Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird is suing a county that pledged to “interfere and interrupt” federal immigration enforcement raids carried out by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Bird launched the lawsuit against Winneshiek County Sheriff Dan Marx after he pledged to take “every effort” to “interrupt” and “interfere” with federal immigration enforcement agents.
“Iowa is not a sanctuary for illegal immigration. Anyone who threatens to ‘block, interfere and interrupt’ with immigration enforcement, as this sheriff did, will be held accountable,” Bird asserted.
The attorney general’s statement came after Marx’s office made a post on Facebook saying that he and his staff are “always willing to assist with verifying credentials and the legitimacy of any paperwork federal agents should have to make certain your rights are not being abused.”
“If their actions or paperwork are not within constitutional parameters,” the post continued, “then we will make every effort to block, interfere and interrupt their actions from moving forward.” Marx specifically objected to immigration detainers filed by ICE, an administrative request from the federal agency asking state and local law enforcement agencies to maintain custody of suspected illegal aliens until federal law enforcement could gain custody of the suspects.
Bird argues that Marx’s post violated Iowa law, which states that a county in violation of section 27A.4 of the state’s legal code “shall be ineligible to receive any state funds if the local entity intentionally violates this chapter.”
Governor Kim Reynolds requested that Marx amend his statements, but the sheriff refused despite the risk that the county could lose state funding.
Bird asserted that Marx’s actions “impeded and discouraged cooperation with federal immigration authorities” in violation of the law. “Sanctuary counties are illegal under Iowa law. Sheriff Marx was given the chance to retract his statement, follow the law, and honor ICE detainers, but he refused — even at a cost to his home county,” Bird charged. “He left us with no choice but to take the case to court to enforce our laws and ensure cooperation with federal immigration authorities.”
