WORTHINGTON, Minn. — The American Civil Liberties Union filed a civil lawsuit Friday against Nobles County and Sheriff Kent Wilkening in far southwestern Minnesota for allegedly not releasing inmates upon satisfying state release requirements, an action Wilkening was reportedly upholding at the request of federal authorities.

The class-action complaint claims Wilkening unlawfully exceeded his authority and refused to release inmates on the basis of Immigration and Customs Enforcement holds. The jail held them without judicial warrant, probable cause or other valid legal authority, the complaint alleges.

Nobles County Administrator Tom Johnson said he could not comment on the pending litigation at this time. Wilkening also declined, citing not having reviewed the allegations in their entirety and that he would need to defer to attorneys.

The lawsuit acknowledges Wilkening had not released certain inmates from the Nobles County Jail following requests for their continued detention by ICE authorities. ICE is a federal agency under the Department of Homeland Security.

The ACLU claims this practice is unlawful, contending that Minnesota sheriffs have no legal authority to enforce federal immigration law or to arrest or detain individuals for immigration violations.

“At the request of federal immigration authorities, Sheriff Wilkening is regularly imprisoning individuals … solely because they are suspected of being removable from the United States,” the suit states.

The ACLU further claims immigration violations are civil — not criminal — matters. Related Articles CDC coronavirus testers pulled from Minnesota after repeated hostile and racist encounters

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“There is no state law authority to imprison someone for suspected civil violations of federal immigration law,” said Norman Pentelovitch, one of the lawyers who represents the plaintiffs.

The complaint includes specific examples and declarations from former inmates incarcerated at the Nobles County Jail. Those declaration state they and their families were either dissuaded from posting bail because they were told they were subject to an ICE hold, or were not released from jail despite posting bond because of that same hold.

The former Nobles County Jail inmates listed as plaintiffs in the case were incarcerated at the jail for a variety of criminal accusations: Rodrigo Esparza was charged with receiving stolen property; Maria de Jesus de Pineda, identity theft; Timoteo Martin-Morales, criminal sexual conduct; and Oscar Basavez Conseco, drug possession. Some of the criminal cases have been resolved while others are still pending in Nobles County District Court.

Release-from-custody data for the named plaintiffs in the suit was not immediately available.

As part of the lawsuit, the plaintiffs seek “temporary and permanent injunctive relief.” They also seek false imprisonment damages.

The lawsuit includes at least three alleged scenarios in which inmates were initially told by Nobles County Jail staff that no ICE hold existed for them. The former inmates had friends or family post bond on their behalf. After posting bond, jail staff allegedly recanted and said they would not be released due to an ICE hold.

The complaint also includes a signed declaration from Amanda Delaney, a public defender in Nobles County who represents individuals from other countries who have been arrested and held at the Nobles County Jail.

Delaney claims she has noticed people suspected of immigration violations not being allowed to post bond or being told if they paid bail, they still would not be released. She also claims to have witnessed individuals held even after their state custody period ended.

She included anecdotal evidence pertaining to four individuals she said were “affected by Sheriff Wilkening refusing to release them.”

The lawsuit filed Friday is similar to one filed against Nobles County and Sheriff Wilkening in 2014. The result of Orellana v. Nobles County found that holding a state detainee who would have been released if not for an ICE hold violates a person’s Fourth Amendment rights.

The ACLU lawsuit claims, despite this, that Wilkening did not implement a modified immigration detainer policy. The policy states an individual shall not be held on a federal immigration detainer unless accompanied by a warrant, affidavit, probable cause or removal order.

The Nobles County Jail has been contracted to house federal inmates since 2002, when a contract agreeing to reimburse the county $89.69 per detainee per day was signed and accepted by the United States.

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Suspect sends Rochester police suicidal messages, flees, dies causing head-on collision As part of that contract, the county agreed to receive and discharge detainees only from and to properly identified Immigration and Naturalization Service personnel or other identified federal authorities. INS disbanded in 2003 and its duties transferred into three new entities, including ICE.

During a July report at a Nobles County Board of Commissioners meeting, Wilkening told commissioners that housing inmates for other agencies — including ICE, Minnesota Department of Corrections and other counties — has allowed the jail to offset its budget. In 2017, housing inmates from various other agencies allowed the jail to offset its $2 million budget by more than $950,000.