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Despite arrests by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents at the Milwaukee County Courthouse complex, many county officials want residents to know that courthouse services remain available regardless of citizenship status.

Israel Ramón, the Milwaukee County register of deeds, sees access to his office at the courthouse as a fundamental right of every resident in the county.

“I work for 950,000 people,” Ramón said. 

What is a register of deeds?

When people think of essential county services, the register of deeds might not come to mind. But Ramón has a way of making his office sound impossible to live without. 

If people want to drive a car, prove legal identity, apply for Social Security or access food benefits in Milwaukee County, among other tasks, they need documents maintained by Ramón’s office.

When Wisconsin became a state in 1848, the register of deeds was established as one of a handful of constitutional county offices – positions created by the state constitution and filled by local elections. 

Like a sheriff or a judge, people needed a register of deeds to help organize aspects of their daily lives. 

It’s the same today, Ramón said. 

“Most of the time, people don’t think that my office impacts their lives. But from birth to death and throughout their tenure in the county – my office does it all.” 

Ramón’s office issues birth, death, marriage and divorce certificates – documents known as vital records.

His office also records and archives real property documents for Milwaukee County. Real property includes real estate – the physical land and buildings – as well as the legal rights associated with owning, using and transferring it.

Altogether, Ramón said his office maintains an archive of about 12 million documents. 

Access to courthouse complex

All residents of Milwaukee County, Ramón argues, deserve access to these records – regardless of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation or immigration status. 

If, for example, an undocumented mother needs to obtain a birth certificate for her U.S.-born son to enroll him in school, she has the same right to that document as any other parent, according to Ramón. 

Ramón believes the ICE arrests at the courthouse complex threaten that right.

These arrests also threaten access to the full range of services offered in the complex, said Alan Chavoya, outreach chair of the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racism & Political Repression, a community group critical of the immigration policies of the Trump administration. 

Chavoya spoke with NNS at an April news conference at the courthouse, organized to oppose ICE arrests there. 

“People don’t realize that this complex actually houses so many different services,” Chavoya said. “The county supervisors are here. People pay some taxes here. I served jury duty here.”

“A restraining order – you’re supposed to be able to get help here to file one,” he added. “People who might need one but have mixed status probably aren’t going to come here to get one, right?”

ICE at the courthouse

The Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors adopted a resolution on April 24 calling on the county executive, chief judge and sheriff to work together to ensure access to courthouse services. 

However, the resolution does not impose any new restrictions on immigration enforcement. 

Ramón remains focused on what he can do. He said he will ask anyone not conducting official business in his office to leave, including ICE agents without a judicial warrant. 

A judicial warrant allows officers to make arrests in both private and public areas, while administrative warrants – typically used for immigration-related arrests – permit arrests only in public areas. 

As a constitutional officer, the register of deeds has authority over how services are provided, in accordance with state and federal laws, said a spokesperson from the Milwaukee County Executive’s Office. 

Failing to remove barriers that prevent people from accessing his office, including fear of immigration enforcement, would mean failing to uphold the oath of office he took, Ramón said.

His office also offers free notary services to all Milwaukee County residents, including for documents immigrant rights groups are urging families to prepare. 

This includes legal documents such as power-of-attorney forms, which people fearing family separation can use to ensure someone else is able to legally care for their children or manage their finances. 

But, again, Ramón makes clear that this service is for every resident of the county. 

In addition to what he sees as his public duties, he draws on his personal background to underscore his commitment to accessibility. 

He told NNS he is a U.S. citizen born in Mexico, the first Latino constitutional officer in Wisconsin and one of the first openly LGBTQ+ ones.

Gesturing to the LGBTQ+, U.S. and Mexican flags displayed on his bookshelf, Ramón said, “That’s who I am.” 

For more information

Milwaukee County residents can request records in person, online or by phone, depending on the type of record. 

For more information or to request records online, visit the Milwaukee County Register of Deeds website. 

Ramón’s office can be reached at 414-278-4021 with questions. 

The office is located at 901 N. 9th St., Room 103, and is open to the public Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. 

People can find a list of other services available at the courthouse complex. 

‘I work for 950,000 people’: Milwaukee County official reminds residents of their rights amid ICE arrests is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

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It’s the kind of exchange that criminal justice data is meant to clarify: a police official insisting that law enforcement practices are fair and targeted, while a city commissioner questions whether those practices contribute to racial disparities. 

“If I’m understanding what you’re saying correctly, it’s the police department position – not that you are policing in a racially motivated way, but just that it’s Black youth that are committing more crimes,” asked Krissie Fung, a commissioner on the Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission during a recent meeting. 

“I would not say Black youth are committing more crimes,” responded Heather Hough, chief of staff for the Milwaukee Police Department. “I would say that when we are arresting suspects, we are ensuring reasonable suspicion or probable cause, whether or not the identity of those youth is one race or another.”

This conversation – about the overrepresentation of youths of color in Milwaukee’s criminal justice system – unfolded during the May 1 meeting of the Fire and Police Commission. However, it relied in part on a misunderstanding of the county-run dashboard that tracks youths in the justice system.

Such misinterpretations have been common, said Kelly Pethke, administrator for Milwaukee County Children, Youth and Family Services, which hosts the dashboard. 

“There’s been a lot of misunderstanding,” Pethke said. “We are in the process of making some changes.”

The point of the dashboard 

The dashboard was designed to provide real-time transparency about Milwaukee County youths in secure custody.

“We didn’t have a good, single place to go to really look at the scope of the child incarceration problem,” said Rep. Ryan Clancy, D-Milwaukee, who helped move the dashboard through the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors when he served as a supervisor.  

But the dashboard doesn’t yet offer a complete picture, including when it comes to race.

Because of this limitation, conversations about racial disparities in Milwaukee’s youth justice system – like those during the Fire and Police Commission meeting – are incomplete. 

What’s missing?

To understand what’s missing from the dashboard, it helps to know that Milwaukee youths in secure custody can fall into three categories. 

Some youths are held at the county-run Vel R. Phillips Youth and Family Justice Center for lesser offenses, remaining fully under Milwaukee County’s responsibility. 

Others, deemed serious juvenile offenders, are in the custody of the state and housed at state-run youth prisons such as Lincoln Hills School for Boys and Copper Lake School for Girls. 

A third group consists of youth who are the county’s responsibility but are housed in state-run facilities. The dashboard currently only shows racial data for this third group.

Pethke provided NNS with point-in-time data that helps fill out the racial picture of youths in county custody. As of May 19, there were 113 youths in the county detention center: 92 were Black, 12 were Hispanic, seven were white, and two were Asian. 

Persistent problem

Even with the updated county data, overrepresentation of youths of color – especially Black youth – in the criminal justice system continues, said Monique Liston.

She’s the founder and chief strategist of UBUNTU Research and Evaluation, a Milwaukee-based strategic education organization. 

“The disproportionality is still the same for me. Still the same flag,” she said.

Liston wrote a blog that generated a wide community response and was cited by Fung during her exchange with Hough.  

Liston doesn’t dispute Hough’s claim that Milwaukee police are acting legally and fairly. Still, she argued, the city’s criminal justice system is structured in such a way that disproportionately targets Black youths. 

“Black youth are more surveilled. That means you’re going to end up with more incidents.”

It’s a cycle, Liston said – data collected on these incidents presents an imbalanced picture of who is committing crime. 

That picture reinforces the notion that more money and policing are needed to address crime by Black youths, resulting in continued – or escalated – monitoring, she said. 

Yes, Liston wants to see clearer and more complete data from the dashboard. But she also wants that data to be used for real accountability and change.

“Whatever we measure becomes a priority,” she said. “The cycle is not disrupted if we don’t think about the data.” 

MPD and root causes

Hough does not dispute the county’s data and acknowledges that racial disparities exist in Milwaukee’s criminal justice system. But she told NNS she is confident the city’s police department is not the source of those disparities.

“We get a call for service, and we respond,” she said. 

Hough emphasized that the department holds officers accountable if they fail to meet standards of reasonable suspicion and probable cause. 

She also said that the police department – and Milwaukee Police Chief Jeffrey Norman – are committed to working with the community to address the root causes of the disparities highlighted by the county’s dashboard. 

Milwaukee County looks to tweak youth incarceration dashboard after community feedback is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

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The recent arrest of Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan – who is accused of obstructing a federal immigration arrest inside the Milwaukee County Courthouse – has intensified concerns over immigration enforcement and sparked questions about what rights individuals have when encountering federal agents.

Here’s what to know.

What is obstruction?

Obstruction occurs when a person prevents or makes it more difficult for officers to perform their duty – a definition that covers a broad range of actions, said Benjamin Van Severen, a Milwaukee-based criminal defense attorney and founder of Van Severen Law Office.

Obstruction can include physically interfering with an arrest, such as refusing to comply during a traffic stop.

“Let’s say you’re in a vehicle, and law enforcement does a traffic stop and then you refuse to unlock the doors – that could be obstruction,” said Van Severen.

Obstruction also includes providing false information to law enforcement.

According to the criminal complaint, Dugan obstructed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents by escorting the individual they intended to arrest into a nonpublic area of the courthouse after requesting the agents go to the chief judge.

A related but distinct offense from obstruction is known as harboring.

Harboring generally refers to knowingly assisting someone to remain in the United States unlawfully – typically by hiding, transporting or supporting the person in order to help avoid detention.

Knowledge and intent are critical components of the charge.

“You have to be acting with the conscious purpose of aiding their intention to remain here illegally,” said Ronald Kuby, a civil rights attorney familiar with similar cases.

“If, let’s say, Ahmed says to his neighbor, ‘Look, I need $150 to get a bus ticket to go to Canada because ICE is going to arrest me,’ it’s perfectly fine to give Ahmed that 150 bucks to go to Canada,” he said. “He may not buy that bus ticket to Canada. He may buy a bus ticket to, you know, Indianapolis, but that’s not on you.”

Different types of warrants

Understanding the difference between types of warrants is crucial in understanding immigration enforcement, particularly when it comes to where these warrants permit officers to go.

An administrative warrant permits immigration officers to arrest someone in a public place, such as a sidewalk or bus station. However, it does not allow entry into a private residence without consent.

Judicial warrants, by contrast, are signed by a judge and can authorize arrests in both public and private spaces.

Despite the differences, both administrative and judicial warrants are lawful tools that permit arrests in immigration cases, Van Severen said.

However, there are different rights that can be asserted depending on the type of warrant.

If law enforcement presents an administrative warrant, people inside a private residence have the right to refuse entry.

“If it’s not signed by a judge, they can’t come into your home without permission,” said R. Timothy Muth, staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, or ACLU, of Wisconsin. “Ask to see the warrant. Have them slip it under the door or show it to you at your window. Look at the signature line – does it say ‘magistrate judge’?”

Other rights

Regardless of citizenship status, everyone in the U.S. has certain constitutional protections, including the right to remain silent and to speak to an attorney.

However, if the arrest is for an immigration violation and not a criminal offense, the government does not have to provide a lawyer, explained Ruby De León, staff attorney at Voces de la Frontera, an immigrant advocacy organization in Milwaukee.

Documenting activities related to immigration enforcement, such as filming and noting names and badge numbers, is also legal so long as it does not interfere with law enforcement actions, said Muth.

Tangible steps

Voces and the ACLU advise against signing any documents without a lawyer.

If people are not citizens but have documentation that permits them to stay in the country – such as a green card – they are required to keep that documentation with them, Muth said.

Muth recommends carrying documentation showing continuous presence in the country for more than two years, such as a lease agreement, pay stubs or utility bill in the person’s name.

Individuals who cannot prove they’ve been physically present in the U.S. for at least two years may be subject to expedited removal – a process that allows the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, to deport someone without a hearing before an immigration judge.

Advocates recommend ensuring documentation is current, applying for passports for U.S.-born children and pursuing citizenship or legal status if eligible, perhaps through an employer or family member.

Voces suggests completing power-of-attorney forms to prepare for potential family separation. If a person is detained or deported, these forms allow a designated individual to make medical, financial or child care decisions on the person’s behalf.

Forward Latino, a nonprofit organization that advocates for the civil rights of Latinos throughout the country, has created a tool kit regarding potential family separation.

Other resources

A city of Milwaukee municipal ID can serve as a form of identification for city residents who cannot get state identification.

Voces maintains a list of immigration, workers’ rights and family attorneys it deems trustworthy.

Voces also provides various workshops and clinics, including Know Your Rights training, citizenship classes and legal clinics. For citizenship classes, call (414) 236-0415 or email newamerican@vdlf.org. For other services or questions, call (414) 643-1620.

Organizations like Catholic Charities Refugee and Immigration Services, International Institute of Wisconsin and UMOS offer free or low-cost legal assistance regarding immigration and citizenship.

Immigrant Legal Resource Center provides a downloadable card listing people’s rights and protections.

What are your rights when encountering federal agents? is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.