A Republican lawmaker from Iowa has pulled a bill that would have required local law enforcement to assist federal officials in their immigration enforcement efforts.
State Rep. Steve Holt said he withdrew the bill due to concerns that local police would lack manpower to comply with the bill.
“If they were mandated to do this, and they didn’t have the manpower, how that could impact other aspects of public safety. So that was the one that hit home to me mostly,” he said, as per KCRG.
Holt has instead introduced a bill that would penalize law enforcement officers who fail to comply with ICE detainer requests. Any officer who does not comply with a detainer request will have their law enforcement officer certification revoked.
“It mandates that they have to honor detainer requests. Any individual who does not do that would be subject to felony and decertification by the law enforcement academy,” the lawmaker said. “I think it’s an important piece of legislation, and I’ll be interested to see how our fellow members respond to that.”
Winneshiek County Sheriff Dan Marx has stated that he will not assist federal immigration officials unless they obtain a warrant.
Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird launched an investigation into Marx last month after his failure to comply with detainers. “Iowa law is clear: counties and cities must comply with Iowa Code Chapter 27A, which specifically requires law enforcement to comply with ICE detainers or risk loss of state funding,” she said. “We have received the Governor’s complaint against Winneshiek County and have opened an investigation.”
