Being drunk or without a license behind the wheel were the most frequent charges that led to a transfer to immigration authorities, according to an analysis of foreign-born jail bookings in Teton County over the past 13 months.
A records request by KHOL to the Teton County Sheriff’s Office found that of 241 foreign-born people booked in jail from March 8, 2025, to April 6, 2026, 153 were transferred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or another agency. Eighty-three were booked with multiple charges.
Of those transferred, the most common top charge – 44 people – was driving under the influence.
That proportion is similar to the general population of 901 booked in jail during the same period, the sheriff’s office said. It did not provide numbers but estimated that between a third and a quarter of all people in Teton County’s jail were charged with driving under the influence (DUI).
The second-most frequent – 40 people – had a top charge of no license. First-time “no license” offenders are issued a citation, said Teton County Sheriff Matt Carr. That means everyone booked in jail whose top was driving without a license had done so before.
The data shared with KHOL show immigrants are overrepresented in jail.
The sheriff’s office recorded 901 people booked in jail during the same 13-month period, of which 27% were foreign-born. For reference, foreign-born people make up about 13% of Teton County’s population, according to the most recent census numbers. The sheriff’s office says it isn’t targeting anyone.
As law enforcement agencies in Wyoming counties and towns enter into tighter relationships with immigration enforcement, the data give some insight into the most common way immigrants end up in the hands of ICE.
Teton County has been a holdout compared to the eight Wyoming counties, four towns and Wyoming Highway Patrol, which have signed agreements to let their local officers work as immigration enforcers during their regular rounds.
Even so, the sheriff’s office has been handing detainees over to the agency since March 8 of last year. Carr has been transparent about the number of people being transferred to ICE: a steady pace of about three a week.
What are the charges?
Last April, the Trump administration reportedly set a goal of 1 million deportations annually to make good on campaign promises. The Department of Homeland Security said it’s been prioritizing removing the “worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens.”
But Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, earlier this month in Phoenix said “nobody is off the table.”
"It doesn't mean because you prioritize criminals, everybody else is off the table. I've said no one's off the table. Why is that? I don't care how long you've been here. If you're here illegally into this country, you cheated,” NPR reported.
The list from Teton County contained 11 explicitly violent charges, including strangulation and domestic battery. One was a contempt warrant for the original charge of domestic battery. Another – false imprisonment – could’ve been threatening violence, but the list didn’t include further information.
Others could’ve been violent, too. A DUI, for example, could’ve resulted in a bad crash, said Lieutenant Kristine Sanders.
There’s no real way to know how extreme the other charges were without looking back at each case, which the sheriff’s office declined to do due to the time such a review would take. It also declined to list names of those charged, saying it was not in the public interest.
Trump’s 2025 executive order that kicked off the latest round of heightened immigration enforcement said the government would “faithfully execute the immigration laws against all inadmissible and removable aliens, particularly those aliens who threaten the safety or security of the American people.”
Carr said he does not separate violent from nonviolent charges.
“It's out of my hands as to who ICE chooses and [does] not choose,” he said. Sometimes the agency tells him why they have placed a hold on a detainee, sometimes it doesn’t.
He said what could be considered a minor driving offense can pose a threat to the public.
“They likely do not have insurance. If you're involved in a collision with somebody that doesn't have an operator's license then you're going to take the brunt of it financially,” he said.
According to his office’s data, 113 arrests involved at least one driving-related offence including DUI, DUS (driving under suspension), No DL (driving without a license), speeding, traffic violations, open container and various vehicle equipment violations, such as no headlights.
That’s no surprise to Carr or to immigrant attorneys.
“Driving is the primary entry point into the jail and ultimately into ICE custody,” said attorney Rosie Read, founder of the Wyoming Immigrant Advocacy Project.
The state has also expanded who is driving without a license after banning out-of-state licenses for non-citizens in 2025.
These are the people whose “most severe crime is driving to a job that they need to do, that economically this country needs them to do without a driver's license that our legislature won't allow them to obtain,” Read said. “And for that, they end up in ICE custody and their family gets ripped apart and kids grow up without a parent here.”
Transfers to ICE go back only 13 months
Teton County has a longstanding policy to call ICE when it has a foreign-born booking, Lt. Sanders said.
But in late November 2024, after Trump won the election, U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman called out Carr in her newsletter for not holding people and “foiling” ICE efforts.
Carr disagreed with the characterization at the time, but changed his policy in early March the next year to hold those with an administrative ICE warrant for 48 hours past the time they would otherwise be released. Because his office was under a microscope after the incident with Hageman, he independently asked Sanders to keep the list of all foreign bookings.
Carr said his policy is aimed at a balance of fairness and public safety. He worries that not holding people for ICE would put a target on his department’s back.
“We're not a Minnesota right now and we don't want to be,” Carr said in reference to the violent U.S. Department of Homeland Security street operations in Minneapolis in early 2026. “But in my mind, it wouldn't take much to poke that bear and very easily with a phone call, it could change the outcome of our community.”
Data asked for vs. received
KHOL’s original request asked for name, date of birth, gender, charges for booking, nationality, citizenship status, country of origin, and place of residence for transfers from the Teton County Detention Center to any federal immigration enforcement officials from October 1, 2024 to March 26, 2026.
Carr said it would be too much work for his office to go back through the 900 jail bookings that happened in the 13 month timeframe to find that information.
Instead, KHOL received an internal list of every foreign-born person booked in jail from March 8, 2025 to April 6, 2026. The documents have a column for the date booked, all the charges that led to the most recent arrest and if the detainee was released to ICE.
For example, one entry reads, “2/21/2026, No DL, DUI, Single Lane Violation, permanent resident.” This was likely someone who was pulled over for swerving, then they were found to be intoxicated and had no driver’s license. They were found to be a permanent resident, for example with a green card, so they weren’t transferred from the jail to ICE. Another booking on the same date reads “Domestic Battery, Destruction of Property, Released to ICE.
In its analysis, KHOL ranked the charges by estimated severity. For example, crimes that could hold a felony charge, if convicted such as grand theft audio and strangulation ranked the highest.
What’s in store?
A recent petition signed by more than 500 people, including Jackson Mayor Arne Jorgensen, calls for Carr to reverse this hold policy.
Carr responded to a February protest and the petition by saying he will keep his hold policy but would not enter into those tighter working relationships, called or 287(g) agreements, with ICE that other Wyoming counties have.
Hot Springs County is the latest to sign one. The others in Wyoming are Campbell, Carbon, Crook, Natrona, Laramie, Lincoln and Sweetwater counties, along with the towns of Moorcroft, Pine Bluffs, Shoshoni and Wheatland.
After eight years in office, Carr is facing a Democratic primary challenger for the first time this year. Alberto Rojas is a Jackson police officer and Latino. He said he agrees with Carr’s current policies working with ICE and wouldn’t change them.
The Democratic nomination will be determined in the Aug. 18 primary.
