A 2022 ACLU of Wisconsin report revealed that law enforcement agencies throughout Wisconsin have received millions of dollars for selling information about immigrants with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Thirty Wisconsin counties and the Department of Corrections received over $2 million combined in federal funding through the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP).
SCAAP partially reimburses state and municipal governments for the costs of incarcerating certain undocumented people who have certain criminal convictions (a felony or two misdemeanors). In exchange, departments tell ICE information about those particular people incarcerated for at least four consecutive days who were either identified or suspected of being undocumented.
Between 2016 and 2020, Wisconsin’s biggest local sheriff beneficiary of SCAAP was Dane County, which collected $634,000 for sharing information with ICE. The DOC and 29 other counties throughout the state also accepted SCAAP funds.
Dane County’s willingness to share information about their immigrant community with ICE for more funding is inappropriate and not in the interest of public safety. Law enforcement should keep us safe, not funnel us and our neighbors into the ICE deportation machine for money.
Tell Dane County Sheriff Kalvin Barrett to stop selling information to ICE and end his department’s participation in SCAAP. Call the Dane County Sheriff's general information line and ask to make a policy reccomendation at (608) 284-6800.