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The Wyoming chapter of the ACLU is urging the state’s 23 sheriffs not to participate in federal immigration enforcement.
The letter sent to Wyoming sheriff’s departments and shared as a press release comes as the Trump administration ramps up deportations and is anticipated to request or demand assistance from local law enforcement to carry out federal policies, a duty long considered outside the scope of practice in places like Teton County. It warns of lawsuits and high costs should sheriffs and police change course.
It repeats concerns from Teton County Sheriff Matt Carr that executing federal warrants to hold or deport people risks a violation of the Fourth Amendment, the requirement that someone is only detained if there is evidence they may have committed a crime.
Since 2020, Sweetwater County has had an agreement with ICE to assist with deporting jailed noncitizens. Sheriffs in Carbon, Campbell and Laramie counties are looking into similar agreements, according to reporting by WyoFile.
A Wyoming House bill, HB 276, that would have required each county sheriff to sign agreements to enforce federal immigration laws failed in committee last week.
A Senate bill, SF 124, would impose fines on anyone hiring or transporting undocumented immigrants and require county sheriffs to make agreements with federal agencies about the enforcement of federal immigration and customs laws, detentions, removals and investigations in Wyoming. It awaits a hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
