A Dane County official announced Tuesday she will investigate the county?s practice of reporting undocumented immigrants to federal authorities.
Marcia MacKenzie, corporation counsel for Dane County said the County Board’s public protection and judiciary committee chair asked her to draft an opinion regarding accusations that Sheriff Dave Mahoney is breaking the law when he notifies customs officials about undocumented immigrants in his custody.
In 2004, the County Board passed a resolution prohibiting county officers from disclosing the immigration status of anyone seeking public services, except when the person is suspected of criminal activity besides being an undocumented immigrant in the United States. The state Assembly passed a bill last week forbidding any local power from enforcing any ordinance or policy that prohibits it from reporting undocumented immigrants. MacKenzie?s investigation will examine whether Mahoney?s practices are contrary to the resolution, which is not yet state law.
As an elected constitutional officer, Mahoney has independent powers, and MacKenzie?s investigation will determine if Mahoney is ?acting pursuant of those independent powers or if he has to follow the resolution,? MacKenzie said.
Mahoney said he abides by law ordinances and rules.
?The resolution is policy advisory,? he said, adding it does not prevent law enforcement officers from cooperating with other enforcement agencies.
MacKenzie said the investigation will also research how the Vienna Convention, an international treaty regarding diplomatic relations between countries, plays into the situation.
Under the Vienna Convention, Dane County is obligated to notify certain consulates if citizens from some countries are arrested and booked into the Dane County Jail System, Mahoney said.
Some countries have voluntary notification polices. One of those is Mexico, which requests Dane County contact the Chicago Mexican consulate if any Mexican citizen is booked into the jail. Mahoney said the county complies with these requests.
According to Mahoney, the booking process at Dane County Jail has been the same for 28 years. When an officer makes an arrest, he or she fills out an arrest form and based on the answer to the citizenship question, the officer will offer the arrestee an opportunity to make contact with his or her consulate or will make contact on his or her behalf, Mahoney said.
If the arrestee is an undocumented immigrant, Mahoney said he sends an email to ICE, and that is the extent of it; it is up to ICE to decide how to move forward, Mahoney said.
?In 2007 we made 287 notifications ? of those 61 were held (by ICE),? Mahoney said. ?That clearly tells me that the difference are those that are in the country legally, where ICE didn?t make a determination to place a hold.?
?Of course we should notify federal authorities. We have immigration laws for a reason,? said Sen. Glenn Grothman, R-West Bend, who is a co-sponsor of the Assembly bill.
Dane County Supervisor Ashok Kumar, District 5, said Mahoney?s ?anti-immigrant? practices are a detriment to public safety because it deters citizens who might be undocumented immigrants from coming forward to report a crime.
?[Sheriff Mahoney] contacted ICE officials when undocumented women would come forward and report their husbands who were legal citizens were physically abusing them,? Kumar said, adding the sheriff has no decency because he reports undocumented immigrants to ICE for minor crimes and coming forward as a witness.
According to Mahoney, ICE will not detain or deport someone on a first offense or minor traffic offense. Grounds for deportation are criminal charges or repeated offenses, he said.
MacKenzie said she wants to do the investigation right, and since her office is short staffed, the investigation will take some time, and she does not know when it will be complete.
