Contact: Sam Singleton-Freeman | sfreeman@vdlf.org | 414.469.9206
MILWAUKEE, WI – This morning the Wisconsin Supreme Court overturned rulings by a Circuit Court judge and a unanimous Appeals Court and held that Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke does not have to provide any information about who his office is turning over to Immigration for deportation to the public. Voces de la Frontera issued the following statement:
“This decision represents the worst kind of judicial activism – an activism that responds to the plight of Wisconsin’s immigrant community with an ice-cold heart while empowering a renegade sheriff bent on mass deportations with the secrecy he wants to act on that objective,” said Peter Earle, Attorney for Voces de la Frontera. “By applying an obscure federal regulation designed to provide federal immigration authorities with the ability to secretly round up terror suspects in the wake of the horrible attack of 9-11, the Wisconsin Supreme Court impugns the dignity hard working immigrants to our state, at the same time seriously damaging Wisconsin’s hallowed tradition of open government.”
“This decision paves the way for secret deportations, cloaking the criminal and immigration system in secrecy at a time when a fascist element within the Republican Party aims to carry out cruel mass deportations, regardless of people’s record or ties to family or community,” said Christine Neumann-Ortiz, Executive Director of Voces de la Frontera. “According to today’s decision, if Clarke’s deputies pull over a mother for a broken tail light and detain her for Immigration, the public has no right know. Her children have no right to know.”
“Clarke is exactly the kind of official that public records laws are intended to hold accountable. He is currently under investigation for deaths in his jail and for abusing his authority to harass and detain someone for looking at him the wrong way. While we will explore an appeal, as tens of thousands of people showed in last week’s Day without Latinos, Immigrants and Refugees general strike, the power to protect the public good resides in the actions of ordinary people of all backgrounds. Our struggle against Clarke and Trump is only just beginning. On May 1st, we will join immigrant workers around the country and world in a general strike to demand Trump rescind his executive orders on immigration, which Clarke is only too eager to enforce. Clarke should resign because he is unfit for the position he holds and is a threat to public safety.”
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Milwaukee, WI 53204-1734
United States
