KDSN RADIO News
Iowa A.G. says sheriff’s post on immigration enforcement violated state law
Attorney General Brenna Bird says a northeast Iowa sheriff violated state law by saying in a Facebook post that his office would not cooperate with detainer requests from federal immigration officials.
On February 4, Winneshiek County Sheriff Dan Marx, a Republican, said his office would assist with immigration-related warrants issued by a court, but not with detainers, which he said are not vetted by a judge. Governor Reynolds asked the attorney general to investigate.
Late Wednesday afternoon, Bird announced she had determined the sheriff’s statement violated Iowa law by discouraging enforcement of state and federal immigration laws. Bird provided the sheriff with a statement of retraction and gave him until 5 p.m. to post it online. She warned that failing to do so means his county would lose all state funding. As of 9:30 p.m., the statement had not been posted.
About an hour before Bird’s announcement, Republicans in the Iowa House passed a bill making it a felony for any law enforcement officer, “including an elected sheriff,” to fail to enforce immigration laws.
