Kenosha County courthouse. (Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner)

Immigrant rights groups are condemning a move by Kenosha County Sheriff David Zoerner to join the federal 287(g) program, a cooperation agreement between local law enforcement agencies and federal immigration enforcement. Although Zoerner previously distanced his office from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), on Monday he announced that an agreement had been signed with the federal agency back mid-December.

Just a couple of months before joining the 287(g) program, Zoerner questioned whether the program would benefit Kenosha County taxpayers. “This is a rapidly evolving program,” Zoerner told TMJ4. “We are monitoring it to ensure that our participation would ultimately be in the best interest of the taxpayers of Kenosha County.” At the time of the interview, the sheriff’s office did not cooperate with ICE beyond honoring immigration detainers for people held in the Kenosha County jail. 

The immigrant rights group Voces de la Frontera condemned Zoerner’s policy shift. “As an elected official, Sheriff Zoerner took an oath to defend the Constitution and ensure community safety,” Voces’ executive director Christine Neumann-Ortiz said in a statement. “Instead, he has broken promises behind closed doors and sacrificed the public trust for political expediency. It is the height of irresponsibility for Sheriff Zoerner to deputize his officers as ICE agents in a city that already experienced the tragic shooting of Jacob Blake and the community outrage that sparked massive protests, unrest, and the tragic death of two young protesters in 2020.” 

Neumann-Ortiz said that Zoerner’s decision “only heightens the risk to the community of harm by the militarized tactics of ICE.” 

In a statement issued Monday, Zoerner walked back his  previous caution about cooperating with ICE.

Zoerner said that “for well over a year” he has been working with ICE and other sheriffs “to bring the 287(g) to Kenosha County.” Saying that “this is not a new idea, and this is not reactionary,” Zoerner said that joining the program “is the result of deliberate, responsible planning focused on one mission: protecting the people of Kenosha County.” 

The sheriff pushed back against what he called “misinformation” about the issue and asserted that this office “works closely and consistently with our federal law enforcement partners.” He added,  “I will not tolerate the release of violent criminal offenders back into our community. Period. As Sheriff, I use every lawful tool at my disposal to protect citizens.” Zoerner noted that he currently serves on the Border Security Committee for the National Sheriffs Association, and that he’s undergone border security training and observed enforcement operations along the southern border in Texas and Arizona. 

Zoerner said that he signed a 287(g) agreement under a jail enforcement model. The agreement was signed by ICE and sent back to the Kenosha County Sheriff’s Office on Jan. 12. “We have already selected staff for this program and are actively moving forward with implementation,” Zoerner said in a statement, adding that the program “applies only to individuals who are already lawfully in custody for serious criminal offenses.”

Kenosha County’s 287(g) program, Zoerner said, will focus on people arrested for violent crimes, felony drug charges, repeat offenders, or those with histories of assault, sexual violence and other serious crimes. “These are people who pose a demonstrated threat to public safety,” said Zoerner. “This agreement ensures they are not released back into our community.” 

ICE cooperation a campaign issue

On Jan. 7, five days before Zoerner’s announcement, James Beller declared that he will challenge  Zoerner in the upcoming election for sheriff. Beller is currently a Kenosha police captain, and said that if elected he would move forward with joining the ICE 287 (g) program. 

Beller pitched the program as focusing only on serious criminal offenses, using the same language  Zoerner used to describe the deal he struck with the federal government. “This is about public safety and accountability,” Beller said in a press release. “The focus will be on serious offenders already in custody, implemented professionally, lawfully, and consistent with our responsibility to keep the community safe.” 

Those reassurances did not assuage  the concerns of people worried about the effects of ICE surges in Chicago and Minneapolis, where violent clashes with residents have made headlines and U.S. citizen Renee Good was shot and killed last week. 

There are currently 13 law enforcement agencies in Wisconsin with 287(g) programs, all of them sheriff’s offices. “This has to end,” said Nuemann-Ortiz. “We stand with Kenosha families in calling for an end to 287(g) in Kenosha.”

Voces de la Frontera is organizing a protest on  Saturday at 11 a.m.  at Kenosha’s Civic Park.