The role of local agencies in ramped up immigration enforcement

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — The nationwide crackdown on illegal immigration has made its way to South Dakota. We found more than a dozen recent arrests and federal filings related to possible immigration violations, and there are likely more. Local authorities are not directly involved but they still play a roll in identifying violators.

KELOLAND News found at least 6 people were booked into the Minnehaha County jail for possible immigration violations this week.

Sheriff Mike Milstead tells us there are three ways people end up in jail on what is called an ICE detainer. The first is ICE or Homeland Security Officers make the arrest and bring them to the jail. The second is ICE officers make the arrest and bring them to jail then local authorities find out they have a local warrant.

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In the third scenario, local authorities make an arrest on a local warrant then ICE officers determine they are in the country illegally. That happens because in South Dakota when someone is booked into jail and fingerprinted, that information is sent to both the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security to be checked against their databases. Minnehaha County also participates in what is called the Criminal Alien Program.

“And in that program, we provide a list to homeland security ICE agents, daily of individuals who are booked into our jail who are foreign-born,” said Milstead. “It doesn’t mean they’ve done anything wrong but it allows them to look at those names, date of birth, see if they match up with any of their immigration database that would indicate they are a criminal alien, that there are arrest warrants for them, could be they’ve been ordered to appear in court and they neglected to appear, could be they’ve been deported previously, and they are back in the US illegally.”

According to Milstead, there is a limit to how long people can be held on the ICE detainer.

“The ICE detention period for us is 48 hours, they will remove them from our jail within 48 hours. They could be removed to a different detention facility, they could deported immediately, they could be set up for a future court date it all depends on the immigration system,” said Milstead.

Milstead says he expects the number of ICE detainers to increase in South Dakota. As the chairman of the National Sheriff’s Drug Enforcement Committee that represents over three thousand sheriffs in the country, Milstead has long believed better border enforcement and stricter immigration policies can curb the flow of illegal drugs into the U.S.