Jesse Garza

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Heavily armed federal immigration agents intentionally identified themselves as local police during weekend raids on homes and businesses in which dozens of people allegedly in the U.S. illegally were arrested, officials in Dane County said Monday.

Local law enforcement officials were not notified of the raids, placing officers at risk and damaging the trust they've established with immigrant communities, Dane County Sheriff David J. Mahoney said.

"It could have resulted in a tragedy," Mahoney said at a news conference in Madison, adding that lack of proper notification could have resulted in an inadvertent confrontation between responding officers and immigration agents.

The raids were conducted in communities across Wisconsin, including Milwaukee, according to immigrant rights organization Voces de La Frontera.

The organization said three people were arrested in Milwaukee, 11 in the Madison area, 15 in Arcadia and five in Green Bay.

The raids were in direct violation of a protocol agreement reached just a week ago between local law enforcement agencies and Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, Madison Mayor Paul Soglin said at the news conference.

"They are not police. They are federal agents who are using their authority to come into a local situation," Soglin said.

"And that deception is one of their many lies that they continue to perpetrate, which is designed to create confusion and to worsen an already bad situation."

Agents also conducted traffic stops in cities and small towns and were "active" Monday in Milwaukee and Waukesha, according to Voces de la Frontera.

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ICE spokesman Shawn Neudauer did not confirm the raids but said agents conduct "targeted enforcement actions every day in locations around the country as part of the agency’s mission to protect public safety, border security and the integrity of the nation’s immigration system."

"ICE also periodically conducts expanded enforcement actions as operational needs demand. In short, ICE officers make arrests every day," Neudauer said in an email, deferring further comment to a regional ICE spokeswoman Nicole Alberico, who did not respond Monday afternoon.