By Emily Andersen
The Gazette, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
WINNESHIEK COUNTY, Iowa — In an escalation of a dispute over whether a local agency is complying enough with an Iowa law requiring cooperation with federal immigration authorities, Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird filed suit Thursday against Winneshiek County and its sheriff — a dispute that started with a Facebook post.
Bird’s office conducted an investigation over a Feb. 4 Facebook post by Sheriff Dan Marx, concluding this week that he could avoid sanctions if he removed the post and replaced it with a new post that Bird had dictated for him — by 5 p.m. Wednesday.
Marx removed the post Thursday, but didn’t publish the statement Bird wrote for him.
“Sanctuary counties are illegal under Iowa law,” Bird said in a statement announcing the lawsuit filed in Polk County District Court. " Sheriff Marx was given the chance to retract his statement, follow the law, and honor ( U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement ) detainers, but he refused — even at a cost to his home county. He left us with no choice but to take the case to court to enforce our laws and ensure cooperation with federal immigration authorities.”
Under a state law, local governments found guilty of not cooperating with federal immigration authorities can lose almost all state funding for a minimum of 90 days.
Gov. Kim Reynolds took to X Thursday to applaud the action. “Iowa passed a law banning sanctuary counties for a reason — we expect law enforcement to follow it. We will continue working with President Trump to secure the border and keep Iowans safe.”
‘Every effort to block, interfere and interrupt’
The dispute started with a lengthy Facebook post on the Winneshiek County Sheriff’s Office page.
The 2018 state law requires local law enforcement agencies to comply with federal immigration officials’ requests to detain individuals. Those detainer requests were the subject of Marx’s Facebook post.
While he explained in the Feb. 4 post that his deputies would comply with requests that are within “constitutional parameters,” he did not believe federal detainer requests were constitutional because they “are issued ... because the federal agency does not have enough information or has not taken the time to obtain a valid judicial warrant.”
If ICE or other federal agencies attempted to take action in Winneshiek County using paperwork that he saw as unconstitutional, the sheriff’s office would “make every effort to block, interfere and interrupt their actions from moving forward.”
Reynolds’ office submitted a complaint to the Iowa Attorney General’s Office about the post, and the Attorney General’s Office conducted an investigation.
The investigation found that the Winneshiek County Sheriff’s Office’s policies surrounding detainer requests were in compliance with state law, and the office has complied with all 21 detainer requests that it received from ICE since Nov. 26, 2018.
But the report states that the Facebook post itself is not in compliance with the law.
It said that Marx must delete the post and issue a new one outlined by the Attorney General’s Office. That one would have the sheriff saying online:
“On Feb. 4 , I posted a message on Facebook that implied we would not fully comply with state and federal law. I have deleted that message, which I disavow. It was wrong. It made many incorrect statements regarding my Office’s policies on ICE detainers.
“This message explaining that the Winneshiek County Sheriff’s Office has always complied with every single ICE detainer made and will continue to comply, as required by both state and federal law, replaces that message.”
But when the original post was not removed, and when the crafted one did not replace it by the end of the business day Wednesday, Bird sued.
The lawsuit makes the same allegations outlined in the investigation report, and asks the court to declare that Winneshiek County is ineligible to receive state funds.
Sheriff says he’s complied with detainer requests
The sheriff’s office deleted the Feb. 4 post Thursday afternoon. But instead of posting Bird’s dictated directive, it made a post responding to the investigation report.
“The language of the post proposed by the Attorney General was not acceptable to the county. To demonstrate good faith, we chose to take the post down,” the response read. “While we are disappointed and disagree with the Attorney General’s conclusion, we remain confident that this issue can be resolved. Thank you for your continued support.”
Winneshiek County Attorney Andy Van Der Maaten told the Decorah Leader that county officials were informed of the proposed post Wednesday, the same day as the deadline. He said county officials submitted their own version of a remedial statement to the Attorney General’s Office , but it was rejected.
Van Der Maaten declined to comment on the lawsuit when contacted by The Gazette.
The new post also included a copy of a letter Marx sent Feb. 14 to the Attorney General, which included the county’s official immigration enforcement policy, copies of all detainer requests received by the county since Nov. 26, 2018 , and the sheriff’s office’s response to each request.
In the letter, Marx told the Attorney General’s Office the intent of his Facebook post “was not to suggest that the Winneshiek County Sheriff’s Office will not cooperate in immigration enforcement,” but that he wanted to “make the public aware that I expect my deputies to obey all federal, state, local and constitutional requirements as they serve the people of Winneshiek County .”
“When my deputies work with another state, local or federal law enforcement agency, it is my expectation that those agencies also will obey the law and protect the constitutional rights of those people that we are expected to serve,” Marx wrote.
Marx stated in the letter that he has complied with detainer requests so far by working with judges to ensure that when a detainer is issued for someone who already has been arrested lawfully, the bond or release orders include language acknowledging that the conditions of release will become effective only after expiration or enforcement of the detainer.
“Including this language in a court order would resolve the concern over whether an administrative detainer violates an individual’s constitutional rights by effectively supplementing the administrative detainer with an order approved by an Iowa District Court Judge or Judicial Magistrate,” the letter reads.
“Obviously, I support ICE in their efforts to keep our country and community safe. They have a difficult, dangerous and important task before them. It remains my intent that our assistance be provided when those tasks are being carried out within the parameters of their legal responsibilities,” Marx concluded.
Suit filed against fellow Republican
Marx has been sheriff in Winneshiek County since 2015, when he was appointed by the county Board of Supervisors to fill the remainder of Sheriff Leon Bohr’s term after Bohr retired. Marx was elected to his first full term in 2016
Like Bird, he also is a Republican, and has donated $1,380 to the Winneshiek County Republican Party over the past 11 years, including $1,000 this past November, according to state campaign finance records.
Meantime, in the Iowa Legislature , House Republicans approved legislation that would subject any Iowa law enforcement officer who fails to comply with federal immigration officials to the revocation of the officer’s certification.
The bill was introduced as a reaction to Marx’ Facebook post.
Any officer found to have violated the law could be investigated by the Iowa Attorney General and may have the case referred to the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy Council .
The bill, House File 946, passed the House on a 61-35 vote with one Democrat joining most Republicans in support and four Republicans joining most Democrats in opposition. The bill is now eligible for consideration in the Iowa Senate.
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