"[A] woman had lost a few thousand dollars and been punched in the face, but she wouldn't make an official complaint. It angered me. This woman fled from Guatemala to America for a better life. She's at her third job. I'm the police and supposed to help people. I can't be a cop if this population is too scared to talk to me."
- Hennepin County Sheriff David Hutchinson, Pacific Standard Magazine, Oct. 2018 -
Background
The Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) has a long history of collaborating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and our undocumented community members have suffered greatly from these practices. We call for this collaboration to stop.
Local law enforcement obligations should not extend beyond enforcing local laws—enforcing federal immigration laws falls outside these obligations. Historically, HCSO collaborates with ICE by notifying ICE about undocumented arrestees, holding immigrants based on an ICE request, and by “slow walking” immigrants who should be released to their families. Such policies have been deemed unconstitutional in Minnesota and by various courts throughout the country (see example here).
In 2018, Sheriff’s Office candidate David Hutchinson campaigned on ending HCSO’s ICE collaboration, which was a major factor in his election victory later that year. However, since he was elected, Sheriff Hutchinson’s HCSO has reported the names of more than a thousand immigrants to ICE, with hundreds ending up in immigrant detention centers and facing deportation. Being thrust into the deportation system has devastating emotional, cultural and economic impact on immigrant families. In 2020 alone, HCSO sent at least 221 immigrants to ICE custody, and many more remain vulnerable to these transfers.
In May of 2021, more than 300 Hennepin County residents sent a letter to Sheriff Hutchinson denouncing HCSO’s collaboration with ICE as inhumane, immoral, and contrary to our values. On June 9, HCSO then issued “Administrative Directive 21-02,” which states that HCSO will no longer honor ICE detainer requests, nor will they give notice to ICE when an undocumented person is being released. In a July 14 meeting with the Decriminalizing Communities Coalition, Sheriff Hutchinson and his staff said further.
“With the exception of when ICE has a judicial warrant for a person’s arrest, we no longer talk to ICE. That is all in the past. ICE now considers Hennepin County as a non-compliant county.”
These changes are significant but HCSO still allows ICE agents into the jail on request to interrogate, intimidate and pressure immigrant detainees that are in HCSO custody. This, too, must end.
Our Demands
1) HCSO and the Hennepin County Board should immediately enact a county-wide Separation Ordinance that prohibits collaboration once and for all with ICE, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, and any other federal agency with an immigration enforcement mission.
2) HCSO shall advise all municipalities that have “Jail Services" contracts with HCSO about “Administrative Directive 21-02” and that HCSO will not turn undocumented people over to ICE without a judicial warrant.
3) HCSO shall only allow ICE agent access to undocumented persons in HCSO custody with a judicial warrant, not an administrative warrant.
4) No agency or department in Hennepin County government should either apply for or receive any federal funds that require collaboration with immigration enforcement.
For questions or to join this campaign please contact:
Mary Vanderford - mandmvanderford@gmail.com
Michele Steinke - janethuy1@gmail.com
Community Organization Endorsements:
Coalition of Asian American Leaders
Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota
Interfaith Coalition on Immigration
Jewish Community Action
Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee
Twin Cities Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee
Unidos MN
Shir Tikvah
Release MN8
Women’s March MN
Colonial Church
MN Unitarian Universalist Social Justice Alliance
Violence Free Minnesota
Minnesota Alliance on Crime
Center for Sustainable Justice
Transforming Generations
NAACP
Black On Black Development and Entertainment, Inc.
Filipinx for Immigrant rights & Racial justice MN
MN Immigrant Movement
Standpoint
Sanctuary and Resistance to Injustice