Northern MN counties clarify how they cooperate with ICE after AG opinion

WALKER — As Immigrations and Customs Enforcement continues “Operation Metro Surge,” two Northern Minnesota counties are clarifying that any prior agreement to work with ICE is null and void, while another has yet to make any changes.

Last February, Cass County Sheriff Bryan Welk and Itasca County Sheriff Joe Dasovich were the first in Minnesota to enter 287(g) agreements. Both sheriffs signed up for the task force model, in which local authorities can assist in enforcing civil immigration laws.

Crow Wing County Sheriff Eric Klang joined them shortly thereafter, also agreeing to the warrant service officer model, which allows staff to serve and execute administrative warrants in their agency’s jail.

Attorney General Keith Ellison issued a Dec. 12 opinion — early into the surge — advising that county sheriffs cannot unilaterally enter into agreements without county board approval.

Cass County Administrator Josh Stevenson said in an interview Tuesday, Jan. 27, that there hasn’t been any action to approve such an agreement by the board of commissioners.

“We had a couple of people show up at our Jan. 20 meeting. … The board and our county attorney clarified that the recent opinion from Attorney General Keith Ellison makes the agreement null and void,” Stevenson said. “And there is no plan to put this on the agenda or revisit it.”

Dasovich said Itasca County’s agreement was never approved by the County Board, and there are no plans to bring it to them.

“I’m in the same position as Cass [County],” Dasovich said in an interview Wednesday. “ ... Those are the only ones we deal with, are the ones [immigrants] with ICE detainers that have committed crime here in Itasca County. So, I don’t need the 287(g). We’re going to do it how we’ve always done it.”

The only instance where the county worked with ICE was early last year, according to Dasovich. He pointed to the “grandparent scam” from early 2025, where at least three victims handed over about $50,000 to an in-person scammer posing as a bail bondsman under the belief a grandchild needed money for bail.

Dasovich said when it came time for the scammer’s release, they called ICE.

Both sheriffs said last March that they thought joining the task force model would increase safety in the communities they served.

Historically, local agency participation in enforcing civil immigration laws led to concerns of racial profiling and exposed counties and states to legal liability over constitutional rights violations.

The 287 (g) program was shuttered in 2012 by the Obama administration and not revived by Trump during his first term in office. But the president’s focus on mass deportations led to the renewed push, along with involving federal agencies including the IRS and the Drug Enforcement Administration, according to Stateline.

Both counties are still listed as participating agencies on ICE’s website as of Wednesday morning.

Local policing

Dasovich said ICE hasn’t yet been to Itasca County.

“I would hope that if they came to town, they would have some professional courtesy and give me a call, and we can see what needs to be done,” he said.

He met with two community interest groups about ICE this week and said they understood his position.

“I still believe that community policing, to its core, is what’s going to solve this problem,” he said.

Welk issued a joint statement with the Leech Lake Tribal Police Chief Mike Robinson on Friday, Jan. 23, stating their offices do not coordinate with immigration enforcement activities, which falls under federal civil law.

Minnesota law dictates that local and state agencies cannot detain a person solely on immigration status: any person held in local custody would have to meet qualifications for detention under state criminal law.

“It is important to remember that police officers’ and deputies’ primary responsibility is protecting residents including Band members and maintaining lawful order even as federal immigration enforcement actions proceed independently of local law enforcement,” the joint statement read.

The statement also encourages residents and Leech Lake Band members to verify law enforcement credentials if they have doubts or are unsure who is conducting law enforcement activity.

No change so far in Crow Wing

In Crow Wing County, the issue has also not come before the County Board, but for different reasons. In a Jan. 15 interview, Klang didn’t put much stock into Ellison’s opinion.

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Crow Wing County

“That’s an opinion by him. And that’s just what it is. It’s an opinion,” Klang said. “And you know, I mean, I could find 50 attorneys that would say, ‘No ... that’s not the way we read it.’ And then 50, they could say, ‘Yeah, that is the way we read it.’”

Klang went on to say the “287(g) doesn’t really mean a hill of beans.” He said he signed on to the warrant service officer model in the name of efficiency, so ICE agents wouldn’t need to travel from Grand Forks or Duluth to issue a warrant. Deputies have not yet issued a warrant, he said. He added that the office wasn’t utilizing the task force model.

“We’re not going out targeting individuals with ICE — we’re not doing any of that. We have no intentions on doing that,” Klang said. “The only — I mean, if you have a criminal history, you have a warrant for your arrest for a crime against our citizens ... will we come and find you? Yeah, we’re going to look you up.”

Eleven days after Klang’s interview, the Crow Wing County Sheriff’s Office assisted the Department of Homeland Security’s Investigations team with four arrests at El Potro Mexican restaurant in downtown Brainerd. A sheriff’s office news release stated ICE possessed two arrest warrants but offered no explanation why two additional arrests occurred. Two requests for additional information from ICE have not been returned as of Wednesday afternoon.

In an interview after Tuesday’s Crow Wing County Board meeting, Chairwoman Rosemary Franzen echoed Klang by characterizing the state's chief legal officer's legal opinion as not carrying much weight with her.

“An opinion is what he thinks and ... if you have 12 attorneys in a room you have 12 opinions,” she said. “At this point, it’s his opinion, and only an opinion.”

She said she believed the County Board should take its direction from Klang and County Attorney Kelsey Hopps.

Separately, the Crow Wing County Jail is housing around four dozen detainees on behalf of ICE. A vigil on Saturday outside the jail brought about 300 people to the sidewalks along Laurel Street in below-zero weather, to register their opposition to the county’s ongoing cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.