BRAINERD — The Crow Wing County Sheriff's Office's cooperation with federal immigration agents continues to draw both public ire and support.
Eight residents spoke during the public forum portion of the Tuesday, June 23, County Board meeting, seven of whom asked commissioners to consider withdrawing from agreements with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. About four dozen people filled the benches of the Historic Courthouse.
People have been commenting on this issue for months. But on Tuesday, many were answering the call of the Minnesota branch of the American Civil Liberties Union to pack the room in light of recent ICE activity in the region. The organization said agreements like Crow Wing’s “blur the lines between federal immigration agents and local police.”
Fairfield Township resident Jane Haubrich was one of those who voiced concerns.
“Human detention should never be used as a business model to plug the county budget deficit," Haubrich said. " ... The decision to partner with ICE has fundamentally fractured our communities."
Crow Wing County has been housing immigration detainees in its jail since the end of 2025. The county does not have a direct agreement with ICE; instead, ICE is authorized to use the Crow Wing County Jail through an intergovernmental agreement with the U.S. Marshals Service signed last year. The County Board passed the agreement unanimously as part of its consent agenda in August 2025, with no discussion.
The contract to house those in custody of the federal law enforcement agency became effective in September 2025 and included an estimate that the service would use a maximum of 20 beds for male inmates. Instead, the county is often housing more than double that number, both men and women.
The agreement with the Marshals Service was first discussed in 2024 as an option to address an approximately $1 million budget hole left by Cass County ending its agreement with Crow Wing in favor of housing inmates at Itasca County's new jail. The county is paid $102 per federal detainee per day, intended to offset the costs associated with detention. This includes paying staff, heat and electricity, medical care inside the facility and more.
The sheriff’s office also has two 287(g) agreements through the task force model, in which local authorities assist in enforcing civil immigration laws, and the warrant service officer model, which allows staff to serve and execute administrative warrants in their agency’s jail. Earlier this year, sheriff's deputies assisted in an enforcement action at El Potro Mexican Restaurant in downtown Brainerd.
Neither agreement was considered by the Crow Wing County Board. Attorney General Keith Ellison issued a Dec. 12, 2025, opinion — early in the surge — advising that county sheriffs cannot unilaterally enter into agreements without county board approval. That opinion has not translated into action in Crow Wing County, with Sheriff Eric Klang and Chairwoman Rosemary Franzen both previously characterizing the state's chief legal officer's opinion as not carrying much more weight than any other lawyer's.
Gary Payne is an instructor at Central Lakes College in Brainerd. He teaches criminology to law enforcement students there and told commissioners he has worked in the field: as ship's police during the Vietnam War, a probation officer and with juvenile delinquents at the former state hospital in Brainerd.
“If you can’t get due process right, you can’t get anything right in law enforcement. And they just keep violating it," Payne said.
He said he doesn’t want to see his former students associated with what’s going on with ICE.
“Normally, it would be a good thing for law enforcement agencies to work together. It makes sense. But these are not normal times. There’s something going on here. And I think we have all seen it. I don’t care what your politics are, it’s obvious we’ve got a problem," Payne said.
One resident spoke Tuesday in favor of the agreements and thanked commissioners for supporting law enforcement. Doug Kern, a past Republican legislative candidate and current member of the Crow Wing Township Board, likened people keeping their homes locked to the United States securing its borders.
"When you have an illegal entry, well, that's when law enforcement gets involved," Kern said. " ... The people behind me, they may say they're Christian. Well, there's gates in heaven. There's actually laws in heaven."
None of the commissioners, nor Klang, responded during the meeting. It's typical for officials to not respond to public comment. Klang did answer questions of activists outside the room afterward.
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