Michigan’s attorney general is advising local law enforcement agencies to review their policies on working with immigration authorities.
Only a few Michigan agencies have signed formal agreements to take on Immigration and Customs Enforcement responsibilities. But some others are holding immigration detainees on behalf of ICE or are involved when federal agents make arrests.
State Attorney General Dana Nessel said many federal agents haven’t gone through proper training, creating a risk for Michigan residents — and the law enforcement officers they might work with.
“It also subjects these local departments to extreme liability if they detained and individual and now they’re working in coordination with federal agents that are acting carelessly, negligently, or recklessly,” Nessel said.
She said time spent helping immigration officers could be used on more pressing matters.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, has rapidly hired thousands of new agents and reportedly shortened their training timeline. Department officials have told various news outlets the condensed training has trimmed redundancies in the curriculum and taken advantage of new technology, with the goal of ramping up immigration enforcement.
Aside from arguing there’s a liability potential for involving ICE in local law enforcement activities when the situation doesn’t call for it, Nessel said there’s also value in placing violent offenders in Michigan’s criminal justice system, as opposed to entering them in a sometimes-opaque federal immigration process.
“By allowing the state system to move forward, at least we know that our communities are safe from these people. The way that the feds are handling this, it’s not making people feel any safer, the fact that they’ve been shipped off to God knows where and could be left to come back at any time,” Nessel said.
During President Donald Trump’s second term in office, the federal government has more aggressively pursued agreements with third countries to accept deported people. Officials maintain deportations are making communities safer.
ICE social media accounts frequently post about detainees the agency accuses of committing crimes in the United States.
Nessel’s warnings come as hundreds of immigration agents have deployed to other midwestern states, including Illinois and Minnesota. In response, the Michigan attorney general said, she’s telling people to know their rights.
News outlets have reported cases in Minnesota of federal agents detaining U.S. citizens and requiring them to undergo facial recognition scans, and monitoring people observing or protesting ICE agents in public.
ICE has also asserted that it can use administrative warrants, not signed by a judge, to enter homes. An ICE frequently asked questions page says “trained, authorized immigration officers” can issue certain types of warrants used for arrests and removals.
Nessel, a Democrat, said people need to know they can legally do things like observe and record immigration officers as long as they don’t get in the way.
“These federal agents, they're not allowed to just take your phone from you. If that happens, you should do everything you possibly can to memorialize who this individual is and any information about them,” Nessel said.
Federal officials have defended agents’ tactics as necessary to enforce immigration laws.
In Minnesota, immigration agents have killed two citizens during their crackdown. Both cases are under federal investigation, with local law enforcement alleging its being shut out.
Nessel said in Michigan, all law enforcement-involved shootings go through an investigation. She said acts involving federal agents would be no different.
“If it's a federal agent who's a perpetrator of a shooting, we don't always expect that they're going to fully cooperate, but we are going to do our best to make sure that any incidents like that are fully investigated,” she said.
