U.S. Representative Harriet Hageman recently accused Teton County Sheriff Matt Carr of “foiling” Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s deportation efforts.
In a newsletter, Hageman wrote, “There were scores of individuals being held in the county jail who met the agency’s threshold for being detained and deported (DUIs, illicit drugs, sexual violence). ICE requested the Teton County Sheriff’s Office to first hold these individuals in custody and to then transfer them to ICE for having violated immigration law, but the sheriff’s office chose to release them, thereby foiling ICE’s efforts.”
Carr’s inbox and voicemail were then flooded with accusations ever since, with some messages coming from locals and others from out of county residents. All claim he isn’t hard enough on immigration.
His department, he said, is in line with federal policies.
Carr honors ICE’s requests for prolonged detainment when there’s a warrant signed by a judge. He believes holding anyone longer is a violation of the Fourth Amendment, which protects against unreasonable search and seizure by the government.
He feels the American Civil Liberties Union is watching Teton County particularly closely. In 2022, the ACLU sued Wyoming over Teton County’s application of a sobriety program already practiced in other counties, claiming it consisted of “warrantless searches.” The ACLU lost that case in 2023, but Carr said he is still wary of similar attention.
Antonio Serrano, advocacy director for the Wyoming chapter of the ACLU, said his organization treats all counties the same as a watchdog of detentions.
He said it was Hageman who was politicizing the paperwork.
“What it sounds like is Hageman is trying to put a lot of misinformation out there to just demonize immigrants, to otherize them,” Serrano said. “That way in the next upcoming session there can be a lot of anti-immigrant bills that can come down the line.”
Serrano is referencing the potential revival of a 2024 bill that sought to ban any jurisdiction in Wyoming from becoming a sanctuary for immigrants. Currently, there are no sanctuary jurisdictions in the state.
“I don’t care if there are people of color who are sponsors or who are writing the bill, who are part of it,” Serrano said. “It’s a racist bill because there are no sanctuary cities [or] sanctuary counties in Wyoming.”
