A federal judge has sent back to the Wisconsin Supreme Court a lawsuit challenging the practice of local sheriffs holding people at the request of federal immigration officials.

In a ruling Friday, Judge William Conley found the sheriffs of Walworth, Kenosha, Brown, Marathon and Sauk counties waited too long to file their petition to have the case moved to federal court.

Typically, respondents have the option to move a case out of the state courts if it originally could’ve been brought in federal court. But they must file the petition within 30 days of receiving the complaint.

The sheriffs had argued that clock didn’t begin until the state Supreme Court in December agreed to accept original jurisdiction in the suit filed by Voces de la Frontera Inc.

But Conley found “the law is completely to the contrary: because respondents believed there was a basis for federal jurisdiction, they were obligated not to sit on their hands and see if the Wisconsin Supreme Court would reject the petition.” 

The lawsuit, filed by the ACLU on behalf of Voces de la Frontera, challenges immigration detainers, requests from ICE for local jails to hold someone for up to 48 hours. It argues holding someone for extra time must be authorized by judicial warrant and the holds amount to an illegal new arrest.

“Hopefully, we are closer to the day when local sheriffs and police can no longer detain innocent immigrants without cause until ICE comes to arrest and deport them,” Voces de la Frontera Executive Director Christine Neumann-Ortiz said in a statement. 

The case was paused while it moved to federal court, and the state Supreme Court will set a new briefing schedule, which has yet to be determined, according to an ACLU spokesperson.