County Leaders Double Down On Need for 287g ICE Agreement
Trevor Phipps
After confronting a recent legal setback in a five-year-long lawsuit, the sheriff has fired back in a highly publicized press conference, taking direct aim at state lawmakers and their immigration policies.
Teller County Sheriff Jason Mikesell went as far as accusing the state of preventing law enforcement agencies from keeping their communities safe.
Earlier this month, the Colorado Court of Appeals ruled against a previous decision made by District Judge Scott Sells that basically concluded that the Teller County Sheriff’s Office’s 287g agreement with the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency didn’t break any federal or state laws.
The appeals court sent the issue back to District Court, and asked a new judge (Judge Scott Sells has since retired) to take another look at the lawsuit and consider a new law passed in 2019 by state lawmakers. This law states that no law enforcement agency can hold people for ICE on civil immigration retainers.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) initiated the lawsuit back in 2019. Over the past five years, the District Court ruled in the sheriff’s favor twice, only to have the higher court reverse it twice.
The ACLU recently applauded the recent ruling, saying that no sheriff in Colorado is “above the law.” According to Mikesell, the recent court ruling forces his office to halt its current arrangement with ICE, referred to as the 287g program, at least for now.
During a press conference, organized by the Teller sheriff’s office following the Court of Appeals ruling, Mikesell and County Commissioner Dan Williams didn’t say much regarding Teller’s next legal maneuver. The newly appointed district judge will make a decision, and then the county will have the choice to contest it through an appeal or a possible lawsuit. But, county leaders say they haven’t decided their next course of action.
The sheriff, in statements to a slew of media outlets, blamed federal and state lawmakers for border issues and making Colorado a “cartel-welcoming state.” He went further to say that the “Anti-Teller” laws were passed to specifically prevent the county from working with ICE to protect the community.
“Colorado citizens are less safe today than they have ever been in a very long time,” Mikesell said. “This is due to a failure by our attorney general, governor and legislative body. Ask yourself this, ‘Do you feel safer today or before the agenda to undermine law enforcement took effect within the state?’ The state government would rather see a release of violent illegal alien offenders to go walk our streets, or for that matter, any violent offenders. When do politics stop victimizing Colorado residents?”
The sheriff said that crime has increased across the state to the point during which every county and town has had to deal with some type of cartel-related incident. He also believes the problems law enforcement is facing today will get much worse in the near future.
“Pueblo and Colorado Springs were just identified as cartel hot spots of the United States, you can find those articles, this isn’t ‘rocket science,’” Mikesell said. “But if you speak to legislators out of Denver they will tell you is there is no such thing as cartels, and there is no such thing as violent crime. Well, I’m here to tell you as a sheriff I deal with victims every day. We are silencing victims in this state. We are fundamentally telling them that they are not victimized by anyone that comes from another country.”
County Commissioners Agree to Continue Funding Sheriff’s Battle With ACLU
According to County Commissioner Dan Williams, the immigration issue is another example of state lawmakers passing legislation geared towards the urban areas of the state without considering rural regions. He agreed with the sheriff that state lawmakers have not been listening to local and statewide law enforcement agents.
Williams went on to say that state lawmakers shouldn’t tie law enforcement’s hands, and prevent them from working with any federal agency when it comes to public safety. The sheriff said that he still cooperates with other federal agencies like the FBI and ATF.
“What if we stopped talking to the state of Colorado as one of 64 counties?” Williams asked. “They wouldn’t stand for it because we are an arm of the state. Well, I have argued that the state is an arm of the federal government as well, but with separate powers. I think the logic behind this just doesn’t make sense.”
Williams said that the county has gladly stood by the sheriff during the five-year long fight, and the commissioners have even footed the bill for the legal fees. During the press conference, Mikesell and Williams confirmed that the county has footed the legal expenses for the battle with ACLU over the last half a decade, with monies being paid through its general fund.
“We will continue to do that,” Williams said after TMJ asked about the lawsuit funding. “How can I look you and the residents of Teller County in the eye after taking an oath to support and defend the State and U.S. Constitutions and then allow him to have his authorities removed? So, we will continue to fight and continue to fund it. We are pretty solvent here in Teller County. We are a debt-free county. But some things are worth fighting for. I think if I were to ask our people if they wanted to stand behind our sheriff, the residents of this county would back us up on that.”
