The Trump administration listed deep red Shawano County alongside Dane County, Madison and Milwaukee as the Wisconsin communities refusing to cooperate with federal immigration authorities.
The release late yesterday included no information on why the communities were listed.
More than 67% of county voters in November backed Trump, and the County Board in 2021 approved a resolution declaring the northeastern Wisconsin community a “Second Amendment Sanctuary County.”
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Jim Davel, the county administrator, told WisPolitics in a phone interview he has “no idea what the heck this is about, whatsoever.”
Davel said the county board has passed no resolutions refusing to cooperate with federal immigration officials, and the sheriff has a good relationship with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement.
“I don’t know how this got on there. We’re a very red county,” he said. “The sheriff certainly supports if we have illegals, we’re going to work with ICE, etc. We’ve never had any deal like that, frankly.”
The administration’s announcement included a note that the list will be updated regularly and cautioned: “No one should act on this information without conducting their own evaluation of the information.”
The Department of Homeland Security didn’t directly address a question on why Shawano County was included on the list, which it said was “based on the evaluation of numerous factors, including self-identification as a sanctuary jurisdiction, noncompliance with Federal law enforcement in enforcing immigration laws, restrictions on information sharing, and legal protections for illegal aliens.”
President Donald Trump signed an executive order requiring the creation of a list identifying states and local jurisdictions that obstruct federal immigration laws. The Department of Homeland Security said criteria for inclusion on the list included factors such as “compliance with federal law enforcement, information restrictions, and legal protections for illegal aliens.”
The jurisdictions will now receive formal notification of non-compliance.
Dane County Sheriff Kalvin Barrett announced in January that his department would no longer provide information to a program that provides federal funding to agencies who incarcerate those in the country illegally who are facing various charges.
Trump, meanwhile, labeled Madison and Milwaukee sanctuary cities during a January 2020 campaign rally in Milwaukee.
