerous other unhoused locals. But when he encountered his alleged harasser that summer day, a confrontation ensued which ended in a volley of gunfire from police officers deployed to Milwaukee as part of the security force for the RNC. 

The day before the shooting, a group of housing rights activists, who had slept in King Park overnight, marched on the RNC. Law enforcement officials said after the shooting that the prior day’s protest had drawn the officers to King Park. Body camera footage showed the officers standing together just before the shooting, then noticing a fight occurring in the distance. The officers immediately unholstered their weapons and sprinted over, yelling commands before unleashing a torrent of gunfire. 

The district attorney’s May 5 letter detailing the decision not to issue charges states that five officers fired a total of 23 times. Each of the officers — identified as Sgt. Adam Groves and officers Nick Mason, Austin Enos, Karl Eiginger, and Canaan Dick — told investigators that they feared that Sharpe, who was armed with knives, was an imminent threat to the other person in the confrontation, identified only as “AB” in the district attorney’s letter. 

Within hours people gathered at the scene to mourn Sharpe, who was known and beloved by housing outreach advocates and his family. Body camera and surveillance footage leaked online, and people were already beginning to discuss the fact that Sharpe had been the Columbus PD’s eighth fatal shooting so far in 2024. Milwaukee police Chief Jeffrey Norman held a press conference, saying that the officers had acted to save a life. 

The investigation found that the officers’ use of deadly force was justified under Wisconsin law, to prevent imminent harm to a civilian, that Sharpe ignored commands to drop the knives he was carrying and that the officers had a reasonable fear for the civilian’s safety.

Milwaukee PD officials said prior to the convention that their intent was to have out-of-state officers placed in positions “where they’re not necessarily forward facing”, and that outside officers were to be accompanied by Milwaukee officers, and were not to make arrests unless in urgent circumstances where local officers weren’t available.

The investigation of Sharpe’s killing was led by the Greenfield PD as part of the Milwaukee Area Investigative Team (MAIT), a local task force which investigates officer-involved deaths. Angelique Sharpe, Sam’s sister, recounted the day that detectives came to her mother’s home, escorted by Milwaukee officers. The department was already receiving criticism for not having accompanied the Columbus officers at King Park. 

“They didn’t really care,” Angelique Sharpe told Wisconsin Examiner. The detectives had few answers to the family’s questions, she said. After Sharpe’s death, his family said that he had been living in the park doing street preaching for the unhoused community, when he began getting harassed by a man who allegedly threatened to destroy his tent and harm his dog. Sharpe was generally in good spirits, his family said, but he suffered from illness including multiple sclerosis. Sharpe had returned to the park to gather his things and leave that day, his sister said, armed with knives because he was worried about his safety. 

Angelique Sharpe told Wisconsin Examiner that MAIT detectives seemed uninterested in what she feels is important context. “I feel like nobody has really investigated this case fully for what it was. The only thing that they cared about was the actual shooting itself. Not anything that led up to it. Not why any of them were in the street, what led up to that, or what happened, or verifying that he was robbed and beat up,” Angelique said. “Nobody checked any of that stuff or cared about any of that stuff. All they cared about was the police [were] justified in the few seconds … and I just don’t feel like they was justified, because they should’ve never been there.”

Angelique blames the Columbus officers, who she feels acted in haste, as well as Milwaukee officials who assured residents ahead of the RNC that out-of-state law enforcement would not patrol neighborhoods unsupervised. “The whole case was handled poorly,” she said. 

The fallout from the shooting continues to weigh on the Sharpe family. Sam’s dog Ices was taken by animal control, much to the dismay of Sharpe’s family. Ices was eventually returned, and later found a new owner. 

Shortly after Sam died, someone mailed what appeared to be online court records of people with the last name “Sharpe” to the family, with a mocking letter saying “another criminal off the street,” Angelique told Wisconsin Examiner. Months passed before the family was able to obtain a death certificate, and organize a proper funeral for Sam, because of the ongoing investigation. Angelique said their mother’s health declined as  the whole ordeal took a toll. 

In a press release put out by the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, Angelique Sharpe stated that her brother was found to have been shot 23 times, yet sustained 34 wounds. “The math ain’t matching,” she said. “It’s a miscarriage of justice and gross neglect of oversight on the part of MPD, who lied to the public to let killer cops run loose in one of the most vulnerable communities in our city. My brother’s blood is on your hands regardless of the law continuing to support murderers behind badges.”

After the district attorney received MAIT’s investigation for review, prosecutors met with Sharpe’s family members and their attorneys at the Greenfield Police Department. It became clear to the family that prosecutors were leaning toward not charging the officers, and that the shooting officers had retained lawyers. All of the involved officers refused to have their interviews recorded. 

Attorney Nate Cade, who represents the Sharpe family, said that a lack of recorded interviews is a common frustration, as police investigated by MAIT have the option to forego them. “They don’t record, they dictate what they think they hear,” Cade told Wisconsin Examiner. Cade agrees with the Sharpe family that the lack of a Milwaukee police escort for the Columbus officers led to an avoidable escalation.

The Sharpe family is considering bringing a civil case. Protest actions are planned in the coming days.

“From the moment it was announced that the RNC would be held in Milwaukee, the community was clear,” the Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression said in a press release, “we do not want outside law enforcement agencies unleashed on our community.” The Alliance blamed local officials, including Mayor Calvalier Johnson and Chief Norman, for welcoming  the RNC to  Milwaukee. 

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Protesters gather to march in Milwaukee on May Day, voicing opposition to President Donald Trump's policies. (Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner)

A massive May Day protest stretched along multiple city blocks in Milwaukee, as marchers walked from the South Side to Zeidler Union Square Park in downtown. The annual protest brought union organizers, immigrant rights advocates, Indigenous community activists, students from across Wisconsin and other members of the public together to make a stand against the policies of President Donald Trump.

Despite rainy weather, hundreds of participants turned out for Milwaukee’s May Day march, with another protest planned in Madison on Friday. Prior to the march, the morning began with prayers and words from community leaders. Mark Denning, a member of the Oneida Nation, said to the crowd on Thursday that “all prayer goes to the same place” and that “all creation stories are true.” Denning said, “as we stand here together under this sheltering sky that’s giving us this beautiful rain…I want to share that your ancestors are forever. Your future is forever.” 

“Natives stand as a lesson to each and every one of you that the injustices of the past cannot be the injustices of the future,” said Denning, calling himself “a remnant of the wars that have been done on my people” and the May Day marchers “a remnant of the wars that must be corrected.” Denning went on to tell the crowd “you are now of this place! You are now of this land, and of these waters! And you will not be denied because this is where your children will be born and have a future!” The crowd cheered in response.

Although the May 1 march for immigrant workers’ rights is an annual tradition in Milwaukee, this year brought with it a new sense of fear buffered by local determination. Waves of arrests have swept communities nationwide, populating social media feeds with images of immigrants and  international students detained by masked, plain-clothes federal agents.

In Milwaukee, local advocates recently learned that agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have been paying visits to the homes of sponsors of unaccompanied immigrant minors, causing fear of possible deportations. After ICE raids at the Milwaukee County Courthouse provoked outrage, Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan was arrested and accused of obstructing federal agents who arrived outside her courtroom to arrest a man appearing for a hearing. Protests erupted the weekend after Dugan was arrested, building momentum leading up to the May Day march.

Milwaukee marchers  joined a larger network of groups organizing May Day protests in at least 32 states. Rain showers came and went as the marchers traversed the city. People of all ages came out, including  high school students and their young siblings and grey-haired elders. Different sections of the march had different chants and atmospheres. Palestinian flags waved in the breeze alongside American flags (some of which were upside down), Mexican flags, LGBTQ+ flags, and numerous other banners. Milwaukee police officers escorted the demonstration on motorcycles and bicycles, while unmarked surveillance vans patrolled  the perimeter. 

Within an hour, the marchers arrived at Zeidler Union Square Park in the downtown area. Gathering around a central pavilion, the crowd listened to Christine Neumann-Ortiz, executive director of Voces de la Frontera, who said people had come from as far away as Arcadia in Trempealeau County to be part of the event. “We know that when we unite we are stronger, and we can achieve what seems impossible,” said Neumann-Ortiz.

Speakers called for the charges to be dropped against Dugan, for ICE to stay out of local courts, for constitutional rights to be defended and for people to take a stand against fear. Missy Zombor, president of the Milwaukee Public School Board, said that the school district is ready to honor and fight for the ideals and sense of hope that her own grandparents sought when they immigrated to America. 

Zombor said that the school district will honor its safe haven resolution. “Our schools are and will always be safe havens for children,” she said, “regardless of their background, their immigration status, their identity, or their circumstance.” The Milwaukee Public School District, Zombor said, is strengthened by the diverse languages, cultures and backgrounds of  the student body, which includes many student activists. “Our schools are going to continue to promote a curriculum that gives students the knowledge and power to question the world in a way that helps students uproot the causes of racism and inequality,” said Zombor. “Our schools are going to teach the next generation of change-makers.” 

Former Milwaukee judge Jim Gramling Jr. called Dugan’s arrest “a very unfortunate and very dangerous thing.” Gramling said that the unusual, public arrest of a judge at the courthouse “was clearly designed to intimidate other judges and those who seek justice in our courts.” He added  that federal authorities had a week to invite Dugan into the U.S. Attorney’s Office to discuss the case. Instead, Gramling said, “they wanted a public display to embarrass her, to humiliate her, and to intimidate others in the justice system from resolving immigration matters.” 

Gramling stressed that judges need to be free of pressure from outside influences, so that they can decide cases based on the facts before them. “And yet we have a president who’s threatening the firing of judges, because of decisions that he doesn’t like,” said Gramling. “And now we have a judge treated like a common criminal by that president’s agents.” Dugan is a long-time and respected member of the community, Gramling said, having served in  leadership roles at local non-profits  and that she doesn’t deserve what’s happened to her. 

Milwaukee student activists also spoke, saying that student voices should not be stifled, and that free speech means little when young people fear retaliation. The students called for Milwaukee police officers to be taken out of Milwaukee Public Schools. Removing school resources officers was a decision made by the school board after years of student organizing. But the state Legislature has demanded that Milwaukee return police to schools as a condition of state aid.  

Immigration operations add a new layer of fear for students who already dread the return of school resource officers. Milwaukee police have a standard operating procedure which limits the department’s  involvement in immigration matters, stating that “proactive immigration enforcement by local police can be detrimental to our mission and policing philosophy when doing so deters some individuals from participating in their civic obligation to assist the police.” 

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) students joined the May Day march, denouncing ICE and encouraging people to stand in solidarity with immigrants. “Don’t let fear imprison you in the shadows,” one student said from the stage. “Join us. We will keep each other safe.”

Protesters gather outside the Federal Building in Milwaukee to denounce the arrest of Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan on Friday, April 25. Groups that took part in the demonstration say Dugan's arrest has given new gravity to this year's protests planned for May Day in support of immigrants and workers. (Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner)

Leaders of the Fair Immigration Reform Movement (FIRM), a national network of immigration reform activists, held a virtual press conference Wednesday, ahead of a nationwide day of action on May 1. Although May Day demonstrations are held annually, this year the protests carry a new gravity. Leaders of organizations including FAIR, composed of 38 immigrant-led groups across 32 states, drew attention to the arrest of Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan, and growing concerns about the Trump Administration targeting immigrant communities. 

Christine Neumann-Ortiz, executive director of the Wisconsin-based Voces de la Frontera, said momentum to resist Trump’s  policies has grown after the April 1 Wisconsin Supreme Court election. “It was a resounding defeat at the voting booth for Trump’s endorsed candidate for our state Supreme Court race, and a resounding rejection of Elon Musk’s blatant efforts to buy our election,” Neumann-Ortiz said during the Wednesday press conference.

After the election, Wisconsinites mobilized to participate in mass protests against Trump and Musk’s firing of federal workers and canceling of federal programs. United, mass actions, Neumann-Ortiz said, will be crucial in the days ahead. The May Day protest, she said, “really represents the next iteration in this warring resistance to Trump’s efforts to impose dictatorship in this country, and to really challenge the scapegoating of immigrants and refugees for social inequality [while]  he is contributing to significantly widening that gap.” 

May Day also will be an important platform to build alliances between working-class people, she said. Neumann-Ortiz said communities in Wisconsin had recently experienced “an operation that was being conducted by the FBI and Department of Homeland Security investigators under so-called ‘wellness checks’ of unaccompanied [immigrant] minors and their sponsors’ homes.” 

Voces de la Fronterea learned of the operation through a 24/7 immigration emergency hotline the group operates. Neumann-Ortiz told Wisconsin Examiner that Voces de la Frontera is aware of such cases in Milwaukee, Whitewater, and Waukesha. The group had received a call involving an 8th grade student who was home alone when several armed agents arrived, allegedly saying they didn’t need a judicial warrant to enter. 

“So again, it was just these manipulative tactics,” Neumann-Ortiz told Wisconsin Examiner. After Voces de la Frontera was contacted, the group sent an immediate community response to assess what was going on. “What we uncovered is that basically this was an operation that’s being conducted to check in on unaccompanied minors who had come through and had a sponsor like, in this case, a family member. But again, this is not the role of the FBI. Their job is to target organized crime, or trafficking, things like that. They do not…This is not how any kind of wellness check is conducted. This is not the body…the agency that would do that.” 

Neumann-Ortiz said that Voces members insisted that if agents wanted to interview the minor, they should go to an attorney’s office to do the interview. “We do feel that this is, I would say, highly suspect in terms of what could unfold.”

Wisconsin Examiner reached out to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) offices in Milwaukee regarding the “wellness checks.” A FBI spokesperson said in an emailed statement that, “The FBI is assisting our partners including, Homeland Security Investigations and Office of Refugee Resettlement, with a nationwide effort to conduct welfare checks on thousands of unaccompanied children who have been identified as crossing the border without a parent or legal guardian. Sadly, children crossing the border alone and living in the U.S. without the protection of a loving parent or guardian can be vulnerable to exploitation, trafficking, and violence. Protecting children is a critical mission for the FBI and we will continue to work with our federal, state, and local partners to secure their safety and well-being.”

An ICE spokesperson said in an email the agency is “familiar” with the Wisconsin Examiner’s inquiry, and said to contact the Department of Homeland Security. In response to Wisconsin Examiner’s inquiry, Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in an emailed statement, “The previous administration allowed many of these children who came across the border unaccompanied to be placed with sponsors who were actually smugglers and sex traffickers.” 

McLaughlin added, “DHS is leading efforts to conduct welfare checks on these children to ensure that they are safe and not being exploited. Unlike the previous administration, President Trump and Secretary Noem take the responsibility to protect children seriously and will continue to work with federal law enforcement to reunite children with their families. In less than 100 days, Secretary Noem and Secretary Kennedy have already reunited over 5,000 unaccompanied children with a relative or safe guardian.”

Since late March, at least three people have been arrested by ICE agents as they appeared at the Milwaukee County Courthouse for routine proceedings. The most recent arrest also resulted in an FBI investigation being launched against Judge Dugan, who federal agencies accuse of obstructing their effort to arrest a man who was appearing before her. The arrest drew thousands of people into the streets to support Dugan. On Saturday, April 26, over 1,200 people gathered outside the Milwaukee FBI office, decrying Dugan’s arrest as authoritarian, fascist, and inconsistent with American values. 

On the press conference call Wednesday, Neumann-Ortiz was joined by leaders of FIRM-member organizations from across the country. May Day protests are expected in states across the country. David Chiles, interim executive director of Sunflower Community Action in Kansas said Trump’s policies are “a race to the bottom” and “a war on wages, on benefits, on dignity itself.” Chiles said that on Thursday, “we’re fighting back.” Cathryn Jackson, public policy director of CASA, who will march with groups toward the White House, said, “Immigrants and allies are rising up to say ‘enough is enough.’  May 1, international day of action, we are joining hundreds of marches, rallies, walk-outs, demonstrations with one very clear unified message” — One struggle, one fight, workers unite.

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Protesters gather outside the Federal Building in Milwaukee to denounce the arrest of Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan on Friday, April 25. Groups that took part in the demonstration say Dugan's arrest has given new gravity to this year's protests planned for May Day in support of immigrants and workers. (Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner)

Leaders of the Fair Immigration Reform Movement (FIRM), a national network of immigration reform activists, held a virtual press conference Wednesday, ahead of a nationwide day of action on May 1. Although May Day demonstrations are held annually, this year the protests carry a new gravity. Leaders of organizations including FAIR, composed of 38 immigrant-led groups across 32 states, drew attention to the arrest of Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan, and growing concerns about the Trump Administration targeting immigrant communities. 

Christine Neumann-Ortiz, executive director of the Wisconsin-based Voces de la Frontera, said momentum to resist Trump’s  policies has grown after the April 1 Wisconsin Supreme Court election. “It was a resounding defeat at the voting booth for Trump’s endorsed candidate for our state Supreme Court race, and a resounding rejection of Elon Musk’s blatant efforts to buy our election,” Neumann-Ortiz said during the Wednesday press conference.

After the election, Wisconsinites mobilized to participate in mass protests against Trump and Musk’s firing of federal workers and canceling of federal programs. United, mass actions, Neumann-Ortiz said, will be crucial in the days ahead. The May Day protest, she said, “really represents the next iteration in this warring resistance to Trump’s efforts to impose dictatorship in this country, and to really challenge the scapegoating of immigrants and refugees for social inequality [while]  he is contributing to significantly widening that gap.” 

May Day also will be an important platform to build alliances between working-class people, she said. Neumann-Ortiz said communities in Wisconsin had recently experienced “an operation that was being conducted by the FBI and Department of Homeland Security investigators under so-called ‘wellness checks’ of unaccompanied [immigrant] minors and their sponsors’ homes.” 

Voces de la Fronterea learned of the operation through a 24/7 immigration emergency hotline the group operates. Neumann-Ortiz told Wisconsin Examiner that Voces de la Frontera is aware of such cases in Milwaukee, Whitewater, and Waukesha. The group had received a call involving an 8th grade student who was home alone when several armed agents arrived, allegedly saying they didn’t need a judicial warrant to enter. 

“So again, it was just these manipulative tactics,” Neumann-Ortiz told Wisconsin Examiner. After Voces de la Frontera was contacted, the group sent an immediate community response to assess what was going on. “What we uncovered is that basically this was an operation that’s being conducted to check in on unaccompanied minors who had come through and had a sponsor like, in this case, a family member. But again, this is not the role of the FBI. Their job is to target organized crime, or trafficking, things like that. They do not…This is not how any kind of wellness check is conducted. This is not the body…the agency that would do that.” 

Neumann-Ortiz said that Voces members insisted that if agents wanted to interview the minor, they should go to an attorney’s office to do the interview. “We do feel that this is, I would say, highly suspect in terms of what could unfold.”

Wisconsin Examiner reached out to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) offices in Milwaukee regarding the “wellness checks.” A FBI spokesperson said in an emailed statement that, “The FBI is assisting our partners including, Homeland Security Investigations and Office of Refugee Resettlement, with a nationwide effort to conduct welfare checks on thousands of unaccompanied children who have been identified as crossing the border without a parent or legal guardian. Sadly, children crossing the border alone and living in the U.S. without the protection of a loving parent or guardian can be vulnerable to exploitation, trafficking, and violence. Protecting children is a critical mission for the FBI and we will continue to work with our federal, state, and local partners to secure their safety and well-being.”

An ICE spokesperson said in an email the agency is “familiar” with the Wisconsin Examiner’s inquiry, and said to contact the Department of Homeland Security. In response to Wisconsin Examiner’s inquiry, Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in an emailed statement, “The previous administration allowed many of these children who came across the border unaccompanied to be placed with sponsors who were actually smugglers and sex traffickers.” 

McLaughlin added, “DHS is leading efforts to conduct welfare checks on these children to ensure that they are safe and not being exploited. Unlike the previous administration, President Trump and Secretary Noem take the responsibility to protect children seriously and will continue to work with federal law enforcement to reunite children with their families. In less than 100 days, Secretary Noem and Secretary Kennedy have already reunited over 5,000 unaccompanied children with a relative or safe guardian.”

Since late March, at least three people have been arrested by ICE agents as they appeared at the Milwaukee County Courthouse for routine proceedings. The most recent arrest also resulted in an FBI investigation being launched against Judge Dugan, who federal agencies accuse of obstructing their effort to arrest a man who was appearing before her. The arrest drew thousands of people into the streets to support Dugan. On Saturday, April 26, over 1,200 people gathered outside the Milwaukee FBI office, decrying Dugan’s arrest as authoritarian, fascist, and inconsistent with American values. 

On the press conference call Wednesday, Neumann-Ortiz was joined by leaders of FIRM-member organizations from across the country. May Day protests are expected in states across the country. David Chiles, interim executive director of Sunflower Community Action in Kansas said Trump’s policies are “a race to the bottom” and “a war on wages, on benefits, on dignity itself.” Chiles said that on Thursday, “we’re fighting back.” Cathryn Jackson, public policy director of CASA, who will march with groups toward the White House, said, “Immigrants and allies are rising up to say ‘enough is enough.’  May 1, international day of action, we are joining hundreds of marches, rallies, walk-outs, demonstrations with one very clear unified message” — One struggle, one fight, workers unite.

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Protesters gather outside of the Federal Building in Milwaukee to denounce the arrest of Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan. (Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner)

After the arrest of Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan by federal agents Friday morning, the city’s political and activist communities responded forcefully, protesting against the arrest across the city. 

Dugan was charged with obstruction of justice and harboring an individual after a group of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other federal agents showed up outside of her courtroom last week to arrest Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, a 30-year-old Mexican immigrant accused of misdemeanor battery. 

The criminal complaint against Durgan alleges she broke the law by allowing Flores-Ruiz to use a side door in her courtroom to exit without going past the agents. The agents saw him leave and later apprehended him on foot. 

While a larger protest took place outside of the federal courthouse in downtown Milwaukee, local resident Jeneca Wolski stood alone outside of the county courthouse where Dugan was arrested.

“[I’m] just a local citizen who is horrified that we are finding ourselves in this position right now,” Wolski told the Wisconsin Examiner. “We’re sliding downhill so fast. I don’t want to be looked back on by history as part of it. We have to do everything we can to kick and fight and scream to save our democracy right now.” 

At a press conference, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley accused the administration of President Donald Trump of acting to intimidate “anyone who opposes these policies.” Crowley added that Dugan was arrested by a “large, performative showing” of federal agents in the county courthouse. 

 “We have an obligation to administer our courts in a safe, efficient manner that delivers due process for anyone,” Crowley said. “The Trump administration’s actions are clearly preventing us from doing so by intimidating judges and eroding public faith in our judicial system.” 

People gathered outside the federal courthouse in Milwaukee Friday afternoon to protest Dugan’s arrest. At the rally, Christine Neumann Ortiz, executive director of immigrant rights group Voces De La Frontera, told the Wisconsin Examiner the Trump administration was trying to undermine efforts to oppose its immigration policies.

“They basically want to be unleashed to do whatever they want to commit these raids in courtrooms across the country,” she said. “They don’t want any resistance from judges or from the community standing up for people’s due process rights or limiting their policies of mass deportation and racism.”

Seven of the city of Milwaukee’s legislative representatives said in a joint statement that Dugan’s arrest and ICE operating inside the courthouse will “lead to a breakdown of civil society.”

“The County Courthouse is a sanctuary for justice and peace where the accused come forward willingly in a fair and unbiased process,” said the lawmakers, Sens. Chris Larson and Tim Carpenter and Reps. Christine Sinicki, Darrin Madison, Supreme Moore Omokunde, Angelito Tenorio and Sequanna Taylor. “Arresting people out of a courtroom will lead to a breakdown of civil society. We do not support the presence of ICE in places where it will lead to intimidation against witnesses and victims of crimes, denying everyone involved the justice they deserve.”

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Illinois), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, questioned how Dugan’s arrest makes the country safer. 

“The Trump Administration continues to test the limits of our Constitution — this time by arresting a sitting judge for allegedly obstructing an immigration operation at the courthouse,” Durbin said. “When immigration enforcement officials interfere with our criminal justice system, it undermines public safety, prevents victims and witnesses from coming forward, and often prevents those who committed crimes from facing justice in the United States. How does this make America any safer? How does arresting a sitting judge make America any safer? It is imperative that Judge Dugan is afforded due process and the presumption of innocence, as required by our Constitution and her fundamental rights as an American.”

State Senate Minority Leader Diane Hesselbein (D-Middleton) and Sen. Dora Drake (D-Milwaukee), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety, criticized the arrest in a joint statement. 

“Today’s arrest of a sitting judge, at the Milwaukee County Courthouse, is a frightening escalation of the Trump Administration’s attacks on America’s judicial system,” they said. “This is part of a pattern by this Administration – defying court orders, flouting the democratic system of checks and balances, ignoring the right to due process, and threatening judicial independence – that alarms us as legislators and as residents of this great state and this great country. We will follow this case closely. We will continue to stand up to lawless and unconstitutional actions. And, we will always fight for a bedrock principle of American democracy: equal justice under the law.”

The Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, an activist group, was planning protests Friday afternoon outside the federal courthouse and Saturday outside the FBI’s Milwaukee field office. In a statement, the group said the arrest was a “heinous attack.” 

“They are seeking to send a clear message: either you play along with Trump’s agenda, or pay the consequences,” the group said. “During this period of racist and political repression, we must stand together to denounce today’s actions by the FBI. What happened to Dugan is not new. The FBI and other agencies have been emboldened in recent months, snatching people off the streets, separating families, terrorizing communities, breaking doors down of pro-Palestine activists, and contributing to the unjust deportation of immigrants who don’t have criminal records. What is new is that they have gone after a judge.”

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Protesters gather outside of the Federal Building in Milwaukee to denounce the arrest of Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan. (Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner)

After the arrest of Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan by federal agents Friday morning, the city’s political and activist communities responded forcefully, protesting against the arrest across the city. 

Dugan was charged with obstruction of justice and harboring an individual after a group of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other federal agents showed up outside of her courtroom last week to arrest Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, a 30-year-old Mexican immigrant accused of misdemeanor battery. 

The criminal complaint against Durgan alleges she broke the law by allowing Flores-Ruiz to use a side door in her courtroom to exit without going past the agents. The agents saw him leave and later apprehended him on foot. 

While a larger protest took place outside of the federal courthouse in downtown Milwaukee, local resident Jeneca Wolski stood alone outside of the county courthouse where Dugan was arrested.

“[I’m] just a local citizen who is horrified that we are finding ourselves in this position right now,” Wolski told the Wisconsin Examiner. “We’re sliding downhill so fast. I don’t want to be looked back on by history as part of it. We have to do everything we can to kick and fight and scream to save our democracy right now.” 

At a press conference, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley accused the administration of President Donald Trump of acting to intimidate “anyone who opposes these policies.” Crowley added that Dugan was arrested by a “large, performative showing” of federal agents in the county courthouse. 

 “We have an obligation to administer our courts in a safe, efficient manner that delivers due process for anyone,” Crowley said. “The Trump administration’s actions are clearly preventing us from doing so by intimidating judges and eroding public faith in our judicial system.” 

People gathered outside the federal courthouse in Milwaukee Friday afternoon to protest Dugan’s arrest. At the rally, Christine Neumann Ortiz, executive director of immigrant rights group Voces De La Frontera, told the Wisconsin Examiner the Trump administration was trying to undermine efforts to oppose its immigration policies.

“They basically want to be unleashed to do whatever they want to commit these raids in courtrooms across the country,” she said. “They don’t want any resistance from judges or from the community standing up for people’s due process rights or limiting their policies of mass deportation and racism.”

Seven of the city of Milwaukee’s legislative representatives said in a joint statement that Dugan’s arrest and ICE operating inside the courthouse will “lead to a breakdown of civil society.”

“The County Courthouse is a sanctuary for justice and peace where the accused come forward willingly in a fair and unbiased process,” said the lawmakers, Sens. Chris Larson and Tim Carpenter and Reps. Christine Sinicki, Darrin Madison, Supreme Moore Omokunde, Angelito Tenorio and Sequanna Taylor. “Arresting people out of a courtroom will lead to a breakdown of civil society. We do not support the presence of ICE in places where it will lead to intimidation against witnesses and victims of crimes, denying everyone involved the justice they deserve.”

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Illinois), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, questioned how Dugan’s arrest makes the country safer. 

“The Trump Administration continues to test the limits of our Constitution — this time by arresting a sitting judge for allegedly obstructing an immigration operation at the courthouse,” Durbin said. “When immigration enforcement officials interfere with our criminal justice system, it undermines public safety, prevents victims and witnesses from coming forward, and often prevents those who committed crimes from facing justice in the United States. How does this make America any safer? How does arresting a sitting judge make America any safer? It is imperative that Judge Dugan is afforded due process and the presumption of innocence, as required by our Constitution and her fundamental rights as an American.”

State Senate Minority Leader Diane Hesselbein (D-Middleton) and Sen. Dora Drake (D-Milwaukee), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety, criticized the arrest in a joint statement. 

“Today’s arrest of a sitting judge, at the Milwaukee County Courthouse, is a frightening escalation of the Trump Administration’s attacks on America’s judicial system,” they said. “This is part of a pattern by this Administration – defying court orders, flouting the democratic system of checks and balances, ignoring the right to due process, and threatening judicial independence – that alarms us as legislators and as residents of this great state and this great country. We will follow this case closely. We will continue to stand up to lawless and unconstitutional actions. And, we will always fight for a bedrock principle of American democracy: equal justice under the law.”

The Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, an activist group, was planning protests Friday afternoon outside the federal courthouse and Saturday outside the FBI’s Milwaukee field office. In a statement, the group said the arrest was a “heinous attack.” 

“They are seeking to send a clear message: either you play along with Trump’s agenda, or pay the consequences,” the group said. “During this period of racist and political repression, we must stand together to denounce today’s actions by the FBI. What happened to Dugan is not new. The FBI and other agencies have been emboldened in recent months, snatching people off the streets, separating families, terrorizing communities, breaking doors down of pro-Palestine activists, and contributing to the unjust deportation of immigrants who don’t have criminal records. What is new is that they have gone after a judge.”

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Fort McCoy | Photo by Henry Redman/Wisconsin Examiner

The commander of Fort McCoy, a military base near Sparta, Wisconsin, has been suspended after a controversy over the base not displaying portraits of President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. In a statement, the U.S. Army said that Col. Sheyla Baez Ramirez had been suspended as garrison commander at Fort McCoy. 

The statement said that the suspension “is not related to any misconduct,” though the base drew recent criticism for not displaying pictures of Trump and Hegseth, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. On X, formerly known as Twitter, the Department of Defense posted a picture showing Trump’s portrait missing from  a leadership wall and Hegseth’s turned so only the back of the picture was visible. The post declared: “Regarding the Ft. McCoy Chain of Command wall controversy…. WE FIXED IT! Also, an investigation has begun to figure out exactly what happened.”

Spokespeople from the Department of Defense and Fort McCoy’s 88th Readiness Division declined to comment, but told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that Ramirez has “not been relieved of command.” A subsequent statement on the U.S. Army’s website said that neither Ramirez nor anyone else on the fort’s leadership team had directed the removal of the portraits. After Ramirez was suspended, Hegseth shared a post on X mentioning the commander’s suspension. 

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The Milwaukee County Courthouse. (Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner)

The activities of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents around the Milwaukee County Courthouse continue to spur controversy. Late last week, ICE agents arrested Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, a 30-year-old Mexican immigrant accused of misdemeanor battery. Flores-Ruiz appeared in Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan’s court on April 18, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. 

Now, the FBI is investigating whether Dugan helped an undocumented immigrant avoid arrest after that immigrant appeared in her courtroom. Although the immigrant hasn’t been identified, Flores-Ruiz, whose immigration status is unclear, “appears to match the description,” the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

On April 23, Dugan declined to comment on the investigation or possible legal proceedings. ICE officials referred questions to the FBI’s Milwaukee office, which also declined to comment. The Journal Sentinel reported that an email sent by Chief Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Carly Ashley said that ICE agents came to the Milwaukee County Courthouse on April 18 with an arrest warrant. Dugan wasn’t mentioned in Ashley’s communication, which went on to say that ICE agents arrived in the morning, identified themselves to security, and went to the sixth floor where Dugan’s courtroom is located.

Ashley said that the agents were asked to wait until court proceedings were over, and that their actions were consistent with draft policies. Dugan responded to the email, however, saying “a warrant was not presented in the hallway on the 6th floor,” the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. Instead, unnamed sources in the story said that Dugan didn’t hide a defendant, but rather took the defendant and an attorney to a side door which led to a private hallway into a public area on the sixth floor.

It was the third time since March that ICE agents arrived at the courthouse to conduct arrests. Two arrests were made in March and April, with one of the individuals arrested after appearing  in family court for a hearing on a domestic violence restraining order, which was ultimately dismissed. 

Rep. Ryan Clancy (D-Milwaukee) said that Dugan acted in “defense of due process by preventing ICE from shamefully using her courtroom as an ad hoc holding area for deportations.” Clancy added that “we cannot have a functional legal system if people are justifiably afraid to show up for legal proceedings, especially when ICE agents have already repeatedly grabbed people off the street in retaliation for speech and free association, without even obtaining proper warrants.” 

While Clancy praised Dugan, Rep. Bob Donovan (R-Greenfield) said “I have never seen a more irresponsible act by an officer of the court, let alone a judge, if true.”

Fort McCoy | Photo by Henry Redman/Wisconsin Examiner

The commander of Fort McCoy, a military base near Sparta, Wisconsin, has been suspended after a controversy over the base not displaying portraits of President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. In a statement, the U.S. Army said that Col. Sheyla Baez Ramirez had been suspended as garrison commander at Fort McCoy. 

The statement said that the suspension “is not related to any misconduct,” though the base drew recent criticism for not displaying pictures of Trump and Hegseth, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. On X, formerly known as Twitter, the Department of Defense posted a picture showing Trump’s portrait missing from  a leadership wall and Hegseth’s turned so only the back of the picture was visible. The post declared: “Regarding the Ft. McCoy Chain of Command wall controversy…. WE FIXED IT! Also, an investigation has begun to figure out exactly what happened.”

Spokespeople from the Department of Defense and Fort McCoy’s 88th Readiness Division declined to comment, but told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that Ramirez has “not been relieved of command.” A subsequent statement on the U.S. Army’s website said that neither Ramirez nor anyone else on the fort’s leadership team had directed the removal of the portraits. After Ramirez was suspended, Hegseth shared a post on X mentioning the commander’s suspension. 

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The Milwaukee County Courthouse. (Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner)

The activities of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents around the Milwaukee County Courthouse continue to spur controversy. Late last week, ICE agents arrested Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, a 30-year-old Mexican immigrant accused of misdemeanor battery. Flores-Ruiz appeared in Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan’s court on April 18, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. 

Now, the FBI is investigating whether Dugan helped an undocumented immigrant avoid arrest after that immigrant appeared in her courtroom. Although the immigrant hasn’t been identified, Flores-Ruiz, whose immigration status is unclear, “appears to match the description,” the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

On April 23, Dugan declined to comment on the investigation or possible legal proceedings. ICE officials referred questions to the FBI’s Milwaukee office, which also declined to comment. The Journal Sentinel reported that an email sent by Chief Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Carly Ashley said that ICE agents came to the Milwaukee County Courthouse on April 18 with an arrest warrant. Dugan wasn’t mentioned in Ashley’s communication, which went on to say that ICE agents arrived in the morning, identified themselves to security, and went to the sixth floor where Dugan’s courtroom is located.

Ashley said that the agents were asked to wait until court proceedings were over, and that their actions were consistent with draft policies. Dugan responded to the email, however, saying “a warrant was not presented in the hallway on the 6th floor,” the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. Instead, unnamed sources in the story said that Dugan didn’t hide a defendant, but rather took the defendant and an attorney to a side door which led to a private hallway into a public area on the sixth floor.

It was the third time since March that ICE agents arrived at the courthouse to conduct arrests. Two arrests were made in March and April, with one of the individuals arrested after appearing  in family court for a hearing on a domestic violence restraining order, which was ultimately dismissed. 

Rep. Ryan Clancy (D-Milwaukee) said that Dugan acted in “defense of due process by preventing ICE from shamefully using her courtroom as an ad hoc holding area for deportations.” Clancy added that “we cannot have a functional legal system if people are justifiably afraid to show up for legal proceedings, especially when ICE agents have already repeatedly grabbed people off the street in retaliation for speech and free association, without even obtaining proper warrants.” 

While Clancy praised Dugan, Rep. Bob Donovan (R-Greenfield) said “I have never seen a more irresponsible act by an officer of the court, let alone a judge, if true.”

Lincoln Hills Photo (courtesy of the Department of Corrections)

The court-issued monitor for Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake released a report Friday on conditions at the notorious juvenile facilities. It was the monitor’s 22nd visit to the prisons, and revealed both signs of improvement and lingering or worsening problems for the two facilities. The monitor noted that the populations at Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake were “significantly higher” compared to the last visit in October 2024. As of April 18, there are 78 boys at Lincoln Hills, 34 youth at Mendota, six girls at Copper Lake, and four at the Grow Academy, according to weekly population reports. The total on-grounds juvenile population is currently 122, up from the 95 who were in custody in early January. 

Average staffing vacancies which typically hovered around 16%-40% were lower, and the monitor stressed the need to address youth on administrative confinement, particularly those waiting to be transferred to another facility. 

Despite the issues, the report found that the Department of Corrections (DOC) is in substantial compliance with 45 (or 90%) of the 50 provisions identified in a court-ordered consent decree that resulted from a 2017 lawsuit over conditions at the youth prison. With the new monitoring report, four more provisions of the consent decree were brought into substantial compliance.

“This report showcases the hard work and commitment of our staff at Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake,” said DOC secretary Jared Hoy in a statement. “Tremendous progress has been made over the past seven plus years and we are looking forward to realizing a new model for juvenile corrections in Wisconsin.” The Mendota Juvenile Treatment Center began accepting girls for the first time, allowing the population at Copper Lake to be cut in half. Transfer times for boys were also reduced, and treatment teams have helped youth understand the root causes for anti-social behavior.

The report noted that physical improvements, such as replacing heat exchangers and deck upgrades to training facilities, were made since the last visit. Wifi strength has increased in the school and other living units, making it easier for youth to access recreation and learning programs.

Youth in confinement are provided with a special education teacher, as well as a general education teacher. New classrooms have been added to the Skills Development Programs, and teachers are attending youth growth team meetings and other activities. Some incarcerated youth did complain about teachers not being on the units most of the time, and only receiving paper packet work or chromebooks. A random viewing of video by the monitor showed teachers in the units. Youth also played kickball and were in the music lab during the monitoring visit. The facility still lacks a welding instructor, a program which youth appear to enjoy. The monitor was also concerned about vacancy rates in light of the growing population at Lincoln Hills. 

Living units were clean, and youth interacted with the monitor respectfully. Some housing units weren’t visited because the youth were rambunctious, but all units appeared clean and organized. Youth were calm and talkative with monitoring team members and one another, according to the report. Some played cards, ate lunch, made phone calls or watched television. When interviewed by the monitor, the youth were largely positive. They said they enjoyed new menu items, the music lab, but complained about food portion sizes. They also wished there were more jobs for them to do around the facility, and wanted the kickball unit to be switched to basketball. 

“Some youth stated that staff were abusive, and some youth really liked the staff and said they treated them well,” the monitor wrote. “Youth took pride in how clean their rooms and units were.” There were also complaints about restraints, including  waist belts, that have been used when they are out of their rooms. Youth felt the use of restraints was unfair, and that sometimes they weren’t told when violations were received. 

In 2022, DOC received funding to move forward with a state-run juvenile facility in Milwaukee County. Land was approved on West Clinton Avenue and the design has been  finalized and work began in the summer of 2024. The 32-bed facility is scheduled to be completed in late 2026. Another Type 1 facility is being designed in Dane County. Opening the new facilities will be a major step towards the Legislature’s goal of closing Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake, which have had troubled reputations for abuse and violence against youth housed there as well as staff members. 

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A surveillance van or "critical response vehicle". (Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner)

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Wisconsin has issued a letter asking elected leaders in Milwaukee to temper the acquisition and use of surveillance technologies by the Milwaukee Police Department (MPD). On Thursday evening, the police department went before the Fire and Police Commission (FPC) to push for the use of facial recognition technology. This, along with the common council’s recent approval of drone usage by the MPD, has spurred the ACLU to call for a two-year pause on the adoption of new surveillance technologies, and craft frameworks to regulate the technology MPD already has “with meaningful opportunities for community input.” 

Although it acknowledges that many on the council and within MPD “care deeply about the safety and well-being of our city,” the ACLU’s letter also warns that “history has shown time and again, authoritarianism does not always arrive with flashing lights and villainous speeches — it often comes wrapped in routine procedure, paperwork, and people ‘just doing their jobs.’” 

“We are already seeing how surveillance technology is being weaponized in real time,” the ACLU continued, citing data-gathering, automatic license plate readers, artificial intelligence (AI), and other tools that are used to “target and detain individuals.” 

The MPD has long denied that it uses facial recognition technology. As part of an investigation into surveillance technologies which the department obtained ahead of the 2020 Democratic National Convention (DNC), Wisconsin Examiner reviewed “investment justification” records from the state’s Homeland Security Council which suggested that the Southeastern Threat Analysis Center — a homeland security-focused aspect of the MPD’s intel-gathering Fusion Center — utilized Clear facial recognition technology. It was described as a “mobile device” that would allow police to “conduct timely identification of individuals in the field to prevent terrorist attack.” 

By contrast, MPD PowerPoint presentations prepared for the April 17 FPC meeting openly advertise the use of facial recognition. The PowerPoint details two examples of arrests made using facial recognition software. One “case study” from March 2024 involved a fatal gun violence incident where the suspects fled. The PowerPoint said that they were later seen at a gas station, and that facial recognition software provided leads to both suspects. Noting that “facial recognition results are advisory in nature and are to be treated as investigative leads only,” the PowerPoint states that a Department of Corrections agent confirmed the software’s results, leading to arrests the next morning. 

One of the PowerPoint slides shows in-custody photographs of the arrested men above pictures of them masked in a gas station. The slides showed that the facial recognition software had a “similarity” rating of 99.7% for one man, and 98.1% for another. Both men are waiting for a trial. The other case study focused on a sexual assault incident involving a gun. Like the other example, surveillance footage of the suspect from a gas station helped lead to the arrest. MPD sent out a facial recognition request to local agencies. It was answered by the Wauwatosa Police Department, which returned two pictures of the same individual. The pictures had similarity ratings of 99.1% and 98.9% respectively. The arrested man was sentenced to 20 years in prison. 

The PowerPoint presentation lists 14 cases from the North and South Sides of Milwaukee. It states that MPD “would be diligent in balancing the need for effective, accurate investigations and the need to respect the privacy of others,” and that facial recognition does not establish probable cause to arrest someone or obtain a warrant. “It may generate investigative leads through a combination of automated biometric comparisons and human analysis,” the PowerPoint states. “Corroborating information must be developed through additional investigation.” 

 

PUBLIC Facial Rec for FPC

A PowerPoint presentation detailing the Milwaukee PD’s plans for facial recognition software.

 

MPD has reviewed procedures for the technology’s use nationwide, and stated that “oversight of the system will consist of an audit report showing information requested, accessed, searched, or disseminated.” All requests for facial recognition must be approved by a supervisor, and the department will keep a log of each search and the type of crime involved. Biometrica is the chosen facial recognition vendor. The PowerPoint states that the company has worked with the NAACP and the ACLU to provide anti-bias training for users of the software. 

The reassurances, however, do little to quell the concerns of privacy advocates. In their letter to the MPD and common council, the ACLU of Wisconsin highlighted ongoing immigrant roundups by  the Trump administration, and the deportation of Milwaukee residents to a notorious maximum security terrorism prison in El Salvador. “It is being used to monitor and prosecute political protesters, people seeking reproductive health care, LGBTQ+ individuals, and doctors trying to provide care,” the letter states. “These are not projections — these are present-day realities carried out by bad actors within the federal government and local jurisdictions.” 

The ACLU letter warns, “while we trust that our local leaders and police officers have good intentions, history reminds us how quickly larger systems can override those intentions.” 

In recent years MPD has expanded its network of surveillance cameras and other activities such as its phone surveillance operations remain shrouded in secrecy. MPD has also built up its social media surveillance footprint using AI-powered software, after downplaying the very existence of those activities in years past. 

“Data collected in Milwaukee does not stay in Milwaukee,” the ACLU states. “Once it enters a federal pipeline, it can be accessed, shared, and used in ways we cannot predict — or stop. That’s why now, more than ever, we must choose restraint. The rule of law at the federal level is unraveling before our eyes.”

The same set of concerns came up during a March 20 FPC meeting, where commissioners discussed the MPD’s use of drones and facial recognition technology. Police officials claimed that complaints about law enforcement using drones lagged behind the rate of agencies acquiring the technology, suggesting that the public approves. Police officials said that MPD’s “Airborne Assessment Team,” which is attached to the department’s Specialized Patrol Division, would help increase situational awareness, de-escalate dangerous situations, aid search-and-rescue, help manage major events and offer unique opportunities to “positively engage” with the community. In protest situations, drones would allow MPD to monitor an area while not physically placing officers nearby, whose presence could trigger an escalation among the protest crowd. 

MPD said that its drones do not have facial recognition capabilities. Still, the growth of MPD’s surveillance powers have worried some community members. Commissioner Bree Spencer said during the meeting that it would be nice for a community-based tech advisory board to be established to help review MPD’s surveillance requests. Spencer said that nationwide and historically, it’s not unheard-of for law enforcement surveillance programs to get out of hand. 

“I get it for water rescue, I’m very worried about things like protests,” said Spencer. “I think for very good reason. Our federal government is doing some very funky things right now with protesters. So I get what you’re saying, and I see in the SOP that you’re like, ‘We’re not going to do that.’ I don’t know if that’s sufficient in terms of a protection, particularly for people who are skeptical about the use of these technologies.”

Police officials said that drones are a crowd management tool, and that during the Republican National Convention (RNC) they helped monitor protest movements to ensure opposing groups didn’t come into contact with one another. Spencer reiterated, “I think I just worry about the cost to individual civil rights and, like, how that’s going to just keep growing in our society…I wish the public had more input into whether or not the use of this type of technology is happening here. Talking to the community is not the same as letting them have a decision about whether or not they want drones in their city being run by police.” 

MPD spokespeople said the department based its drone usage procedures on best practice guidance from the ACLU, and that the department is “very late” to the drone game. The Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office, for example, officially announced its drone program in 2021. 

Ahead of the DNC nearly five years ago, the MPD acquired large white vans called “critical response vehicles”, which are also attached to the Specialized Patrol Division and came equipped with their own tethered aerial drones. Wisconsin Examiner found that the sheriff’s drones were used to monitor police accountability protests, with the number of flights dropping significantly once the protests subsided. 

In its letter Thursday, the ACLU stressed that police abuse of surveillance “is not ancient history” but rather “it’s living memory for many in our city.” Some may remember the reign of police chief Harold Breier, who surveilled civil rights activists, LGBTQ+ communities, and Black Milwaukeeans. “And those who carried out that surveillance often believed they were ‘just doing their jobs.’” The ACLU’s letter questions what a personality like Chief Breier would do with today’s surveillance powers. 

“We’re not calling for a ban,” the letter states. Instead, the ACLU calls for a  two-year pause on acquiring new surveillance technologies, especially facial recognition technology, “while we assess the potential risks.” In the meantime, the letter urges city leaders to “pass a framework for regulating existing surveillance technology, such as adopting a Community Control Over Police Surveillance (CCOPS) Ordinance to bring accountability to these decisions before it’s too late.”

Voces de la Frontera gather alongside allies in Milwaukee for a protest on May Day, 2021. (Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner)

The Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors passed a resolution Tuesday opposing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents “operating outside the limits of the law in and around the Milwaukee County Courthouse Complex,” while also calling on the sheriff to work with the county executive and chief judge of the First Judicial District to “ensure access to services and safeguard every individual’s constitutional right to due process.” 

During the board committee meeting Chairwoman Marcelia Nicholson called the resolution, which she authored with Supervisors Caroline Gomez-Tom and Juan Miguel Martinez, both “reactive” and “proactive.” The resolution also calls for Milwaukee County residents to be educated on their rights during immigration encounters, such as distributing educational material around the courthouse complex. 

“Let me be clear,” Nicholson said, “everyone regardless of immigration status deserves due process. And that’s not a radical idea, that’s the Constitution. And yet when federal immigration enforcement takes place in our courthouse complex, it sends families into hiding, deters survivors of violence from seeking protection and discourages tenants from asserting their rights.” Nicholson said that “it erodes trust in the very systems we are responsible for upholding.”

In early April, the community learned of two ICE arrests in the county courthouse. The Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office said in a press statement that ICE had not given prior notice of one of the arrests and that the sheriff’s office was not involved in making the arrests. Days later, the men were identified as Edwin Bustamante-Sierre, 27, and Marco Cruz-Garcia, 24. ICE said that the men had been convicted of violent crimes or were linked to gangs. Online court records show that one of the men, Cruz-Garcia, was arrested the same day he went to family court for a domestic violence-related restraining order, which was dropped that day. 

Nicholson said the arrests took place in the “public hallways of our courthouse and Safety Building.” She added, “That action didn’t just detain individuals, it delivered a message: ‘This space may not be safe for people who look a certain way, or speaks a certain language.’” 

The arrests were widely condemned by local officials and activists. Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley said in a statement that the courthouse “stands as a cornerstone of justice where residents come to seek information, resources and fair participation in the legal process” and that “an attack on this safe, community-serving space undermines public trust, breeds fear among citizens and staff and disrupts the due process essential to our courts.” 

Milwaukee County Chief Judge Carl Ashley, as well as members of the Board of Supervisors also decried the arrests. Local groups from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Wisconsin to Voces de la Frontera, and the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression also blasted ICE for making arrests in the courthouse.

The ACLU highlighted that ICE enforcement often causes immigrant communities to avoid contacting law enforcement, even when they are in danger of becoming crime victims. On April 10, Congresswoman Gwen Moore said in a statement that “ICE has seemingly front-run Milwaukee’s justice system, potentially denying the city justice and potential victims a remedy.” Moore added, “This Administration’s decision to remove sensitive location protections will stir even more fear in our communities, prevent victims of crime from coming forward, and disrupt houses of worship, schools, and hospitals.”

In a joint statement Nicholson, Gomez-Tom, and Miguel Martinez said that the resolution “puts us on the right side of history and the right side of humanity.” The resolution is “about helping people … protection process…[and] protecting the promise of what our Courthouse is meant to be – a place of fairness, access, and truth.” 

During public testimony on Tuesday, Sup. Willie Johnson Jr. said that he agreed that the arrests “were an erosion of trust”. Echoing Nicholson’s words Johnson said that “we are stewards of Milwaukee County government, we represent the citizens of this county and we should be respectful of the rights of people to go about their business, be where they need to be, and do what they need to do.” 

Sup. Miguel Martinez said “this is just the first step towards creating more action.” The board is expecting a report back from the sheriff and county executive regarding rules around the courthouse, he  said.

“This administration really is descending into 1939 Nazi Germany,” Miguel Martinez continued. “And I’m not saying that with hyperbole because there’s people that are getting deported and people that are citizens, and are not returning. We have people with residency getting their residency stripped away from them. And every single day, it descends into more and more madness.”

He said that it was the responsibility of board members “as local representatives of our communities, that we make sure that we fight every single day against this unlawful administration, and make sure that we let everybody know that we are here to protect them, and we won’t let our country descend into absolute tyrannical madness.”

Sup. Gomez-Tom added that it is the county government’s responsibility “to serve our community, and all inhabitants of our county.” Milwaukee County residents go to the courthouse for many different services besides the justice system, including victim services, child support or obtaining legal documents, “and everyone should have a right to do so, and to do so in peace,” said Gomez-Tom. 

Supervisors Anne O’Connor said that to her knowledge, the Trump administration is the first to pursue immigration arrests in what were once considered “safe places” such as courthouses or churches. 

At a press conference she attended in the days after the arrests, O’Connor said, ICE agents were parked illegally outside and wouldn’t identify themselves further. She described the feeling as “a cloak of anonymity” and said her constituents are concerned about vulnerable communities such as resettled Afghan-U.S. allies, Rohingya, and Congolese communities who get services from nonprofits.

Sup. Patti Logsdon abstained from voting on the resolution’s passage, saying her decision “is not a reflection of indifference or opposition to the values of justice or fairness,” but concern about the legal uncertainty surrounding the passing and implications of this resolution.” 

Logsdon asked for legal guidance as to what policies the county has in place already to guide ICE interactions, as well as the legal jeopardy elected officials who support policies that could conflict with federal immigration law may find themselves. Logsdon also questioned whether Milwaukee County could be sued for going against immigration enforcement, who would pay for it and how much it would cost “in defending and educating undocumented immigrants about their rights.”

Several members of the public also attended the board meeting, expressing support for the resolution, concern for immigrant communities and opposition to  Trump administration immigration policies.

Gomez-Tom noted that she is the daughter of Mexican immigrants.  “I know what that chilling effect looks like when someone in your family is at risk…maybe isn’t even at risk, but is scared that they could be at risk of being detained, of being questioned,” she said. “What happens is people get paralyzed.”

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Milwaukee Health Commissioner Dr. Mike Totoraitis. (Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner)

Federal layoffs have hampered the city of Milwaukee’s ability to respond to growing concerns about lead contamination in Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) denied the city’s requests for assistance after Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. cut the agency’s response team, which would have helped Milwaukee tackle lead contamination in its K-12 schools. 

“This is a pretty unprecedented scenario to not have somebody to turn to at the CDC,” said Mike Totoraitis, commissioner of the Milwaukee Health Department (MHD), during a Monday press conference. Totoraitis learned of the development, which he said left him “quite shocked,” in an email as the Health Department was planning further responses to lead contamination in MPS. “To see that all of our partners at the CDC had been let go was pretty…pretty difficult,” he said.

Although a local network of partners will continue supporting MHD’s efforts, Totoraitis said that the department now has no CDC contacts to consult with on  childhood lead poisoning. The commissioner called it “a pretty stark moment for us at the department to not have someone to reach out to federally.” 

In February the Health Department began reaching out to the CDC as staff members realized the scale of the lead problem e in MPS buildings. Totoraitis said the department might have to assess the school district’s 68,000 students and over 100 school buildings. 

The CDC initially connected the city to specialists at the National Center for Environmental Health’s childhood lead prevention program. City health officials had hoped national teams would help investigate potential lead exposure cases and help with evaluating which schools were likely to have the worst problems.

Totoraitis explained that while there are acute exposures to lead — such as ingesting paint chips — chronic exposure from dust was paint degrades over time is also a hazard. 

With closer analysis, the health department would be able to learn more about how children in Milwaukee are getting exposed to lead, including whether they’re exposed at school or at home. 

CDC was expected to send three to four people to Milwaukee for up to five weeks, he said, as well as provide technical assistance from individuals advising the department remotely from Atlanta. 

“That’s why we engaged them right away,” said Totoraitis. He described the team as “the top experts in the field for lead exposure,” with experience dealing with lead hazards at a much wider scale than local experts in Milwaukee.

There was “no indication” that the CDC teams would be let go, said Totoraitis. “So that was pretty startling,” he added. Preparation to deploy the teams was underway when the CDC abruptly canceled “overnight” on April 1. 

So far, nearly 250 MPS students have been tested for lead poisoning and several schools have been shut down as work crews undertake remediation efforts. 

In early April, MPS announced that it was separating with its facilities director Sean Kane, who’d been with the district for 25 years. Officials said Kane had not allowed health department staff into Golda Meir School to do a full risk assessment and did not disclose that remediation work had been attempted after a student tested positive for lead contamination. 

Childhood lead contamination has been linked to cognitive disorders including degraded impulse control, learning disabilities and violent behavior. About 85 MPS schools were built before 1970 and are therefore at high risks of lead contamination. 

Totoraitis said that so far, there isn’t a timeline on when MPS schools that have been closed due to lead will reopen. Fernwood Montessori School, Starms Early Childhood Center and LaFollette School were closed, while four others that had been closed were re-opened. 

Totoraitis said that remediation work is farthest along at Fernwood, which is beginning its fifth week of closure. Fernwood was “significantly worse off” than investigators anticipated and required extensive repair work, he said. 

As the city works to respond to the lead issue, federal staff and the unpredictability of federal assistance will remain a challenge. Just a couple of weeks ago, the city lost $11 million in COVID-19 grants that were geared towards “recovery” rather than “response,” officials said.

“The part that’s really concerning for us is there hasn’t been any communication warning us of these changes and shifts in personnel,” said Totoraitis. “April 1 is a really stark moment for public health here across the country, and specifically here in Milwaukee, where now we don’t know who to call. We don’t know how to respond to some of the challenges that we’re dealing with right now because we don’t know if I’m reaching out to someone today, if they’re going to be there tomorrow.”

Totoraitis said the Health Department and its local partners stand ready to respond, but he questioned what could happen if the department encounters a complex challenge, such as a particularly complicated blood screening data.  

“The CDC brings that expertise, that bigger picture, that we just don’t have eyes to because we’re here focused on an issue in Milwaukee,” said Totoraitis.

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Richard Schaefer took part in a clinical trial of psilocybin as a treatment for addiction. (Photo courtesy of Richard Schaefer)

It was a day like any other when Richard Schaefer entered a Madison health care clinic to receive harm reduction supplies. Over 10 years, Schaefer had tried recovering from what began with dependence on a prescription for the pain killer Percocet and later spiraled into an all-consuming heroin addiction. As Schaefer waited for his supplies, he noticed an advertisement seeking volunteers for a study into whether therapy assisted by psilocybin – the active compound in psychedelic mushrooms – could unshackle people from addiction. 

“I’ve tried all types of rehabs,” said Schaefer when he spoke recently with the Wisconsin Examiner. Schaefer is 42, off heroin and training to be a peer support specialist. But from rehab clinics in Oshkosh and Wauwatosa to a 30-day program in the Racine County Jail, old-school complete abstinence and medication-assisted treatment using suboxone, Schaefer had tried it all. “I don’t know if it was more of the timing of being ready to quit or just finding something that actually works for me,” he said. “Something different, an alternative route…This study really changed my life, to tell you the truth.” 

Although overdose deaths are down in every state and the District of Columbia for the first time since the fentanyl crisis began, millions of people continue to struggle with opioid use disorder nationwide. With demand for treatment still high, the University of Wisconsin Transdisciplinary Center for Research in Psychoactive Substances (TCRPS) is working on finding solutions. Using psilocybin, the team at UW-Madison is developing groundbreaking new therapies tailor-made for people like Schaefer. Advertisements for the study, which focuses on opioid and methamphetamine addiction, can be found in Madison health care clinics like the one Schaefer visited and even on signs on city buses.  

“We already have seen evidence that psilocybin can do some remarkable things to improve the patients’ ability to gain and process important insights about their lives and experiences,” Paul Hutson, a professor and founding director of TCRPS, told UW News in 2023. “We’re excited to see what it can do along those same lines for patients struggling with substance abuse, many of whom have overlapping mental health conditions.” 

A bipartisan bill that began circulating last session in the Wisconsin Legislature aimed to make psychedelic drug treatment available to veterans suffering from PTSD. Commenting on a psilocybin study at UW-Madison that aims to treat Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in combat veterans, UW researcher and professor Dr. Cody Wenthur told Wisconsin Examiner that conducting trials with an inclusive cross-section of subjects is important. 

Although funding cuts by the Trump Administration have undermined research efforts across the country, UW’s psilocybin study is not at risk, university officials say. A university spokesperson said that the study’s funding does not come from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and thus is “insulated” from cuts to NIH funding. 

Research has shown that psilocybin has the potential to rewire the human brain, for people with depression. The creation of new neuro-pathways aided by psilocybin, combined with therapy, could help treat substance use disorder, which also changes the brain over time to reinforce addictive behavior.

Nationwide millions of people struggle with an opioid use disorder of some kind. Wisconsin alone annually loses thousands of lives to drug overdoses, with a large portion of those deaths linked with variants of the synthetic opioid fentanyl. By 2038, Wisconsin is expected to receive over $780 million in settlement funding from lawsuits against the companies that seeded the overdose crisis by funneling large volumes of addictive medications into communities. That funding could be used to repair the lives of people and the health of their communities. 

Before he started taking Percoset, Schaefer was a college-educated operations manager at a furniture company, who’d grown up in Racine County. A husband, father and homeowner, he was climbing the ladder in his company when he was prescribed the pain killers. “Everything just kind of quickly fell apart,” said Schaefer, “within about six months to a year I lost all that.” 

During those six months his use of the medication became a recreational habit, then developed into a heroin addiction. Once needles came into the picture, “then it’s just no going back,” Schaefer said. “I ended up going down the drain. I lost my marriage, I lost custody of my kids on an overdose, and then I lost my job — my career I was at for 10 years. And then I lost my house to a foreclosure.” The degradation of his life was swift. He recalled  being kicked out of two sober houses. Eventually, he said, “I ended up on the streets.”

The doors of perception 

Schaefer was immediately intrigued when he saw an advertisement for the psilocybin study. He was already on a suboxone regimen in December 2023, which he said helped him get “on the other side of the wall” from his addiction. He entered the study the following month after contacting the research team. Numerous physical health assessments, phone calls, interviews and meetings followed. 

Schaefer was connected with “two really great therapists,” Travis Fox, a doctor in psychology and Nikki Zellner, a licensed clinical social worker. Their compassion and patience formed the bedrock for his recovery. He had to meet them once a week for a month, in addition to meeting other requirements. 

“They really got to know me and really bring out, or work on, issues that I had suppressed in my life, going back to childhood.” Schaefer said. Fox and Zellner “helped me to learn to love myself again,” he added. It was an alternative approach to therapy that Schaefer hadn’t seen in other recovery programs. “They accepted me for who I am, and helped me to learn that it’s OK to be myself,” he said. “To find the freedom of making a choice, it wasn’t all about abstinence, which a lot of programs are.” Schaefer said that “somehow, with making it my choice, I’ve become a new person and really found a new freedom with that, and really blossomed and come a long ways.” 

By April, Schaefer was ready to step into the experience of psilocybin-based therapy. Early in the morning he caught a cab to be dosed at the the UW School of Pharmacy. After one final physical check-up and conversation with doctors, Schaefer was led to a space which he called “the sacred room there.” In that comfortable room surrounded by artwork and with a couch and spaces for Schaefer and the therapists to sit, Schaefer took “the medicine” and his journey began. 

“They didn’t tell me what to call it,” said Schaefer, speaking of the psilocybin he took. “When you look at it as medicine rather than a drug, then we can have a different view on it.”

Taking his shoes off as he entered the room, Schaefer lay back on the couch, took a tablet, donned a blindfold and waited as about 20 minutes passed. 

“I remember the first session for me was kind of like a movie,” he said. “Like different scenes kept coming to me, you know? Different waves kept coming to me. And some of it was different scenes from life, some of it made sense, or some of it I’m still trying to make sense of what they were. But I realized a lot of things in that first session alone.”

“I think I was learning to find myself,” he said of the experience. A persistent sense of comfort, peace and acceptance stayed with Schaefer after that first session. His ego had been muted, “and I just had this new sense that things were OK,” he said. “I began to have a new outlook on life then.”

Sometimes participants in the psilocybin trials need a bathroom break or to pull out and communicate about what is happening. Zellner and Fox were never far away, and were open to talking to him while he was undergoing the journey. “It’s hard to put words on things while you’re having the medicine in you,” said Schaefer. “I go into it and would like to tell them all these things going on, and to be recorded, and jot down and stuff, but it’s like you can’t find the words to say it.”

“You’re kind of in another world,” he added, saying there may not actually be human language to describe some of the experience. The second dose was even more profound. The “scenes” returned with astonishing vividness. Schaefer recalled going through stages of what felt like collective “human sadness” as well as happiness and joy. 

“There was like a buildup from down and dark to the absolute most bright light and loving energy that I’d ever experienced,” he said. It was in that peak moment “when I felt that I was in the presence of a higher power,” which manifested as a sort of “god” or “energy that was in front of me.” He said he felt a distinctly separate, intelligent presence throughout his sessions, “like things were being taught to me and shown to me.” 

Whatever it was, the presence gave him “the most awesome comforting feeling I’ve ever felt in my life,” Schaefer recalled. The feeling melted away as Schaefer descended from that blissful state. 

Integration 

In many ways, the hard work begins after the psychedelic experience ends. With the help of their therapists, study participants must attempt to integrate and process what they learned during the sessions. “The integration was powerful because of the therapists being there, to immediately process things coming to your mind,” said Schaefer. 

After each session, Schaefer was walked back to the hospital where he was given some alone time for the night. He never interacted with any other study participants. The next morning, Schaefer met with Fox and Zellner again for a clearer, deeper dive into the prior day’s session. Another follow up came about a week later. “And again, man, that has been such a life-changing experience having a psychedelic medicine with therapists,” Schaefer said, emphasizing that without proper integration and therapy after psychedelic experiences, “you’re lost.” 

Today, Schaefer is clean from heroin and opioids and living a healthier life. Undergoing the psilocybin study at UW-Madison has inspired him to pursue a career as a certified peer support specialist, for which he’s currently finishing training. He aims to become an advocate for harm reduction medications and alternative psychedelic therapies for addiction recovery.

“I would say it’s not for everybody, but for some people who’ve tried different approaches and it hasn’t worked, and they’re serious about changing their life and having an open mind, then this could really be a profound experience to help them go in a new direction,” said Schaefer. 

He hopes that both treatment providers and people struggling with addiction remember that recovery takes patience, compassion, and that it doesn’t have to rely on an abstinence-only philosophy. “It might take 20 times … trying different approaches,” he said. 

Yet in Wisconsin, alternative options are not widely available. States like Colorado are already working to expand psychedelic-based treatment centers, as well as to legalize and decriminalize psilocybin. Meanwhile, the Wisconsin Legislature remains reluctant to explore bills to even legalize medicinal cannabis. Schaefer hopes that more people struggling with opioid addiction get the chance that he did. “I’d say it’s already changed my life in so many ways.” 

This article has been edited to clarify that the psilocybin dosing sessions took place at the UW School of Pharmacy not the nursing school.

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Prisoners sit at the Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo, or CECOT, a mega-prison in Tecoluca, San Vicente, El Salvador, on April 4, 2025. The Trump administration has acknowledged mistakenly deporting a Maryland resident from El Salvador with protected status to the prison but is arguing against returning him to the U.S. (Photo by Alex Peña/Getty Images)

A disgraced former Milwaukee Police Department (MPD) officer was found to be linked to a high-profile deportation by the Trump Administration. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that Charles Cross Jr. 62, signed a report that claimed Andry José Hernandez, 30, a gay Venezuelan citizen who worked as a make-up artist, was linked to the Tren de Aragua gang and cited his tattoos. Cross, now employed by the private prison company CoreCivic, left MPD under a cloud of conduct and credibility problems, which also landed him on the Brady list of untrustworthy officers maintained by the Milwaukee County district attorney’s office.

In 2012 when he held the rank of sergeant at MPD, Cross was fired after driving his car into a family’s home while he was intoxicated. Cross was allowed to resign after appealing the decision to the Fire and Police Commission (FPC). The Journal Sentinel also reports that Cross was being investigated for claiming overtime he allegedly hadn’t earned when he was fired from the department.

Prior to the crash, Cross had been placed on the Brady list after kicking in the door of an apartment shared with his girlfriend and threatening to kill himself with his service revolver. The incident, in 2007,  cost him his job, but Cross was reinstated after appealing to the FPC. Four months after he separated from MPD in 2012, Cross was hired by CoreCivic, the Journal Sentinel reported. 

According to court filings, Cross identified himself as an “investigator” in a form claiming Hernandez was part of Tren de Aragua, one of the gangs that the Trump administration says it is targeting through mass deportations and detentions of non-citizens. Hernandez had tattoos depicting crowns with the words “dad” and “mom.” Hernandez’s attorneys say the crowns are a reference to the “Three Kings” festival in his hometown of Capacho, Venezuela, and are not connected to Tren de Aragua, as Cross reportedly assumed.  

Hernandez was one of more than 200 mostly Venezuelan migrants sent to El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center. Authorities at the prison have been accused of human rights violations and torture. 

Hernandez fled Venezuela fearing persecution for being a gay man, as well as for his political views. The Journal Sentinel reports that after entering the U.S. illegally, he was apprehended by U.S. Border Patrol agents and sent to Mexico, where he made an appointment and presented himself at a port of entry in San Diego. Hernandez was asked about his tattoos by federal agents, who named him as a “suspect,” but didn’t check any of the other categories on the questionnaire such as “intelligence information received from other agencies” or “group photos.” Since he was deported to El Salvador, Hernandez has not been able to reach his lawyers. 

The developments have raised questions about the involvement of private contractors in immigration and deportation actions, as well as the ability of police officers with problematic histories to be hired by private companies like CoreCivic.

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The Milwaukee County Courthouse. (Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner)

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office of Milwaukee released new information Tuesday regarding the arrests of two undocumented immigrants at the county courthouse. 

A spokesperson wrote in an email statement that Edwin Bustamante-Sierre, 27, and Marco Cruz-Garcia, 24, were arrested by ICE at the courthouse. The statement said that Bustamante-Sierre, a citizen of Nicaragua, was arrested on April 3, and convicted in Fond du Lac County for reckless driving on Dec. 5, 2024. He is currently charged with endangering safety, reckless use of a firearm, use of a dangerous weapon and cocaine possession in Milwaukee County, the email statement read. 

Mexican citizen Cruz-Garcia, the spokesperson wrote, was detained by ICE on March 20. The agency’s statement accuses Cruz-Garcia of being a known member of the “Sureños transnational criminal street gang” and states that he’d been arrested for “multiple criminal charges including breaking and entering, car theft, and assault.” The spokesperson wrote that an immigration judge ordered Cruz-Garcia to be deported to Mexico on Feb. 5, 2020.

Wisconsin Examiner was unable to locate an online court record related to Bustamante-Sierre. For Cruz-Garcia, online court records show a case filed on Jan. 18 involving one count of misdemeanor battery with a domestic abuse modifier. The court record shows that on March 9, Cruz-Garcia was in custody and appeared in court via video, where it was noted that he was indigent. Cruz-Garcia’s case was assigned to another judge and he was turned over for supervison to Justice Point, a non-profit organization which provides a variety of evidence-based criminal justice programs.

All Cruz-Garcia’s prior court orders, including a no-contact order and no possession of firearms, remained in place, as he was required to attend all future court proceedings. On March 20, the day he was detained by ICE, Cruz-Garcia appeared in family court where a domestic violence restraining order was dismissed. 

Days later in early April, there was a courtroom discussion about Cruz-Garcia having been deported to Mexico. Rather than dismissing the case, as defense attorneys asked, Circuit Court Judge Marshall Murray (serving as a reserve for Judge Rebecca Kiefer) granted a prosecutor’s request for a warrant to be issued, according to online court records. An order to review the dismissal of the case against Cruz-Garcia 60 days from April 2 was also issued. 

Courthouses are not immune from the Trump administration’s deportation efforts. On Jan. 21, ICE was directed to conduct “civil immigration enforcement actions in or near courthouses when they have credible information that leads them to believe the targeted alien(s) is or will be present at a specific location, and where such action is not precluded by laws imposed by the jurisdiction in which the civil immigration enforcement action will take place.” 

Agents are instructed to conduct enforcement actions “in non-public areas of the courthouse” in collaboration with court security staff, and to use “non-public entrances and exits.” Wherever possible, ICE agents should operate “discreetly to minimize their impact on court proceedings,” the directive states. The order also says ICE agents and officers should avoid actions in or near non-criminal courthouses, such as family or small claims court. 

Last week, the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) said in a press statement that it did not participate in the arrests. Although MCSO was aware of the first arrest, the office was not given advance notice of the second arrest. The press release did not name the people who were arrested, and noted that it’s “not uncommon” for law enforcement agencies to search available databases for upcoming court hearings to find targeted individuals. 

The courthouse arrests were widely condemned by community members. Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley said “an attack on this safe, community-serving space undermines public trust, breeds fear among citizens and staff and disrupts the due process essential to our courts.” Senior staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Wisconsin Tim Muth echoed concerns that the arrests would create an atmosphere of fear around the courthouse. “Research by the ACLU has shown that when ICE is known to be active in courthouses, members of the immigrant community are less likely to report crimes, less likely to cooperate with police and prosecutors and less likely to make their court appearances,” said Muth. “Our communities become less safe as a consequence.” 

Activists from the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression also expressed concerns about database sharing between local and federal law enforcement, and called for the courthouse to be a safe space for people to come for legal support, services and to seek justice. Over the weekend, at a rally  protesting policies by the Trump administration and Elon Musk, local immigration activists raised those same concerns. “People will be afraid to come to the courthouse if that is not a protected zone,” said Christine Neumann-Ortiz, executive director of Voces de la Frontera during the protest. “And we know that these local fights are our frontline battles.”

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Lincoln Hills Photo (courtesy of the Department of Corrections)

The court-issued monitor for Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake released a report Friday on conditions at the notorious juvenile facilities. It was the monitor’s 22nd visit to the prisons, and revealed both signs of improvement and lingering or worsening problems for the two facilities. The monitor noted that the populations at Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake were “significantly higher” compared to the last visit in October 2024. As of April 18, there are 78 boys at Lincoln Hills, 34 youth at Mendota, six girls at Copper Lake, and four at the Grow Academy, according to weekly population reports. The total on-grounds juvenile population is currently 122, up from the 95 who were in custody in early January. 

Average staffing vacancies which typically hovered around 16%-40% were lower, and the monitor stressed the need to address youth on administrative confinement, particularly those waiting to be transferred to another facility. 

Despite the issues, the report found that the Department of Corrections (DOC) is in substantial compliance with 45 (or 90%) of the 50 provisions identified in a court-ordered consent decree that resulted from a 2017 lawsuit over conditions at the youth prison. With the new monitoring report, four more provisions of the consent decree were brought into substantial compliance.

“This report showcases the hard work and commitment of our staff at Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake,” said DOC secretary Jared Hoy in a statement. “Tremendous progress has been made over the past seven plus years and we are looking forward to realizing a new model for juvenile corrections in Wisconsin.” The Mendota Juvenile Treatment Center began accepting girls for the first time, allowing the population at Copper Lake to be cut in half. Transfer times for boys were also reduced, and treatment teams have helped youth understand the root causes for anti-social behavior.

The report noted that physical improvements, such as replacing heat exchangers and deck upgrades to training facilities, were made since the last visit. Wifi strength has increased in the school and other living units, making it easier for youth to access recreation and learning programs.

Youth in confinement are provided with a special education teacher, as well as a general education teacher. New classrooms have been added to the Skills Development Programs, and teachers are attending youth growth team meetings and other activities. Some incarcerated youth did complain about teachers not being on the units most of the time, and only receiving paper packet work or chromebooks. A random viewing of video by the monitor showed teachers in the units. Youth also played kickball and were in the music lab during the monitoring visit. The facility still lacks a welding instructor, a program which youth appear to enjoy. The monitor was also concerned about vacancy rates in light of the growing population at Lincoln Hills. 

Living units were clean, and youth interacted with the monitor respectfully. Some housing units weren’t visited because the youth were rambunctious, but all units appeared clean and organized. Youth were calm and talkative with monitoring team members and one another, according to the report. Some played cards, ate lunch, made phone calls or watched television. When interviewed by the monitor, the youth were largely positive. They said they enjoyed new menu items, the music lab, but complained about food portion sizes. They also wished there were more jobs for them to do around the facility, and wanted the kickball unit to be switched to basketball. 

“Some youth stated that staff were abusive, and some youth really liked the staff and said they treated them well,” the monitor wrote. “Youth took pride in how clean their rooms and units were.” There were also complaints about restraints, including  waist belts, that have been used when they are out of their rooms. Youth felt the use of restraints was unfair, and that sometimes they weren’t told when violations were received. 

In 2022, DOC received funding to move forward with a state-run juvenile facility in Milwaukee County. Land was approved on West Clinton Avenue and the design has been  finalized and work began in the summer of 2024. The 32-bed facility is scheduled to be completed in late 2026. Another Type 1 facility is being designed in Dane County. Opening the new facilities will be a major step towards the Legislature’s goal of closing Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake, which have had troubled reputations for abuse and violence against youth housed there as well as staff members. 

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