MANKATO — Local law enforcement agencies may provide support to federal immigration agents if requested in Blue Earth County and Mankato, although their involvement is likely to be limited.
The approaches by the Blue Earth County Sheriff’s Office and Mankato Department of Public Safety come as President Donald Trump’s Department of Homeland Security signaled its intent to detain and deport more migrants without legal statuses living in the U.S. Some city leaders, including in Minneapolis, vowed not to aid U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, agents in response.
If requested, the Blue Earth County Sheriff’s Office would assist ICE or any federal agency in apprehending violent offenders, said Sheriff Jeff Wersal in an email.
He noted the approach is no different than how it would’ve handled such requests in the past, and public safety remains the office’s top priority.
“It is my understanding that ICE Agents are conducting business as usual across the country and concentrating on people who are charged with a violent offense and are also in the country undocumented,” he said.
Wersal wasn’t aware of any “immigration raids” taking place in the county and didn’t expect any going forward. The Mankato Department of Public Safety confirmed it wasn’t aware of any ICE presence in the city in the days since Trump took office.
Responding to an inquiry about Mankato’s plans for immigration enforcement coordination with federal agencies, the city referred to an existing policy in the Department of Public Safety’s manual.
The policy advises any requests for assistance from federal immigration officials to be directed to a supervisor. From there, the department “may provide available support services, such as traffic control or peacekeeping efforts.”
It would go against department policy to detain anyone for a civil violation of federal immigration laws or a related civil warrant. Civil immigration violations include being in the U.S. after illegally entering the country and overstaying a visitor or student VISA.
In most cases, said Ian Bratlie, staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union’s Mankato office, ICE raids targeted at people simply because they lack legal status to be in the U.S. are rare. More common would be ICE bringing someone without legal status into custody following their incarceration for an unrelated offense.
Another common scenario for ICE apprehension is a house arrest of an individual who committed a criminal act — not an immigration violation. The criminal act could range from a violent crime to a misdemeanor or petty misdemeanor.
Bratlie knew of a handful of home raids targeting specific individuals in southern Minnesota in recent years. Minnesota isn’t a hotbed for those operations, he said.
Trump’s Department of Justice suggested it would attempt to prosecute officials who failed to comply with federal immigration enforcement operations. An ACLU memo called the threats “legally baseless.”
Two court victories by the ACLU originating in southern Minnesota, Bratlie said, actually demonstrate the risks local officials can assume when coordinating with ICE.
In Orellana v. Nobles County, the ACLU filed suit against the county’s sheriff for denying Jose Lopez Orellana his right to post bail following a DWI arrest in 2014. The county held him in jail for an additional 10 days at the request of ICE so the agency could investigate his immigration status. The case was settled in 2017, with Orellana receiving compensation.
In 2018 the ACLU filed a class-action suit against Nobles County on behalf of four people alleging the county and its sheriff’s office again unlawfully kept people detained on behalf of ICE. The ACLU won the case in 2020, followed by a 2022 settlement including financial compensation and a permanent injunction against holding people for ICE without proper authorization.
The cases, along with a third recent one in Anoka County, combined to cost $650,000 for the losing sides, Bratlie said.
“The cost of working with ICE can be prohibitively expensive,” he said.
Laws are clear about preventing local law enforcement from enforcing federal immigration law, he said. Although the ACLU is ready to litigate issues as they arise, he felt it was unlikely to be a big issue in Minnesota.
“Maybe it’s just optimism but I don’t think Minnesota is going to be a high-target area,” he said.
Law enforcement officials he’s spoken to aren’t looking to be involved in deportations.
“The police chiefs and sheriffs are aware of the impact the immigrant community has and are trying to keep the community together rather than separating them,” he said.
For people fearful of being targeted by ICE, he advises them to be respectful but assertive about their rights. You don’t need to talk to an ICE agent without a lawyer present and don’t need to let them into your home without a warrant, he said.