Former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, who ran in the 2026 Democratic primary for governor,  has filed a lawsuit against the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, claiming that the newspaper defamed him  when it ran an anonymously sourced story about Barnes’ relationships with women. The Journal Sentinel published two stories on the same day in July, one focused on accusations that Barnes used his high profile political status to gain intimate access to women and another covering Barnes dropping out of the race for governor. 

“I understand that seeking public office brings scrutiny, and I respect the essential role of a free press,” Barnes said in a press release. “Accuracy and fairness matter deeply when reporting affects a person’s reputation, family, and future. I dispute the reporting identified in this complaint and believe it created a materially false picture of me and my conduct. I asked the Journal Sentinel to correct it, and the newspaper declined. I am bringing this case so the disputed facts can be examined through the legal process.”

In a story headlined “Sources detail concerns about Mandela Barnes’ behavior toward women,” journalists Mary Spicuzza and Molly Beck reported that an outside law firm had been hired by the Democratic Party of Wisconsin to review allegations of inappropriate behavior involving Barnes and young adult women. Described as a “probe,” the alleged inquiry was launched after then-party chairman Ben Wikler received an anonymous letter in 2024 accusing Barnes of using his position in the party to gain access to women. The story reported that the review found nothing actionable, and that the original letter lacked details.

The lawsuit disputes the Journal Sentinel’s reporting that an outside law firm had been hired to investigate Barnes. Rather, the complaint states, the party’s regularly retained counsel “may have reviewed the anonymous letter in its ordinary advisory capacity, but neither counsel nor the party conducted a factual investigation or ‘outside probe.’” It added that “the anonymous letter referenced in the Articles contained no names, no specific incidents, and no concrete allegations capable of being investigated.”

The lawsuit also disputes reporting from the Journal Sentinel — using three anonymous sources — that Barnes used his position in the party to seek sexual relationships with young adult women. One of the sources claimed to have had a sexual relationship with Barnes, while the other two said they had knowledge of his behavior, though no one has said they were abused by Barnes, the defamation complaint states. 

The Journal Sentinel’s use of AI-generated summaries for the story also came under fire in the defamation suit. The AI-generated overview mentions the hiring of an outside law firm to investigate allegations and that Barnes used his position to pursue intimate relations with young women, and linked his dropping out of the race with allegations of inappropriate sexual conduct that have not led to any criminal charges. 

A subsequent story headlined “Mandela Barnes ends Democratic campaign for Wisconsin governor,” also authored by Spicuzza and Beck, mentioned that Barnes’ decision to withdraw from the race came on the heels of  the Sentinel’s report on the reputed allegations against Barnes. The defamation complaint states that Barnes’ decision was based on internal polling, support for another candidate, “the absence of a viable political path,” and financial concerns. 

The lawsuit also mentions that a Journal Sentinel reporter originally assigned the story had been removed from the effort because she  previously had an intimate relationship with Barnes. Spicuzza and Beck were brought on to re-report that journalist’s work and carry the stories forward. The lawsuit states that the Journal Sentinel’s reporting did not disclose the original conflict of interest or the reporter’s removal from the story. 

When Barnes exited the race he was polling second behind Rep. Francesca Hong at 16% to Hong’s 38% according to Marquette University Law School polling data. Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley eventually won the primary and was elected governor last week. Shortly after the stories on Barnes appeared,  Bruce Murphy, editor-in-chief of Urban Milwaukee, published a column calling the Journal Sentinel’s reporting on the Barnes accusations “irresponsible”. He began the column by asking, “What in the world were the Journal Sentinel editors thinking?”

Barnes requested retractions and corrections to the stories, and filed  the lawsuit after the Journal Sentinel refused and stood by its reporting. The lawsuit seeks damages for alleged reputational and “other injuries resulting from the publication,” but does not claim  that the stories caused Barnes to withdraw from the race. 

“The Journal Sentinel stands by our reporting,” said Greg Borowski, executive editor of the newspaper, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. “The story went through our standard editing and legal review, and Mr. Barnes was given the opportunity to respond before publication.”

Attorney Michael Cerjak, representing Barnes, said in a statement to Wisconsin Examiner that while political candidates should expect tough questions and scrutiny that, “seeking public office does not mean surrendering your dignity or your right to challenge materially false reporting.”

Cerjack went on to say, “there is room for decency in political reporting,” adding that, “that means recognizing that stories about intimate relationships and alleged sexual misconduct have consequences for real people, their families, their livelihoods, and their standing in the community. Those consequences make accuracy and context especially important.”

Cerjack said that the case “asks whether the newspaper crossed the line from legitimate scrutiny into actionable falsehood.” He added that Barnes is seeking to correct the public record and obtain accountability, and that the complaint seeks compensatory damages. However, “we are not assigning a dollar figure at this time,” Cerjack said in a statement.

The articles affected Barnes’ reputation and called into question “his treatment of women, and whether he abused the public’s trust,” his attorney said. “Those accusations reach into someone’s personal relationships, professional life, and everyday interactions. They can leave a person facing suspicion and having to defend his character long after the initial headlines have passed.”

This story has been updated with comment from attorney Michael Cerjack, representing Mandela Barnes in the defamation lawsuit.

Federal immigration authorities have released a 21-year-old Wisconsin State Patrol trooper from Onalaska who was detained at an airport last week. Carel Aaron Van Der Merwe, who was born in South Africa and works out of Tomah, was brought to the United States as a child legally. After arriving in the country, his parents waited seven years for an asylum interview, according to a press release issued by the law firm Christopher & De Leon. The firm said that Van Der Merwe was included on his father’s asylum application and holds a federal work authorization which expires in 2030. 

Van Der Merwe was released after U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden contacted DHS and intervened on the state trooper’s behalf. A spokesperson for Van Orden told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that appropriate authorities will now work to resolve Van Der Merwe’s immigration paperwork and legal status. 

Attorney Marc Christopher said that while Van Der Merwe and his family are happy he was released, he should not have been detained and that it should not have required congressional intervention to resolve the matter. 

Christopher called on lawmakers to confront what he called “inhumane and wasteful detention practices and the failure of our immigration system,” by ICE under the Trump administration, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

“Wisconsin trusted him to protect the public,” the law firm said in a statement after Van Der Merwe was arrested. “Now, ICE is holding him in immigration detention in Dodge County.”

Van Der Merwe joined the Wisconsin State Patrol because his pending immigration status prevented him from joining the military, according to his lawyers. The Wisconsin Department of Transportation, which oversees the State Patrol, confirmed in a statement to the Examiner that it was “aware of the situation” involving Van Der Merwe. He has worked with the department since July 2025. 

DOT did not comment on the circumstances of Van Der Merwe’s hiring, how his arrest affected his colleagues and community, or whether ICE or the Department of Homeland Security communicated with the State Patrol before or after arresting Van Der Merwe.

The statement from his attorneys said  that Van Der Merwe was detained as he prepared to board a domestic flight. He tried to explain that he had a valid work permit pending an asylum claim, but “according to Van Der Merwe the officers said they did not care, placed him in handcuffs and shackles, and transported him to immigration detention in Dodge County. ICE says it is going after people who break the law. Here, it has detained someone whose job it is to uphold it.”

Christopher said in a statement that ICE did not have to detain Van Der Merwe. “He is neither a threat nor a flight risk,” he said. “He has a home, a career, and a community he serves. How does putting him behind bars make Wisconsin safer?”

A DHS spokesperson confirmed that Van Der Merwe was taken into ICE custody on Nov. 5. Calling him “an illegal alien from South Africa,” the spokesperson said that the arrest was part of a targeted operation at the Dane County Regional Airport in Madison. Contrary to his attorneys’ statement, DHS said that Van Der Merwe “entered the country in March 2019 with legal permission to stay until September 2019.” 

The spokesperson added that, “in defiance of our nation’s laws, he overstayed his admission. This illegal alien will receive due process and remain in ICE custody pending removal proceedings.” DHS added that, “work authorization or a pending application do not confer legal status in the U.S.” The agency stated that  “DHS reversed the horrendous Biden-era policy that allowed aliens in our country illegally to jet around our country. Under President Trump, DHS will no longer tolerate this. This administration is working diligently to ensure that aliens in our country illegally can no longer fly unless it is out of our country to self-deport.” 

Christopher called the government’s claims “absurd and ridiculous,” asserting that Van Der Merwe and his family were here lawfully and waiting for immigration to process their asylum claim, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

Van Der Merwe’s arrest came just weeks after an Oshkosh middle school teacher who was raised in Costa Rica was detained and deported by ICE. The teacher, Wendy Mendez,  was recognized in 2025 as an employee of the year by her school district. 

As a white South African, Van Der Merwe is part of a group that has received favorable treatment from the Trump administration.

In 2027, the Trump administration is limiting the number of refugees it admits to the United States to   17,500 people, most of whom will be white South Africans fleeing what they say is persecution under the Black majority government of their country. Even as his administration has targeted immigrants from Latin America for deportation, President Trump welcomed white South African farmers and falsely claimed that white South Africans — the descendants of Dutch and French colonialists known as Afrikaners  — were the victims of genocide. 

Van Der Merwe’s family arrived in the U.S. during Trump’s first term, when he was 14 years old. As they were awaiting processing of their asylum claim, Trump signed an executive order saying the U.S. would “promote the resettlement of Afrikaner refugees” based on the claim that they faced anti-white racial discrimination. 

Van Der Merwe graduated from the Wisconsin State Patrol academy in 2025, as Gov. Tony Evers looked on. 

More reports of immigration arrests at airports stem from increased collaboration between the Transportation Security Administration and ICE, according to CBS News. TSA has been identifying noncitizen travelers who are “easy targets” for federal agents seeking to meet high quotas for immigration arrests.

Following Democrats’ resounding victories in Wisconsin Tuesday night, Gov.-elect David Crowley and Democratic legislative leaders spent Wednesday talking about preparing to work for Wisconsinites, though the specifics are still being worked out. 

Crowley said as he begins putting together a transition team and cabinet he wants it to be representative of the entire state, not just Madison and Milwaukee. He emphasized that he is committed to hearing from people with diverse viewpoints across the state as he begins that work. 

“While we witnessed major victories in the state Legislature last night, I am committed to bringing people together from across the political spectrum and all across this state. We’re going to listen to every region … every community. We’re going to make decisions that are based on what’s best for everyone here in the state of Wisconsin, and we are going to measure our success on whether life gets better for all families in this great state.” 

Crowley told reporters on Wednesday afternoon in Milwaukee that affordability and healthcare are his top priorities, but he didn’t provide specifics about the legislation he wants to see on his desk soon after he takes office. 

“You’re asking me about the legislative process. I think it is extremely important that you talk to the legislative leaders,” Crowley said. “I look forward to working with them about what our priorities are going to be. We are less than 24 hours of knowing that we won this race right now. I think all of us are basking in the fact that we won, we have the Democratic trifecta, and we know that the hard work is going to begin today.”

Over the course of the campaign, Democrats and Crowley said that if elected they would address an array of issues including lowering costs, improving education and healthcare accessibility. 

Assembly Democratic Leader Greta Neubauer (D-Racine) told reporters on a call that legislators needed a chance to connect with Crowley and their Senate colleagues while working to build their governing agenda. She said addressing the costs working families face is the first priority. She said some proposals include providing free school meals to all students and addressing housing costs, healthcare and childcare. 

“We do have a big list, and we are going to be ambitious,” Neubauer said. “We recognize this is a huge opportunity. Wisconsin on a new course; we are going to be busy. We’re going to be busy for two years getting all these things done.” 

Neubauer said the Assembly will have several options for addressing healthcare. She said lawmakers will explore a public option as well as regulations on prescription drugs and other costs. She said taking the federal Medicaid expansion is complicated given recent changes made by the Trump administration, including work requirements and changes to the federal funding mechanism. 

“It’s a shame that Wisconsin has not done that up to this point,” she said. “We are going to be working very closely with the administration to figure out the best way to expand access to affordable healthcare for Wisconsinites, even given the Trump administration’s efforts to cut access and raise costs.” 

“We know that Wisconsinites are struggling to afford access to quality healthcare, and that is going to be a key priority for us,” she added.

Senate Democratic Leader Dianne Hesselbein (D-Middleton) said in a statement on Wednesday that the Democratic majority was elected to invest in public schools, lower property taxes, stand up for Wisconsin workers and protect freedoms, including the right of women to make their own healthcare decisions.  

“The people of Wisconsin have placed their trust in Senate Democrats, and we’re not going to take it for granted,” Hesselbein said. “We are ready to breathe new life into the ‘Wisconsin Idea’ and ensure that everybody in Wisconsin, no matter your race, gender, who you love, or where you live, has a fair shot at the American dream.”

This story has been updated.

In a historic victory Tuesday night, David Crowley was elected as Wisconsin’s first African American governor. Crowley, who became Milwaukee’s first Black county executive in 2020, defeated Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany in a contentious race. 

The Associated Press called the race with 84% of the vote counted. Crowley had 53.6% of the vote to Tiffany’s 46.4%.

Tiffany conceded in the race at around 9:45 p.m. “While we have our differences, we both love this great state,” Tiffany said. “And I wish him and his family the very best.” One person in the crowd at Tiffany’s victory party started heckling Crowley. Tiffany responded: “We’re gonna be magnanimous tonight.”

Crowley’s election night watch party was held at the Landmark Credit Union Live venue in Milwaukee, beside the Fiserv Forum. Music played throughout the night and at one point, Crowley’s young niece played the violin for the crowd, performing a rendition of a Michael Jackson song.

The diverse and energetic crowd paid close attention to the vote tallies all night as Tiffany and Crowley vied for the lead. Much of the state seemed blanketed in Republican red on the big screens early in the evening. Finally, as votes from Milwaukee County and the areas around Dane County came in, Crowley jumped ahead.

Lt. Governor-elect Sarah Godlewski addressed the crowd first. “I just want you to take a look around this room because together we made history tonight,” she said to cheers. “And I have to tell you, after traveling 1600 miles across this state with David Crowley, and maybe stopping at one too many Kwik Trips, I could not be prouder to say we won!”

Crowley thanked his parents, wife, daughter, Gov. Tony Evers, and the staff who supported him during his campaign. He promised that as governor he will always listen to people’s perspectives, regardless of whether they are Republicans or Democrats. He said that affordable housing, healthcare, food and being able to build a future for yourself and your family are not partisan issues.

“Wisconsin isn’t a red state or a blue state, we never have been,” he said. “In a state this close, nobody gets to govern alone. When majorities are narrow there’s no room for show votes or shouting matches. There’s no time to waste on culture wars that make for great Instagram clips but lousy government. There’s only room for the work: Fixing the damn roads, funding the schools, keeping our community safe, and bringing down your monthly bills. In a state like ours, the voters keep everybody honest. And tonight, they told all of us in both parties: ‘We are sending you to Madison to get something done, now go do it.’ And I just want to say to Wisconsin: ‘Message received.'”

Angela Lang, director of Milwaukee BLOC — Black Leaders Organizing for Communities — joined the throng of celebrants at Crowley’s victory party in Milwaukee.

“I’m feeling energized,” she said. “I’m feeling emotional in the greatest way, I am feeling encouraged, and I am really sitting in the fact that we just elected our first Black governor.”

Lang said she was particularly moved by Crowley’s speech, in which he described his difficult childhood, as the son of parents who struggled with poverty and addiction and were repeatedly evicted from their homes. “It goes to show what this state is capable of,” she said. “So many times it has felt like there has been this ceiling on what Black folks, particularly Black folks who have gone through traumatic situations, have been able to overcome. And to know that we have somebody that has gone through the struggle, has gone through the trenches, and as he said, has gone from homelessness to the governor’s mansion, is amazing. And I’m still processing. I’m ecstatic, but it’s also still hitting me.”

“I don’t think I was shocked,” she added. “I’ve always been nervous. Because sometimes Wisconsin doesn’t always do the right thing. But I always knew it was possible and I’m glad to know that the rest of Wisconsin felt it was possible too.”

“It’s simply amazing,” said Pam Fendt, president of the  Milwaukee Area Labor Council. “Labor wanted a candidate who would listen to the working people of Wisconsin, and we got that with David Crowley.”

“We look forward to working with the new governor and getting change in our state laws so that more workers can organize,” she added.

Tuesday night concluded a dynamic campaign for Crowley. During the Democratic primary, Crowley initially dropped out due to low polling numbers and endorsed Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez. 

Just days after Crowley endorsed Rodriguez, however, she also dropped out due to financial mismanagement within her campaign. This left state Rep. Francesca Hong (D-Madison), who ran as a democratic socialist, with a significant double digit lead over her remaining opponents. Crowley re-entered the race stating that many people, including Gov. Tony Evers, had urged him to run. 

After Crowley restarted his campaign, Evers — who had previously refrained from making an endorsement  — pitched Crowley as the only candidate capable of beating Tiffany. 

Crowley pushed back against claims that he re-entered the race because of Evers, or that he was the establishment candidate. He narrowly defeated Hong in the primary. 

The general election featured attack ads paid for by dark money groups that accused Crowley of raising sales and property taxes. Some ads urged viewers not to let Crowley make the rest of Wisconsin look like Milwaukee. 

Republicans tried to portray Crowley as a corrupt politician who funneled  money into a non-profit where his wife worked. Ads also focused on immigration, listing crimes committed  by non-citizens and re-played a clip of Crowley vowing to support immigrant communities by saying “I’m an accomplice.” 

Late in the race, an  ad originating from a GOP-linked group masquerading as a left-wing progressive outfit accused Crowley of being too pro-law enforcement, while other Republican attacks accused him of being soft on crime. 

Crowley focused on pitching his record of governing Milwaukee County. Pro-Crowley ads promised to make life more affordable and increase housing and slammed Tiffany as being more loyal to President Donald Trump than to Wisconsin. 

During the only candidate debate  in October, Crowley described Tiffany as in the pocket of the billionaires funding his campaign. Just three billionaires, Beloit resident Dianne Hendricks and Illinois residents Richard and Liz Uihlein contributed about 90% of the funds raised by the Tiffany campaign, directed to the Republican Party of Wisconsin and then transferred to the candidate. 

Voters in Milwaukee streamed to the polls amidst overcast skies and rainy weather on Election Day. Some polling sites reported high turnout while several police departments in the Milwaukee area said there were minimal reported incidents. 

At Milwaukee’s South Division High School, located on the predominantly Latino South Side, voters arrived and checked in. The polling site’s chief election worker said shortly before noon that 63 people had arrived. Outside, poll chaplains standing with umbrellas who were there to make sure voters could cast their ballots without interference said that there had been no issues so far, an observation echoed by the chief poll worker. 

In the leadup to the midterm elections, anxiety was high that federal agents would be deployed to polling locations in certain neighborhoods, including those with large numbers of immigrant families. Milwaukee is one of two cities in Wisconsin where the Department of Homeland Security sent election monitors for the midterms, in an effort pro-democracy groups criticized for targeting Democratic strongholds and minority communities..

In a statement sent shortly before 2 p.m., the Milwaukee Police Department told the Wisconsin Examiner that the department had responded to three incidents related to the election. Milwaukee officers responded to a high school — the department did not specify which one — where there were complaints about election signs being stolen. Officers determined that the signs had been placed in a right of way where they were not allowed, and no arrests were made. 

Officers also responded to a college campus in Milwaukee following a report that individuals were possibly too close to the entrance of a polling location with election materials. When officers arrived the individuals were no longer at the scene. The third incident was a motor vehicle crash involving a city vehicle conveying election workers who were transporting ballots. The workers had just dropped off the ballots and were involved in the accident as they were leaving. Two election workers were transported to a local hospital, as well as the driver of the vehicle that struck them. 

When asked whether things were quiet, Waukesha Police Capt. Dan Baumann said in an emailed statement to the Examiner “we don’t use that ‘Q’ word,” adding, “I’m knocking on wood as I type but all things are going well on the home front.” Lt. Nicholas Wenzel of the Waukesha County Sheriff’s Department also said that he had not heard of any election-related incidents. The Wauwatosa and West Allis Police Departments did not respond to a request for comment. 

WISN 12 News reported that multiple polling locations had reported technical issues, including the Saveland Park Pavilion on the South Side. By 10:22 a.m. the issue, involving 100 ballots which could not be read into the machine, had been resolved. Milwaukee Election Commissioner Patricia Ruiz-Cantú said the issues with machines were resolved easily, and mentioned that one location had ballots without Voter ID numbers. Ruiz-Cantú said that the ballots were audited and found to be eligible voters casting legitimate ballots and that this was the result of a clerical error. 

Over 462,000 Wisconsinites had cast their ballot during in-person absentee voting by the time polling locations opened Tuesday morning. Nearly 797,000 ballots have been returned to the Milwaukee municipal clerk to be counted today.

A jury has found Javarius Hurd, 18, not guilty of reckless homicide in the death of a youth counselor at the Lincoln Hills School for Boys. Hurd was, however, found guilty of battery by a prisoner. 

Hurd had been charged with reckless homicide in the death of Corey Proulx, who died after a confrontation with Hurd in 2024. Prosecutors said that Proulx chased Hurd after the then 16-year-old threw a cup of soapy water in another staff member’s face. Proulx chased Hurd into an outdoor recreational area where, in a scuffle with Hurd, he hit his head on a hard surface. 

After Proulx’s death, the Department of Corrections issued a statement that staff members were collectively mourning. In a press release sent out after the incident, the DOC said that Proulx’s fiancee and daughter “would like everyone to know that Corey was an amazing partner, father, and human being.” 

Hurd’s case became a flashpoint both in and outside of the courtroom. While his attorneys battled prosecutors unsuccessfully to prevent the case from being tried in adult court, Proulx’s death was used by Republican lawmakers to take shots at the approach to juvenile justice taken by Gov. Tony Evers.

Lincoln Hills had become notorious as one of the nation’s largest juvenile prisons where youth suffered abuse and excessive force while guards and counselors were under pressure from  staffing shortages. Recently, Lincoln Hills was found to be in compliance with the requirements set forth after a class action lawsuit over those conditions. As a result, court-ordered monitoring of the facility was halted as new, smaller facilities are being opened around the state. 

A sentencing hearing for Hurd has been set for Friday morning, Oct. 30.

An Oshkosh middle school teacher has been detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. In a statement, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson confirmed that on Oct. 14, ICE arrested Wendy Mendez, a Spanish teacher at the Vel Phillips Middle School in Oshkosh. 

The spokesperson said that Mendez entered the United States in August 2020 “on a temporary basis, but in violation of our laws, failed to depart by Feb. 9, 2021.” The statement continues that on Feb. 18, 2026, Mendez was “placed into removal proceedings, and on Sept. 9, was ordered removed by an immigration judge for failing to show up for her removal proceedings. She received due process and will remain in custody pending her removal from the United States.” 

DHS did not clarify the type of visa or permit which Mendez may have had during her time in the United States. Although President Donald Trump campaigned on sending ICE to apprehend “the worst of the worst,” Mendez appears to be the latest example of someone who does not fit that description. A check of online court records showed that the only thing linked to Mendez were divorce proceedings, suggesting that she has no criminal record. 

Reports about Mendez’s detention first emerged on social media.  Facebook posts by someone who said she is a friend of Mendez’s  described Mendez as a woman of Afro-Caribbean descent who was raised in Costa Rica, and who moved to Oshkosh six years ago with her husband and two sons. The posts claim that one of her sons has Down syndrome and doesn’t understand why his mother is missing. The post states that Mendez had no knowledge of her deportation proceedings because notices from the court were sent to an old address. The post claims that while in detention, Mendez was placed in solitary confinement and made to sleep on concrete floors and mold-covered beds. According to the post, Mendez was deported after being moved among multiple detention facilities in different states without having the opportunity to appear before an immigration judge.

Mendez’s story was first reported by the independent University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh student newspaper, the Advance-Titan. 

A spokesperson for Voces de la Frontera, an immigrant rights group that runs a statewide network to verify ICE activity, told the Examiner that the group had not received any information about the case.

The Facebook posts mention details about Mendez that later appeared in official statements from DHS and the school district. However, the original poster has not responded to Wisconsin Examiner’s requests for comment. 

In an emailed statement, the Oshkosh Area School District confirmed that Mendez “is an employee in good standing who has been placed on an unpaid leave of absence due to unforeseen circumstances.” A district spokesperson added that “at no point was this a school safety or performance-related issue. Our primary focus remains on supporting our students and staff and keeping learning moving forward in our classrooms.”

On Monday, the district sent a letter to the families of students about Mendez, saying that although it normally follows privacy laws regarding employee matters, “this situation has become public and is felt across the community. We are sharing this update directly to address her absence, reduce uncertainty, and outline the support available.” The letter reiterates that Mendez has been placed on unpaid leave due to “unforeseen circumstances,” and that she was in good standing with the district. “The district is working through the process of obtaining more details and will provide more information if we are able.”

The letter explains that students in Mendez’s class were informed of her absence last Tuesday. “We know this situation brings heartbreak, frustration, and worry for many in our community,” the letter states. “Additionally, whenever a sudden absence occurs, it naturally brings up questions or concerns for students. Our primary responsibility is to ensure every student feels safe, supported, and grounded.” 

School counselors and support staff are being made available to listen to students, and help them process what’s happening. 

Mendez was named employee of the year last year by the Oshkosh Area School District. A video posted to the district’s YouTube page showed a surprised Mendez receiving a balloon and coffee thermos as her students applauded. 

“We are keeping Mrs. Mendez and her loved ones in our thoughts during this difficult time,” the letter states. “If you feel your child needs additional support during the day, please contact our Vel Phillips Middle School counseling office directly.” The letter is signed by Oshkosh Area School District Superintendent Dr. Bryan Davis, and Vel Phillips Middle School Principal Amanda Patza. 

Oshkosh is situated in Winnebago County, where the sheriff’s office is part of the 287(g) program which deputizes local law enforcement to participate in immigration enforcement and detention. Since last January, ICE has reported 25 arrests in Winnebago County, almost all of which originated from the jail, Wisconsin Watch reported.

In September during a town hall meeting, Sheriff John Matz said that his office’s participation in 287(g) “needs to continue.” Matz said, however, that he isn’t interested in street enforcement or in renting jail beds to ICE. This year, voters will decide whether to support Republican Darin Rice, who is running to replace Matz who is retiring, or his Democratic opponent Jason Ripple, a patrol officer. Ripple told Wisconsin Watch that he would void the 287(g) program, stating that the program “may be an open door for additional involvement with (ICE)…and I think that by any modern law enforcement standards, we’ve seen pretty clearly that their tactics are sloppy.”

This article has been edited to correct that Republican Darin Rice is running against Jason Ripple for Winnebago County Sheriff, and that Sheriff John Matz is retiring. 

A coalition of community and faith groups are calling on both the Republican and Democratic candidates for governor to expand a transitional jobs program.  In an open letter the groups state that the program provides short-term jobs “aimed at getting people who are isolated from economic opportunity into the productive workforce.” 

The letter, from WISDOM, MICAH, Guest House of Milwaukee, the Wisconsin Council of Churches and UMOS among other groups — asks Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany and Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley to expand transitional jobs programs support funding for the programs and expand the Earn & Learn summer youth employment program in Milwaukee so that all of its 3,700 applicants can work in 2027. 

The letter is signed by Pastor Joseph Ellwanger, a longtime grassroots activist who has been an organizer in Milwaukee since the civil rights movement. 

“These programs are very effective in getting participants into regular unsubsidized employment once the period of subsidy ends,” the letter states. “Many participants have significant barriers to employment such as being long term unemployed and having criminal justice system involvement. The Department of Children and Families’ own data analysis of thousands of transitional job participants over a five-year period shows that approximately two thirds of participants go on to secure and maintain long term unsubsidized employment.”

Transitional jobs programs are important because, the letter states, while “the unemployment rate is historically low in Wisconsin at present there are parts of our communities that suffer from high rates of joblessness.” It notes that the DCF’s Transform Milwaukee and transitional jobs programs help people who are “largely not counted in the narrow official definition of the unemployment rate,” including  “such groups as the previously incarcerated and people who have historically been only marginally attached to the labor force.”

The letter argues that ensuring that these programs are protected helps the people they serve earn money, pay taxes, receive insurance and live better lives. “They earn money in law abiding ways and are less inclined to seek money in informal or illegal activities,” it states. “They grow the labor force which is an important social and economic objective in a time of tight labor markets. They participate in the dignity of work which provides purpose and contributes to the economic well-being and strength of the community.”

DCF data shows that over 60% of transitional job participants go on to secure long-term, unsubsidized employment. 

The program also supports an estimated 16,000 young people between the ages of 16 and 24. 

The community organizations that signed on to the letter are asking both Tiffany and Crowley to expand the Transitional Jobs and Transform Milwaukee Jobs programs to serve all 72 Wisconsin counties and  commit to providing $5 million annually in state funds, along with another  $8.2 million to expand the Earn & Learn summer youth employment program to support all 3,700 applicants in 2027. 

Gov. Tony Evers toured a new Milwaukee juvenile facility on Wednesday along with Department of Corrections leaders, closing another chapter in the troubled history of the Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake youth prisons. The sleek, colorful new facility looked like  a well-resourced though highly secure school. The Southeast Regional Care Center for Youth, or SERC, will house 32 boys who are in the DOC’s custody. 

While serving their sentences the boys will have access to educational programs, a gym, a greenhouse and other opportunities to help prepare them to return to their communities. Since many of the boys will be from the Milwaukee area, the new $65.6 million facility will make it easier for their families to visit compared to Lincoln Hills, hours away in Irma, Wisconsin. 

“This new facility marks a historic milestone for our state and is the beginning of what I hope is a real, meaningful transformation of not only juvenile corrections in our state but of corrections in Wisconsin,” Evers said. “Not only will this new facility allow us to safely move our kids closer to their homes, their families, and their support systems, but it will give kids and families hope for a brighter future. With evidence-based strategies, this new facility will provide young people the role models, educational opportunities, and support needed so they can grow, be better, and do better, all while helping to reduce crime, prevent violence, and keep our kids, families and communities safe.”

SERC is located on Milwaukee’s North Side, tucked away a few blocks  from a busy roadway just north of Good Hope Road. At first glance the tan brick building resembles a small school, but a closer look reveals  large tinted windows and a few State Patrol vehicles parked outside. Walking through the front door, visitors come to  a metal detector station in a  front lobby with light colored walls, tiled floor and chairs. 

Wednesday’s official  tour of the new facility began with a visit to the SERC’s chapel. Next, Evers was guided by DOC Sec. Jared Hoy and DOC juvenile corrections administrator Lance Horozewski to an outside area surrounded by a high brick wall and security gate, where Evers viewed a basketball court and a large greenhouse next to  raised garden beds — one for each boy which the facility will house.

Heading back inside, Hoy and Horozewski showcased medical facilities with individual exam rooms and areas where youth can access needed dental care. There was also a large kitchen, and spaces where youth could learn welding and woodworking. Evers also looked over visiting areas complete with games and kiosks for video visits, a large indoor gym and basketball court and classrooms. Evers also checked out a creative room where the boys will be able to make and record music, and even make videos using a large green screen.

The area where the boys will be housed was  behind a door, which will be controlled by staff monitoring from an adjacent room. A common space contained couches, tables, a couple of phones and games. Down the hall were dorm rooms with wood floors and gray metal furniture, with one bed per room, a toilet, desk, and a window with a view of the outdoors, with a blind the boys can open or close. 

The design of SERC is intended to forge a new direction for juvenile incarceration in Wisconsin. For years, the Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake schools were  notorious for reports of abuse and suffering for both youth housed there and the staff responsible for their care. Earlier this year, a federal judge ended mandatory oversight of Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake after the DOC had been found to be in “substantial compliance” with reforms mandated after a 2018 class action settlement.

Lincoln Hills’ troubled history led the Legislature to spend years planning to close the 500-bed facility, convert it to an adult prison, and open up smaller and safer juvenile facilities which would also be closer to home for the youth housed there. 

Evers appeared to approve of SERC as he walked through its halls. “But our work is not over — far from it, ” he said in a statement. “Our state is decades behind in how we think about corrections, and this new facility is the first step, but it is only a step. We must continue our work to modernize our corrections system into the 21st century and close Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake schools for good.”

Hoy said that looking around SERC “you see a school, not a prison.” He went on to say in a statement that “that’s because it is a school and even more. It’s a place to learn and to heal. There’s no barbed wire. No towers. There are big windows, color, space. And it’s all secure both for the youth and for the neighborhood. The design supports what we now know about adolescent development, and the programming offered here will follow suit with staff using evidence-based techniques to help youth make better choices and support rehabilitation.”

Hoy said at the beginning of November the first group of youth will be moved into SERC, with more to come over the following months into the holidays. “We’ve been recruiting for staff starting back in the summer,” said Hoy. “And so we’ve had two graduating classes already. We’ll have more than adequate staff. Not just safety staff — so your youth counselors that are here  — but education, treatment, all of those different functions are already on board…And then we will continue to staff up. We have another class graduating, I think at the beginning of November.”

Staffing shortages had long plagued Lincoln Hills and other DOC facilities. Hoy told the Wisconsin Examiner that the DOC has paid particular attention to staff-to-youth ratios for the SERC to help prevent burnout among staff, and has established staff wellness spaces. Hoy also said that “the space itself lends to a sort of feeling of wellness and calmness.”

Another Type 1 facility is being constructed in Dane County which is designed to hold 32 boys and eight girls. The DOC is also pushing for a third facility to be opened in northern Wisconsin in order to serve youth from that region of the state. Hoy told the Examiner that having multiple facilities would allow the DOC to cross-train and pull staff from one facility to another in order to help fill any gaps and prevent burnout.

Many of the staff who will work at the new facility are from the Milwaukee area, and theoretically might have an advantage in  relating with the youth there. Kashunda Brown, 37, one of SERC’s youth counselors, explained that she grew up on the North Side of Milwaukee where she learned what it’s like to experience poverty and living in a single parent home. Brown also has two boys of her own which “resonates with the youth that we encounter here,” she told the Examiner. 

Keana Berkhalter, 32, a licensed counselor who will be working with the facility’s Psychological Services Unit, is also from Milwaukee. “I’ve seen the complex issues and challenges that we have here, as well as the strengths that Milwaukee has,” Berkhalter told the Examiner. Berkhalter said that it’s important that youth know that the staff understand them because it helps them feel safe. “As human beings, it’s easier to connect to people that look like us, or at least that we have some sort of similar commonality.” 

The experiences the counselors share with the youth help them to connect. “I think that gives me leverage to connect to the youth, as well as help them feel safe and to talk to me and to want to trust and confide in me, to talk about things that maybe they don’t want to talk to anybody about.”

Brown said the greenhouse, raised beds, and creative spaces are especially important for the boys SERC will house. To anyone who questions whether the facility should feel more punitive, Brown says, “I think the punitive is them being away from their family.” 

She continued, “this should be, and is, a space where they can have different things that they don’t experience on the outside. A lot of people don’t have access to a basketball court at home. A lot of people don’t have access to gardening.” These translate into coping skills the boys can take home with them to avoid getting in trouble. 

Youth who learn that they enjoy woodworking, cooking, growing food in the garden or other activities available at SERC could take that with them and become more productive members of society, Brown said. “I think all the skills that they will get here, they can use on the outside. The punitive is them being in here.” 

Milwaukee County is a step closer to getting rid of Flock automatic license plate reader cameras. On Monday, joined by county board members, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley signed a resolution directing the removal of Flock cameras from county parks.

“Today is about our commitment to protecting the rights and privacy of our residents,” said Crowley, who is running for governor against Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany.  “Across the country, the use of Flock cameras and automated license plate readers, or ALPRs, has sparked a fierce backlash that defies traditional partisan lines. Residents and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are asking whether the convenience of this technology is worth the cost to our privacy, and who is accountable for how it is used.”

Flock cameras store images of traveling vehicles and their license plates in a database which can be searched by law enforcement using license plate numbers or vehicle descriptions. 

Although police can use the AI-powered cameras to investigate crimes such as homicide, kidnapping and theft, they have also been used to track protesters and women suspected of crossing state lines to seek an abortion. There have also been numerous cases in Wisconsin and elsewhere of officers or police staff using Flock to track romantic partners and exes. In some areas, local police chiefs and elected officials have expressed a distrust of Flock Safety, the multi-billion dollar company behind the cameras. 

Both Crowley and Tiffany have criticized Flock, though Tiffany said just months ago that he did not know what the cameras were. Since then Tiffany has proposed prohibiting shared revenue funds from being used for Flock cameras, and has labeled Crowley as an advocate of constant surveillance. Police surveillance cameras were  adopted in Milwaukee as the city and county sought to tamp down reckless driving and car theft with the support of  Republican lawmakers. 

Crowley said that in Wisconsin, “Flock executives have shown a pattern of misleading the public about their business practices, their safety record, their commitment to privacy, and their efforts to protect vulnerable populations.” He added that, “nationwide, we have seen documented cases of law enforcement officials misusing this data for personal and often malicious reasons.”

Though Crowley said that none of those cases involved Milwaukee County employees, but two officers with the city’s police department have been charged or sentenced for misusing Flock. 

Crowley said that while he appreciated the sheriff’s office work on a policy framework to address concerns about Flock, “even the strongest policy framework is only as trustworthy as the company behind the technology, and a good relationship with the vendor does not safeguard our residents’ data.” 

“‘It hasn’t happened here yet’ is not a good enough reason to keep this technology in place,” he said. “We cannot wait until data is breached, privacy is compromised, or information is misused before we act. When it comes to our residents’ rights and safety, we must be proactive.”

Milwaukee County’s contract with Flock expires in December, and the proposed 2027 budget does not include funding for Flock. Last week, teams of Milwaukee County Park workers began covering the cameras to prevent them from collecting data. In recent public meetings, the sheriff’s office pushed against the cancellation of Flock, attributing a 43% decline in certain crimes within county parks to the camera’s arrival, and warning that crime will rise should they be removed. Recently, the Milwaukee Police Department signaled that it would renew its own contract with Flock while also employing new auditing and other guardrails to detect further signs of misuse.

“Our residents should be able to enjoy our beautiful parks without wondering whether their presence is being logged in an AI-powered surveillance system run by a company that has already lost the trust of local governments and law enforcement agencies across the country,” Crowley said. “Today, Milwaukee County is choosing to put our residents first. And I will keep making that choice, every day, in every decision.”

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources issued a notice of violation to the Enbridge Energy Company for incidents in Iron and Ashland counties, where the company is working on a controversial reroute of its Line 5 oil and gas pipeline. 

The notice includes violations of permit conditions of the reroute construction project, and violations of state environmental laws for the unpermitted construction of a bypass around the Saxon Line 5 spill site. It covers laws involving state water quality, wetlands, navigable waterways, air quality, storm water and endangered resources protection.

The violations are alleged to have occurred from March 30 through Sept. 21 of this year. In August, a section of the pipeline leaked natural gas liquid near the town of Saxon, with drone video of the leak showing plumes of smokey vapor pouring out of an area where trucks and equipment were parked. Enbridge said that the leak occurred when an unoccupied truck rolled over an open excavation site near a valve project. Environmental groups fear that the leak could have been the largest of its kind in Wisconsin history.

The violation notice sets an enforcement conference, which is a standard step where the DNR and Enbridge will discuss the alleged violations. After the conference, the DNR can take further enforcement action such as issuing citations, referring the case to the Wisconsin Department of Justice for prosecution to seek forfeitures, or other court-related actions. 

A DNR press release notes that the notice of violation is separate from Enbridge’s responsibility under the spills law to respond to hazardous substances which may have been released during the August leak.

“These allegations are numerous and serious,” said Clean Wisconsin Attorney Evan Feinauer in a statement. “The DNR must now use the full force of its enforcement authority to hold Enbridge accountable and secure relief that addresses the significant harm to our environment Enbridge has caused.”

This article was updated with comment from Clean Wisconsin.

A $3 million capital investment to equip Dane County sheriff’s deputies with body cameras has been included in the proposed 2027 county budget. Dane County Executive Melissa Agard and Sheriff Kalvin Barrett praised the move as an investment in public safety. 

“Public Safety is one of the most fundamental responsibilities we have in county government, and our residents deserve to feel safe and have confidence in the people and institutions that serve them,” Agard said last week. “This $3 million investment is about strengthening safety, transparency, and public trust. Body-worn cameras can provide greater clarity when questions arise, strengthen accountability, and help protect both members of the public and the deputies who serve them.”

A county press release states that a Wisconsin Department of Justice Survey found that 88% of responding law enforcement agencies reported using at least one form of recording device. The survey found 12% of responding agencies reported using neither body cameras nor dash cameras. 

Sheriff Barrett called body cameras “an important resource that supports accountability, transparency, and trust.” Barrett added that “this investment will enable us to build on the work we began with our pilot program and move Dane County forward. The funding reflects what can be accomplished when we collaborate with our community partners and elected officials toward a shared goal. I especially appreciate County Executive Agard’s leadership and support in making this possible.”

The sheriff’s office is also finalizing policies for the cameras including how to use them, how long footage is retained and when it can be released.

Body cameras became a hot topic in Dane County after the shooting of Corey Ruiz by a Madison police officer. The officers involved in the shooting were not wearing body cameras, leaving bystander video as the main public video evidence of the incident. The Madison Police Department, despite being one of the state’s largest, does not have a uniform body camera program. After the Ruiz shooting, community members called on city officials to equip all officers with body cameras.

“Technology alone does not create trust,” said Agard. “It matters how that technology is used and whether the public understands the policies surrounding it. As we make this investment, we are committed to ensuring transparency and accountability remain at the center of implementation.”

For weeks, a stream of ads has attacked Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, the Democratic candidate for governor, for allowing  access to tablets in the Milwaukee County Jail. In some high-profile cases, incarcerated people used the tablets to harass people on the outside. The ads, which recycle footage of a disgruntled local judge, have kept Crowley on the defensive while casting his Republican opponent, U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, as a protector of crime victims. 

The ads focus on individual cases of people using their jail-issued tablets to harass witnesses and victims. Many feature Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge David Borowski, who asked,  “Why is the sheriff’s office handing laptops and iPads to defendants?” Borowski was presiding over a hearing involving Thomas Zollicofer, who is accused of killing three people in a spree. Zollicofer used his tablet to tell a witness to “stop lying,” WISN 12 News reported. Some of the ads also mention Ameir Jones, who is also accused of homicide and of attempting to call a victim in his case over 1,500 times, with prosecutors saying 300 of those calls were answered.

Over a short span of time, the anti-Crowley ads have made tablet access a big issue in the governor’s race. Late last week, Crowley suspended instant messaging on digital tablets at the Community Reintegration Center. The facility, formerly known as the House of Correction, is under more direct oversight by Crowley and the county board than the jail, which is overseen by the sheriff’s office. 

On Monday Brian Schimming, chairman of the Wisconsin Republican Party, issued a press release accusing Crowley of protecting himself from a scandal. “This program should’ve never been allowed in the first place, and Crowley resisted ending it for months after victims were threatened and laws were broken,” said Schimming, going on to call Crowley “a craven politician who only cares about his own political future, not the safety of our state’s citizens.”

Milwaukee-based Black Leaders Organizing Communities (BLOC), which supported Crowley when he re-entered the race for governor and won the primary race, expressed disappointment at the suspension of messaging services. “We have to be careful in giving in to the narrative of Republicans and their methods to make incarcerated people as uncomfortable as possible,” their statement warned. The group added that “this form of communication seems to be the best and safest form that there is currently.”

As the political controversy over tablets grew, the sheriff’s office attempted to clear the air. Joshua Briggs, director of the Milwaukee County Jail, said that the devices are not iPads but a “generic tablet.” Briggs explained that the tablets cannot be used to make calls out of the jail, and are not connected to the internet. The devices use a network maintained by the vendor, ICSolutions, which allows for keyword flagging and other guardrails. Briggs estimated that 98% of the people held in the jail use the tablets responsibly.

The ads don’t mention that Republican-dominated counties including Waukesha and Ozaukee also give people housed in their jails access to tablets. 

The tablets are important, advocates say, because they allow incarcerated people to maintain connections with loved ones and others on the outside. 

“I understand what it means to have a connection to home,” Marianne Oleson, co-executive director of Ex-Incarcerated People Organizing, told the Wisconsin Examiner. Oleson, who spent four years in prison before being released in 2017, explained that tablets give incarcerated people access to recovery resources, employment preparation, parenting classes, and other rehabilitative services. 

Tablet use  has become commonplace in jails and prisons. “This technology is being used on a significant scale,” Oleson said. “Edovo reports that its educational platform was available in 1,483 correctional institutions across 47 states in 2025, with participants completing 46 million hours of learning. Those are the provider’s reported numbers, but they show how much programming can be delivered through these tools.”

Shannon Ross, a founding member of Justice Forward, wrote in August in an op ed for Wisconsin Watch that tablet-type devices are used in 48 state prison systems, the federal prison system and in county jails nationwide. “Correctional officials have credited tablets with reducing violence and disturbances inside correctional facilities,” Ross wrote. “Some jurisdictions have reported declines of up to 40%, and the director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons described the agency’s tablet program as reducing administrative burdens and allowing staff to focus more on institutional safety, not as a security risk it was forced to accept.”

“Providing tablets is an established practice today,” Oleson told the Examiner. “Wisconsin DOC says that each person residing in an adult facility will be issued an ICS tablet as its transition moves forward. Ozaukee County’s own website says that personal letters, pictures and drawings are delivered digitally through tablets available in all living units. This is happening across jurisdictions, regardless of politics.”

Other criminal justice advocates raised similar points about the use of tablets in jails and prisons. “Allowing tablets inside jail facilities is particularly important because it allows more in-depth communication with family and friends,” BLOC said in a statement to the Examiner. “Inmates can see messages and pictures from their families and loved ones. It enables them to maintain a closer connection than that of regular phone use. Sometimes, persons in custody need their families to advocate for them for their health, treatment and more that the jail staff cannot assist with immediately.”

Oleson was also disappointed by Crowley’s move. “My reaction to Crowley’s decision is concern for the people and families who are losing legitimate communication because of someone else’s misuse,” she wrote. “Victim harassment and witness intimidation are serious, and they must be addressed. We support holding people accountable for that behavior and holding facilities and vendors accountable for enforcing protections.”

Roy Rogers, a minister, board member of the Wisconsin Justice Initiative, and leader of the Onesimus Group of Milwaukee, wrote in a statement to the Examiner that electronic communication is one of the main ways his ministry can keep in touch with incarcerated people. “For us, a message is an opportunity to encourage someone, share our faith, or help them think through their next steps,” wrote Rogers. “For families, it means maintaining a connection with a parent, spouse, or child. We say ‘reentry begins with relationship’ because those connections need to grow before someone comes home.” 

Rogers said that he cares about the safety and security of victims. “No one should have to fear threats or harassment through this technology,” wrote Rogers. “My understanding is that Crowley’s action pauses messaging at the CRC until stronger safeguards are in place, rather than eliminating tablets altogether. My hope is that those protections allow safe communication to continue. These tools have a meaningful place in family connection, ministry, daily facility operations, and preparation for reentry.”

“If a suspension is necessary while those changes are made, there should be a clear timeline and an explanation of what must happen for access to resume,” wrote Oleson. “I am concerned when the needs of incarcerated people and their children become talking points in a political campaign. These decisions affect real families. They should be guided by evidence, safety, and what will help people return home successfully.”

Clarification: An earlier version of this story used the words “cancellation of jail tablets” in the headline to describe Crowley’s decision to disable the use of the messaging feature on jail tablets in Milwaukee. The article makes clear that it was the messaging feature, not the tablets themselves, that was suspended, so the headline has been updated to clarify that fact.

The Milwaukee Police Department intends to renew its contract with Flock Safety, the multi-billion dollar producer of controversial AI-powered license plate reader cameras. In a statement, an MPD spokesperson said that the contract will be renewed “to maintain the investigative and public safety benefits the system provides.”

Flock cameras store images of traveling vehicles and their license plates in a database which can be searched by law enforcement. While police say that the cameras are valuable tools used to investigate serious crimes like gun violence, theft and kidnapping, Flock surveillance has been criticized as an invasion of privacy. Numerous cases of officers misusing the cameras for personal reasons to surveil people have emerged around the country, including in Wisconsin. 

Two of those cases played out in Milwaukee over the last year. Former Milwaukee police detective Tehrangi Chapman pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to felony misconduct in public office and misdemeanor misuse of a GPS device. Chapman is accused of  using Flock to track the movements of two people 20 times for personal reasons, and also of placing a GPS device on one of their vehicles. He’d kept tabs on these individuals even before Milwaukee adopted Flock in 2022. 

As an internal affairs detective, Chapman was involved in the investigation of Josue Ayala, a former Milwaukee officer who used Flock to track an ex-girlfriend and her new partner over 170 times. Ayala was given probation and avoided prison time. 

Both Chapman and Ayala were reported by the people victimized by their use of surveillance technology. Websites like haveibeenflocked.com helped them determine that they had been tracked. Two other cases of officers or sheriff’s deputies being charged for Flock misuse have also appeared in Kenosha County and the city of Menasha. 

As opposition to Flock grew in the community, Milwaukee PD has gone through a couple of phases of tightening and restricting the cameras. The department restricted access to the system to supervisors only, and limited the kinds of crimes that can trigger Flock use. Following a trend among some other agencies, MPD created a transparency portal describing how Flock is used, and restricted its network to use by outside agencies including  other local jurisdictions. One of the main appeals of Flock is the ability to conduct searches across a network composed of thousands of law enforcement agencies. 

MPD has also increased auditing of the system to flag suspicious uses. The Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors voted last week to remove Flock cameras from county property. In arguing to keep the cameras, the sheriff’s office attributed a 43% decline in certain crimes around county parks between 2023 and 2026 to the cameras. 

Their removal from county property follows a cascade of cities and towns across Wisconsin canceling their Flock contracts. Stevens Point, Fond du Lac County, Winnebago County, Sheboygan, Verona, Stoughton, Dane County, Sturgeon Bay, Appleton, Manitowoc, and  other  local governments have worked to cancel contracts and disable their cameras.

The Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission is condemning what it calls a lack of communication between state agencies and tribal communities after nine wolves were trapped and euthanized in Price County. In a press release, the commission described the wolves as a pack consisting of four pups, three yearlings, and two adults. 

“This action damages existing relationships and fractures trust,” said GLIFWC Executive Administrator Jason Schlender in a statement. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources said late last week that the wolves posed a threat to humans following incidents reported in July 2025 and August 2026. Non-lethal measures were unsuccessful in deterring the wolves, a DNR spokesperson said, according to Wisconsin Public Radio.

“We remind the WDNR and USDA Wildlife Services to involve GLIFWC and its member tribes in the decision-making process,” Schlender said in his statement. Wolves represent powerful symbols, spirits and teachers for many tribal communities. “Simply handing us the remains of our relatives after killing them does not constitute meaningful consultation.”

In 2021, when the DNR held a controversial wolf hunt, tribal communities opted not to hunt wolves on their lands. A quota of 200 wolves had been set by the DNR, a certain portion of which was allocated to tribal communities. Hunters in the rest of the state exceeded the quota in less than three days. 

The killing of the nine wolves represents the first time wolves were killed by officials in Wisconsin since a 2022 court ruling returning the animals to the Endangered Species List.

Earlier this month, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to remove the gray wolf from the federal endangered species list. 

Wolves have come into conflict with rural and farming communities in Wisconsin, killing livestock and pets and triggering a campaign to restart Wisconsin’s wolf hunt. Wolf attacks on humans are rare, and only two fatal wolf attacks on humans have been documented in the last 20 years. 

Randy Johnson, the DNR’s large carnivore specialist, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that efforts to chase off the wolves using sound, lights and hazing were unsuccessful, and that “reports demonstrated a pattern of behavioral escalation, with the wolves showing less response to hazing and more acclimation to human presence.”

Investigative reports obtained by the Wisconsin Examiner describe three separate complaints made in August. The complaints describe wolves, sometimes collared, coming within close proximity of properties, such as in yards, driveways, or grassy areas. One of the reports mentioned chicken depredations. Another report stated that a wolf had come within 20 yards of a man mowing brush on his tractor in an effort to deter the wolves. The third report mentioned a person who saw a wolf near  five-gallon bait bucket for bears. The reports described the wolves as unafraid of people, and said efforts to deter them had been ineffective.

The Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission states that it was left out of the decision to euthanize the wolves, and that the Wisconsin DNR and federal government had met multiple times since 2025. “At no time during that period did WDNR or federal representatives contact GLIFWC staff to inform them of reported threats, share data, or provide decision-making criteria, bypassing consultation with GLIFWC and its member tribes,” the commission stated. 

It added that courts have ruled that the state of Wisconsin is required to co-manage resources within ceded Indigenous territories, such as those where the nine wolves were killed. This cooperation was reaffirmed in an executive order from Gov. Tony Evers in 2019, directing state agencies to consult with tribal governments on “matters that may directly or indirectly impact tribal nations.”

The commission says in its statement that the gray wolf is  known to the the Lake Superior Ojibwe as Ma’iingan, is considered a clan relative, and is a key cultural figure that has been mistreated and misunderstood. 

“People are often afraid of wolves, and wolves are too often mischaracterized,” said Conrad St. John, St. Croix tribal chairman and Voigt Intertribal Task Force chair. “Our elders relay that our communities have co-existed with Ma’iingan since the very beginning and we still don’t have any documented cases of attacks on humans in Wisconsin.”

Alex Bohman, GLIFWC biological services director, said that wolves strengthen deer populations by removing sick, weak, or old animals. “Tribes have coexisted with wolves for hundreds of years and can bring traditional ecological knowledge, as well as western science and data to these discussions.” Bohman said that state and federal agencies should engage with the commission and its member tribes on wolf management. “Ideally, this will lead to agreement on the most appropriate course of action,” she said.

A federal judge has dismissed a civil rights lawsuit stemming from the non-fatal shooting of Damiso Lee by Wauwatosa police officers in April 2022. In a court document filed in late September, U.S. District Judge Brett Ludwig said that among the reasons he issued the summary judgement were the fact that  Lee was armed with a handgun, disobeyed officer commands and attempted to run. 

A month before the shooting Lee, who was 17 years-old at the time, had reported his car stolen to the Milwaukee Police Department. Lee never called the department to say that he found the car, so it was still listed as stolen when Wauwatosa officer Evan Olson noticed it driving around one evening.

 “The [automatic license plate reader] alert was categorized as ‘high,’ indicating that the vehicle had been involved in a felony offense,” a court document detailing Ludwig’s reasons for dismissing the case stated. The document mentions that Lee was returning home after picking up a Doordash order when he drove past Olson. He acknowledged in a deposition that he was in possession of a Glock Model 22 handgun. 

After his squad car’s automatic license plate reader system flagged the car, Olson radioed dispatch and followed Lee before deciding to conduct a felony traffic stop. He requested another nearby officer, Dexter Schleis, assist him. Lee drove into an alley behind an apartment complex and parked. “Officer Olson observed Lee open and close the driver’s door without exiting, turn the engine off, and then open the driver’s door a second time and leave it open,” Ludwig wrote. 

Body camera footage released by the Wauwatosa Police Department in 2022 shows that Olson got out of his squad and told Lee to “show me your hands” as Lee exited his own vehicle, holding the food container he’d picked up. Olson told Lee to stop and to not reach for his gun, the outline of which he said he could see in Lee’s pocket. In a report from district attorney’s office, explaining the decision not to charge Olson, Olson describes Lee as wearing a black hooded sweatshirt with a Glock logo in large lettering on the front. 

The footage shows that Lee dropped the food and turned to run away. Schleis was waiting on the other end of the alley. Olson yelled that Lee was armed and as he ran, Lee fell causing his gun to fall out of his pocket. He got back up, picked up the gun, and both Olson and Schleis fired. 

In his decision to dismiss, Ludwig states that while the officers believed that “their use of deadly force was objectively reasonable under the circumstances,” Lee argued that it was not reasonable because he was running away. “Lee’s position is contradicted by the evidence presented, including video recordings of the incident,” Ludwig wrote. The judge questioned whether Olson and Schleis “reasonably believed Lee posed a threat of death or serious bodily harm based on the information they knew at the time.” 

Ludwig ruled that the license plate reader flagging Lee’s car, Olson confirming the car’s stolen car status through dispatch, and Lee’s decision to flee while armed rather than explain that it was his car led to the shooting. “Indeed, the officers gave Lee multiple opportunities to surrender before resorting to deadly force, including after he retrieved the handgun,” Ludwig wrote. 

The judge discounted arguments by Lee’s attorney, William Sulton, that video shows that Lee was facing away from officers and running when he was shot. Ludwig wrote that Lee “changed directions multiple times during his brief attempt to escape.”

Attorneys offer opposing perspectives

Sulton wrote in an email statement to the Wisconsin Examiner that Lee is considering his options for appeal but that no decision has been made. “Suing law enforcement officers is not like suing other members of society because they have qualified immunity,” Sulton wrote. “I disagree with the judge’s conclusions about what the videos show. The videos show Damiso running away from the officers. The judge saw things differently and ruled that Damiso was running towards one of the officers, justifying lethal force.” Sulton continued, “there are too many cases of officers shooting civilians who are running away from them. This will continue until different decisions are made.”

Attorney Jasmyne Baynard, who represented Olson and Schleis, wrote that she disagrees with Sulton. “Plaintiff’s counsel took no depositions and did not serve any discovery,” Baynard wrote in an emailed statement to the Examiner, noting that Ludwig’s dismissal relied on “substantive law” rather than qualified immunity. “The idea that a police officer is required to wait until a suspect points or shoots a gun before they can act in justified self-defense is contrary to the law and common sense. Police officers are also not mind-readers and can only respond to a suspect’s action.”

The Examiner asked Baynard whether there was anything the officers and Lee could have done differently.

Baynard said that Olson was not mistaken in stopping Lee because his car had been reported stolen and was still flagged that way in a police database. She added that “there is something Lee could have done differently —  he could have not gotten high, illegally possessed a firearm, and ignored multiple clear commands to STOP, not reach for a gun and most importantly AFTER dropping the gun, he could have just continued to run off and not picked it back up. No rational and objective review of the video (or Lee’s sworn testimony and recorded statements) supports the view that he was not a threat.”  

Lee being under the influence is not mentioned in Ludwig’s dismissal, Wauwatosa Police Chief James MacGillis’ summary of the incident, or the district attorney’s decision not to charge. A check of online circuit and federal court records also turned up no charges or citations listed under Lee’s name. 

Baynard stressed that “of course we should question an officer’s actions in these situations — in Wisconsin that is done in EVERY officer-involved critical incident.” In 2025, Baynard helped defend former officer Joseph Mensah during a federal civil trial over the shooting of Alvin Cole, Mensah’s third fatal shooting in five years. Olson and Schleis were called as witnesses during those trials, which ended in two hung juries before a confidential settlement was reached. The 17-year-old ran from police while carrying a handgun, but officers also provided contradictory statements about what happened. Mensah recently received $95,000 from the city of Wauwatosa for a PTSD claim.

Baynard wrote in a statement that “cops are subject to the court of public opinion and unable to respond. But we should also start questioning the behavior of the public. Until we stop forgiving criminal behavior, we will unfortunately continue to see cases like this where officers are forced to make difficult decisions so that they get to go home to their families.”

In 2022, after the district attorney decided not to issue charges in Lee’s shooting, Chief MacGillis spoke to the gravity and responsibility that comes with an officer’s decision to use force. “We all experience trauma when an officer-involved shooting occurs,” said MacGillis. “The injured subject, the subject’s family, the officers involved, the police department, and the community as a whole.”

An aquifer breach has occurred in northern Wisconsin, along the reroute path of the Enbridge Line 5 oil and gas pipeline. In a statement, Enbridge spokesperson Juli Kellner said that “a flow of water was observed following the direct installation of pipe beneath the Marengo River.”

Kellner said that Enbridge is working with the Department of Natural Resources “and other engineering and environmental specialists to determine next steps.” The breach was first reported by Northern News Now.

It’s unclear how much water was released due to the breach. The DNR didn’t respond to requests for comment. 

In August, a section of Line 5 released more than 1.3 million gallons of natural gas liquid after an unoccupied truck rolled and damaged the pipeline. WPR reported that the leak was the largest of its kind for both Enbridge and the state of Wisconsin. 

Enbridge previously  breached an aquifer while building the Line 3 pipeline in Minnesota. The breach led to an uncontrolled release of hundreds of millions of gallons of groundwater. Minnesota’s attorney general filed charges against the company in that case. 

Line 5 is a decades-old pipeline that carries up to 23 million gallons of crude oil and natural gas liquids daily from Ontario to the southern Unites States. In 2019, the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa sued Enbridge to shut the pipeline down and to expel the Canadian-owned company from tribal lands. 

Enbridge has since begun work on rerouting Line 5 around the reservation, a move that has been contested by tribal communities and environmental groups as endangering ecosystems and natural resources. Legal battles over the pipeline’s future continue in federal court. Advocates have called on the Wisconsin DNR to revoke the permits granted to Enbridge to carry out the reroute.

On Tuesday, a DNR spokesperson sent an emailed statement to Wisconsin Examiner, stating that the state agency is monitoring the groundwater release. The breach occurred during the installation of a new section of pipeline. The spokesperson added that the area’s hydrology is complex and that “it is unknown if this event is caused by a aquifer breach. The flow rate for the release is 5% of the flow rates of confirmed aquifer breaches in other states involving similar projects.

This article was updated with comment from the Department of Natural Resources.

The Milwaukee County Board voted to remove Flock cameras from its parks Thursday night. Passed unanimously, the resolution also permits the county to replace the controversial cameras with more conventional security cameras. It’s not clear  how the new cameras would be paid for.

Supv. Justin Bielinski, who authored the resolution, said he’s excited to remove Flock cameras from Milwaukee County parks. The cameras must be removed by the end of the year. 

Flock cameras are equipped with AI-powered automatic license plate reader technology. When a car passes in view, the camera takes a picture of the car and its license plate. The images are then stored in a database which can be searched at will by law enforcement agencies with their own Flock contracts. The searches can be done without a warrant, and allow officers to enter a license plate or vehicle description to determine where a vehicle has been.

Law enforcement agencies say the cameras are invaluable tools for detecting and stopping crime. Numerous law enforcement agencies in Milwaukee County use Flock including the Milwaukee Police Department and the sheriff’s office. In a presentation to a county board committee earlier this week, the sheriff’s office credited the cameras with contributing to a 43% decline in certain crimes around county parks between 2023 and 2026. 

Privacy advocates, concerned citizens and elected officials have increasingly soured on the cameras. Cases of officers using the cameras to surveil protesters, pursue women suspected of seeking out-of-state  abortions and keeping tabs on current or estranged romantic partners have made national news. In Wisconsin, three police officers and one sheriff’s deputy in Milwaukee, Menasha and Kenosha counties have faced charges of misconduct in public office due to their use of Flock to unlawfully monitor people.

Milwaukee County Executive and Democratic candidate for governor David Crowley proposed removing funding for Flock in the 2027 budget.

The sheriff’s office said that without a replacement technology, crime would increase in the 11 parks where the cameras have been installed. It’s estimated that replacing the cameras could cost as much as $140,000. In 2025, the Examiner found that at least 221 Wisconsin law enforcement agencies used Flock during that year. Several communities around the state have removed their Flock cameras since then. 

A federal immigration judge ruled Wednesday that Salah Sarsour, president of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee, can be deported. Judge Jayme Salinardi rejected accusations made by the Department of Homeland Security that Sarsour lied on his green card application over 30 years ago, and that he registered to vote despite not being a citizen. Salindari did, however, give what Sarsour’s attorneys called “extreme deference” to a 2025 memo by Secretary of State Marco Rubio stating that Sarsour — a vocal advocate for Palestinian rights  — is deportable “because his actions undermine” U.S. foreign policy.

The same morning Salindari ruled on Sarsour’s case, he announced his retirement. A different immigration judge will preside over further proceedings in Sarsour’s case. During a press conference Wednesday, attorneys representing Sarsour called the decision “unjust,” and said the timing of  Salindari’s retirement announcement was “odd.” 

Immigration attorney Patrick Taurel said that Sarsour — who is not taking interviews at this time — was “disappointed but not shocked” by the judge’s ruling, and that he understands that immigration judges are under pressure from the Trump administration. Last year, nearly 100 immigration judges were fired by the Trump administration, shrinking the number of judges by about a quarter, NPR reported. 

“It does feel odd,” said attorney Luna Droubi, who is representing Sarsour in a separate federal case arguing First Amendment retaliation by the government. 

Taurel said he plans to appeal Salindari’s ruling down the road. Now that Sarsour has been found deportable, the next question is whether he is eligible for any kind of relief, such as asylum. Taurel said that Sarsour will eventually be able to appeal his case to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, which he described as more neutral than the immigration courts. Proceedings are expected to continue into next year and under a different judge, Taurel said. 

Sarsour was in Milwaukee when immigration agents arrested him in late March. They then transported him out of Wisconsin and to a detention center in Indiana. DHS accused Sarsour of lying on his green card application in the 1990s, and claimed that he had been convicted as a teenager in Israeli military courts of throwing Molotov cocktails in 1988, during the First Intifada uprising. Sarsour grew up in the West Bank under Israeli military occupation. DHS also said that Sarsour had been charged in Israel with illegally attempting to possess weapons and ammunition in 1995. Prosecutors also accused Sarsour of registering to vote in 2004 despite not having full citizenship.

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, reached for comment on the ruling, reiterated the department’s assertion that Sarsour “is a terrorist who was convicted of throwing Molotov cocktails at the homes of Israeli armed forces.” The spokesperson wrote in an email to the Examiner that “due to a previous court order, this public safety threat was loose on our streets,” and said that the judge in Sarsour’s case sustained the government’s case that there were grounds to deport Sarsour. “All illegal aliens receive due process,” the spokesperson wrote. “If a judge finds an illegal alien has no right to be in this country, we are going to remove them. Period. Under President Trump and Secretary Mullin, if you break the law, you will face the consequences. Criminal illegal aliens are not welcome in the U.S.”

Sarsour is a legal permanent resident and has lived in the United States for over 30 years, during which time he has not been arrested or convicted of any crime prior to his immigration arrest. 

Sarsour’s attorneys dispute the accusations, saying that their client was  convicted of throwing stones, not explosives. They also introduced evidence that Israeli authorities tortured Sarsour to get his confessions which were signed in Hebrew, a language Sarsour can neither speak nor read. Experts and witnesses called to the stand by Taruel testified to the use of torture by Israeli authorities, a lack of due process rights afforded to Palestinians like Sarsour, and that Sarsour continues to suffer from PTSD due to his time in Israeli detention. Another expert said that Sarsour passed a polygraph test in which he denied having registered to vote. Prosecutors did not call any witnesses or experts for their side during the proceedings. 

Although Salindari rejected the accusations that Sarsour lied on his green card application and that he registered to vote, Taurel said that the judge did give “extreme deference” to Israeli documents concerning Sarsour’s convictions. Despite the testimony involving the nature of the Israeli military court system, Salindari found the convictions against Sarsour to be valid. 

Droubi said that Sarsour’s immigration case has no bearing on his federal First Amendment retaliation case, which she and Taurel believe is the reason the Trump administration targeted Sarsour for deportation and is supported by Salinardi’s ruling that he could be deported on foreign policy grounds. After Rubio said Sarsour’s “actions undermine U.S. foreign policy,” the Justice Department announced it would begin targeting the group American Muslims for Palestine, for which Sarsour is a board member.

Sarsour’s First Amendment claims, his lack of any criminal record in the U.S. and  his deteriorating health, contributed to a federal judge’s ruling that he should be released due to having a “substantial” claim of First Amendment retaliation.

“You have to ask yourself,” Droubi told  the Examiner, “if you are an immigrant, ‘Do I have the right to speak out about issues that matter to me? What if I draw a political cartoon? Am I going to be arrested and detained because of that? Is the government going to bring charges against me and potentially remove me from this country?’” Droubi added, “That is significant, and I think it does chill the speech of immigrants and non-citizens in this country, and it should really terrify all of us.”

Taurel said that the cases of Sarsour, Mahmoud Khalil, and other Palestinian activists targeted for deportation underscore “the need for Congress to repeal the foreign policy ground of deportability.” Senator Peter Welch (D-Vermont); Senator Alex Padilla (D-California) introduced a bill titled  the Land of the Free Act to repeal the rarely-used Cold War provision of immigration law last year, saying the Trump administration had “weaponized” it to punish political speech.

Like many Palestinians born before or around the Six Day War between Israel and a group of Arab nations, Sarsour has travel documentation issued by Jordan but is not a citizen of that country. If he were deported, he would likely ultimately end up back in Israeli territory.

“We feared this outcome,” Taurel said of the judge’s decision. “But Salah is determined to keep speaking out.”

A committee of the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors voted on Tuesday to advance a resolution to remove Flock automatic license plate reader cameras from county park property. The unanimous vote, made in the committee on parks and culture, comes as Flock cameras have grown increasingly unpopular around Wisconsin. The resolution will be taken up for a full county board vote on Oct. 1. 

Flock cameras capture images of vehicles and their license plates passing within their view on roadways. The images are stored by the AI-powered cameras, allowing police to enter specific license plates or vehicle descriptions to determine where a vehicle has been. A single search can span hundreds, or even tens of thousands of cameras across Flock’s network. 

“With great power comes great responsibility,” said Supv. Justin Bielinski in a statement. “Big tech have proven themselves time and again to be ill-suited to this responsibility. It is critical that we as elected officials ensure whatever technology is being used in our name respects civil liberties — for everyone.” 

Supv. Juan Miguel Martinez told the Wisconsin Examiner that “the entire community needs to be worried about Flock.” Martinez called Flock “surveillance” and “technology that’s not fully fleshed out yet.”

Thousands of law enforcement agencies across the country use Flock, including both the Milwaukee Police Department and the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office. Police leaders often tout the cameras as useful in developing leads for serious crimes such as assault, homicide, carjacking and kidnapping. In 2025, the Examiner found that at least 221 Wisconsin law enforcement agencies used Flock during that year.

Privacy advocates and concerned citizens fear Flock is a kind of perpetual and warrantless surveillance. There have also been numerous cases nationwide of officers using the cameras unlawfully to monitor current or estranged romantic partners. Wisconsin has seen four such cases in Menasha, Kenosha County, and two in the city of Milwaukee. In each of those cases officers or deputies were charged with misconduct in public office. 

The Menasha officer, Cristian Morales, was sentenced to six months in jail in August. In Milwaukee, officer Josue Ayala was given probation in lieu of jail time. The cases involving Kenosha County deputy Frank McGrath and Milwaukee detective Tehrangi Chapman are ongoing. Chapman worked in internal affairs, and was involved in investigating Ayala’s unlawful use of Flock before his own alleged misuse was reported to the department. Morales, Ayala, and McGrath were all accused of using Flock to monitor current or former girlfriends. Chapman used the cameras to monitor someone he had been watching  for years before Milwaukee adopted Flock. 

Some have also expressed concerns the cameras could be used to surveil protesters and for immigration enforcement. Reviews of Flock audit data have found immigration-related searches around the country, indicating that local and state law enforcement have conducted Flock searches on behalf of federal immigration enforcement. A deputy in Texas was also found to have used Flock to track down a woman in an abortion-related prosecution. Numerous communities across Wisconsin have canceled their Flock contracts, or worked to disable their cameras. 

Martinez also pointed to a case where Flock was used to track and intercept a man who was traveling to a neighboring state to purchase cannabis, and false alerts where people were flagged by Flock as being connected to crimes that they didn’t commit. 

In a PowerPoint presentation provided to Milwaukee board members, the sheriff’s office said that there has been a 20-25% reduction in crime in areas with the cameras. Another slide in the presentation states that there has been a 43% decrease in certain crimes from 2023 to 2026 since the cameras were installed in county parks. The PowerPoint presentation did not present evidence that the correlation was directly due to the installation of Flock cameras. 

One slide asserts that “crime WILL increase,” “deterrence costs less than investigation,” and that “slower investigations delayed justice for victims.” The PowerPoint also states that data collected by Flock cameras used by the sheriff’s office is only retained for seven days, and that a 48-hour retention limit is being considered. 

The PowerPoint claims that the sheriff’s office owns the data collected by Flock in its jurisdiction, that it is never shared or sold, that uses related to immigration enforcement or reproductive healthcare are prohibited, and that the sheriff’s office does not subscribe to statewide or national lookups. It also asserts that although Flock does create heat maps based on the vehicle data it collects, that this is not the same as tracking people. “They show density — how often data appears in an area,” the presentation states. The sheriff’s PowerPoint also asserts that automatic license plate reader technology does not violate the Fourth Amendment.

Martinez expressed doubt about how the sheriff uses Flock, and whether federal agencies can access the data. Besides the Flock removal, the committee also took up a resolution to establish requirements for reporting law enforcement staging in county parks, which also passed the committee. This would build on other efforts the county board has made to prohibit immigration enforcement from staging in the parks. 

“They nabbed like five Latino people that were hanging out down by the lagoon out of nowhere,” Martinez told the Examiner. “And that’s why I have a very personal stake in it, because we had just passed that — that they’re not allowed to stage in the parks. And then I went down there, I went down there with ordinance in hand, saying you’re not allowed to be in the park, and they were gone by that time. You know, ICE moves very quickly,” Martinez said. He said he wonders whether police surveillance including Flock could be involved in the efficiency of immigration arrests in the city. 

“I don’t have any choice but to trust them,” he told the Examiner. “Of course we’re going to be suspicious, and of course we want to push against it every step of the way.”