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Wednesday, Mar. 5, 2025

Are Wisconsin sheriffs required to check the immigration status of people in jail?

Tom Kertscher / Wisconsin Watch, Wisconsin Watch
no

Wisconsin sheriffs have discretion on whether to report a person booked into county jails to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, a Racine County Republican, alluded to the background checking Feb. 25.

Vos spoke about an Assembly bill he co-sponsored that would require sheriffs to request proof of legal presence status from individuals jailed for a felony offense.

Former Brown County Sheriff John Gossage, executive director of the Badger State Sheriffs’ Association, said most Wisconsin sheriffs report to ICE a person who is jailed on a felony charge and doesn’t have proof, such as a Social Security number or immigration visa, of legal presence in the U.S.

ICE can ask, but jails are not required, to hold a person for 48 hours if ICE wants to pick up that person for an alleged immigration violation. 

Milwaukee County doesn’t report inmate immigration status to ICE. Dane County also doesn’t assist ICE.

See a full discussion of this at Wisconsin Watch

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

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