Laramie County Sheriff Brian Kozak was in court Monday requesting to dismiss a lawsuit brought by the ACLU of Wyoming challenging his office’s agreements with the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) allowing deputies to enforce federal immigration law.
Kozak’s legal team argued he was within his duties to set up three agreements with ICE, and that the groups claiming he signed the 287(g) agreements without public involvement or local government oversight don’t have standing because they willingly chose to spend time and money on staff and resources to help immigrants. Kozak’s team called them “self-inflicted injuries.”
Judge Robin Cooley asked the ACLU’s attorney, Andrew Malone, whether these groups would have experienced the same financial and emotional distress if ICE had been making these arrests instead of the sheriff’s deputies.
Malone said the 287(g) agreements created a “force multiplier” effect and gave an example of how Carlos Montes, a Nicaraguan employee of one of the plaintiffs, was detained by sheriff office deputies for a broken taillight. Montes disappeared into ICE’s detention center system back in November of last year and eventually was returned to Nicaragua. Malone said ICE wouldn’t have pulled Montes over since they don’t have authority to enforce traffic laws.
About 15 people showed up for the hearing, including Birgitt Paul, a board member for the Unitarian Universalist (UU) Church of Cheyenne. Her group created an outreach program to help affected families.
“We've had families where there was a car accident that was not their fault that city police helped out with. They then called the sheriff, then the sheriff took them in for an immigration issue that eventually was proved to be nothing, but took a father away from his family and caused a lot of trauma and wasted money,” Paul said.
Paul volunteers for the church’s program called Friends of Immigrants Responding Ethically (FIRE) and said the case will set a precedent across the state.
“Part of our doctrine is that we have the right to democracy. That is something that is embedded in the UU faith. And in this instance, we didn't have a chance to reach out to any of our county commissioners to talk about what a 287(g) would do,” she said.
The ACLU of Wyoming sued on behalf of the church, the immigrant advocacy group Juntos and Drew’s Barbershop. They claim the sheriff should have sought permission from county commissioners and should have offered a public comment period first as required under the Wyoming Administrative Procedures Act.
Kozak’s team argued that there’s a loophole in state law that gives broad immunity to government employees who are conducting the duties of their position.
Judge Cooley is evaluating these arguments. She says she will make a decision about whether to dismiss the case soon.
The case comes after eight counties and a few towns signed agreements to work with ICE. The ACLU says at least four Wyoming counties are working with ICE without having asked residents or their county commissioners for approval first.
