ICE and FBI arrested 21 people in Manitowoc County on Thursday in what Forward Latino calls the largest single-day roundup ever in the county.
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The FBI says nine of the people arrested are accused of sexually assaulting or trafficking minors. Local groups say most of the other 12 people are farm workers accused of being in the country illegally.
Manitowoc County is one of multiple sheriff's offices in the state that have collaboration agreements with ICE.
TMJ4's Chief Political Reporter Charles Benson went to Washington County, which also has an agreement, to examine what these partnerships mean.
Washington County Sheriff Martin Schulteis signed an agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement earlier this year.
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The program allows ICE to train and certify law enforcement to serve and execute administrative warrants, meaning they can arrest someone in their jail who is not in the country legally.
"So the minute it was signed, we had emergency meetings," said Maria Guttierez-Gurrola, executive director of Casa Guadalupe Multicultural Center.
As executive director of the center in West Bend, it's Guttierez-Gurrola's role to keep up on the immigration landscape and laws. She's well aware of the new agreement between the sheriff's office and ICE and its potential impact.
"I just have to keep updating myself, and making sure I fully understand the administrative warrants and the judicial warrants and different things, Guttierez-Gurrola said. It's important for me to be educated so we can educate our community."
Watch: Local law enforcement and ICE: What we know about collaboration agreements in Wisconsin
The 10-page agreement spells out the collaboration program on issues like training, ICE supervision and interpretation services.
Thirteen of the state's 72 county sheriff offices have similar agreements with ICE.
They include: Brown, Calumet, Fond du Lac, Kewaunee, Manitowoc, Marquette, Outagamie, Sheboygan, Washington, Waukesha, Waushara, Winnebago and Wood.
There are two other levels of collaboration with ICE. The Jail Enforcement Model identifies and processes people in the country illegally with criminal or pending criminal charges. Waukesha County also has this agreement.
The Task Force Model allows law enforcement agencies to enforce limited immigration authority with ICE oversight during their routine police duties. The Palmyra Police Department in Jefferson County has this agreement.
Dan Weigert sees where the partnership could work in some cases when serious crimes have been committed.
"The local police department is enforcing laws that they broke here, and ICE is trying to enforce laws that they broke federally to get in here, so it just feels like they should just coordinate with one another," Weigert said.
Guttierez-Gurrola worries about her clients who might end up in jail for minor infractions.
"If it were something along the lines of like pulling over for no license, that's where it becomes a little more, for us, heartbreaking because a lot of our families come here to make a better life for not only themselves but for others," Guttierez-Gurrola said.
Sheriff Schulteis was not available for an interview Friday but will talk to us next week.
This story was reported on-air by Charles Benson and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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