The Assembly voted 51-43 along party lines today for a bill that would cut shared revenue for a county by 15% if its sheriff refuses to cooperate with federal immigration officials.
The bill, AB 24, would require sheriffs to check for proof of citizenship of those arrested for felonies and comply with detainers and administrative warrants from federal immigration officials.
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The bill now heads to the Senate.
Republicans argued the bill is a commonsense public safety measure and wouldn’t result in increased costs. They noted the bill only applies to those charged with felonies and that it has widespread support.
Democrats characterized the bill as big government overreach to bend the state to President Trump’s agenda. They argued it would put financial strain on local governments, remove local control, damage trust in law enforcement among immigrants and not make communities safer.
Assembly Minority Leader Greta Neubauer, D-Racine, called the bill a political stunt.
“After years of asking local communities to do more with less, it is unacceptable to threaten those vital funds for a political stunt. Our local law enforcement officers should have the discretion to determine the greatest threats to public safety in our communities, and should not be forced to use state resources to enforce federal policy,” she said. “What we see here today is Wisconsin Republican legislators, emulating Donald Trump, Republicans from D.C. to Wisconsin have shown that in this moment, they are not serious about addressing the kitchen table issues affecting Wisconsin families.”
Rep. Mike Bare, D-Verona, said it was a case of Republicans “copying and pasting” Trump’s policies.
“This bill says to our communities, to our counties, our sheriffs, ‘If you don’t participate in Trump’s inhumane mass deportations, you lose 15% of your funding,’” he said.
Rep. Rick Gundrum, R-Slinger, said the bill was about bringing accountability to communities like Milwaukee and Dane counties that are failing to work with immigration officials.
“It is our job to not only ensure criminals are held accountable for their crimes, but also in making sure that our local communities are doing their part to keep us all safe,” Gundrum said.
Several Democrats noted that 44 of Wisconsin’s 72 counties do not do what the bill would require, and that it should be up to local governments to decide how they want to provide public safety.
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, accused Democrats of hypocrisy for saying they are concerned over local police funding, as “it wasn’t too long ago where my colleagues on the left spent most of their rhetoric saying we should defund the police.”
He acknowledged concerns some Dems raised about due process, but said if a person is flagged by immigration authorities they are not automatically deported, but go in front of a federal judge.
“Why would there be any law enforcement person in Wisconsin that says, rather than cooperating with the federal authorities, we’re just going to thumb our nose at the same people who are attempting to enforce our borders,” Vos said.
Gov. Tony Evers has said he’d veto the bill.
“Republican lawmakers are trying to micromanage local law enforcement decisions by threatening to gut state aid by 15% for our local communities—that’s a non-starter,” a spokesperson for Evers told WisPolitics when Republicans introduced the bill. “We shouldn’t be threatening law enforcement with deep budget cuts, we should be working together with local law enforcement to improve public safety, reduce crime, and keep dangerous drugs and violent criminals off of our streets.”
