City, county officials want ICE out of Madison following 11 arrests

Doug Moe by Amanda Quintana

Dane County officials have confirmed at least 11 people have been detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement since Friday.

“It may seem like a small number, but these are the bread winners from their families. They are the ones that are leaving behind kids, moms, wives and their community,” said Fabiola Hamdan, a Dane County immigration affairs specialist.

Jennifer Villa said her fiance, his father, his uncle and two others were arrested by ICE as they were carpooling to work Friday morning.

“They basically handcuffed them, took them out one by one and asked them for IDs and then said all of them had no permission to be here in the U.S. so they were going to get detained. And that’s when they said that they were ICE,” said Villa.

There have been similar reports of ICE agents identifying themselves as police officers.

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That is one of the issues local government and law enforcement have with the agency’s surprise visit.

“They are not police. They are federal agents who are using their authority to come in to a local situation and that deception is one of their many lies,” said Madison Mayor Paul Soglin.

Soglin said there have been multiple discussions with the federal agency in the past about the proper protocol. This includes letting local law enforcement know before entering the area.

“Our message to them is very simple: If you want to make our community safe, if you want to make this nation safer, then come to us and we will tell you if there is anyone of danger in the community. We do not need you making your determination that someone who may have some traffic violations, someone who simply may be undocumented or have some minor other offenses is someone who is of danger to our community,” said Soglin.

“To enter our community armed with weapons, ballistic vests, raiding our community without notifying local law enforcement, puts our community at risk,” said Dane County Sheriff Dave Mahoney.

Soglin said this weekend’s arrests will not change the way Madison welcomes all people.

Dane County and the city of Madison fund organizations that provide legal services to undocumented immigrants and those same funds are in the budget for next year.

“One of our immediate objectives right now is to identify every undocumented person that ICE has picked up and then to use our resources and assist them in getting the best legal representation,” said Soglin.

U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan said he has tried to get answers from ICE, including who was arrested and why, but they would not tell him, stating all the arrests were targeted.

“This growingly rogue agency is significantly off its mission,” said Pocan.

Villa said although ICE told her fiance they had a warrant for someone in the car, no document was shown. She believes the arrests were not targeted, since her fiance and his family did not have a criminal history.

“He was brought here at (age) 5, he’s basically grown up here, he speaks English, he works really hard,” said Villa. “It’s really hard for his mom. Her husband and son got detained on the same day.”

Villa has set up a GoFundMe to raise money to pay the $20,000 bond she said has been set for her fiance.

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