Two of the Trump administration’s largest immigration enforcement operations have unfolded just across Wisconsin’s border.
In September, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security dispatched hundreds of federal agents to Illinois, citing state “sanctuary policies” that bar local law enforcement from participating in immigration enforcement. In a press release announcing the operation, DHS Assistant Secretary Trisha McLaughlin called Illinois “a safe haven for criminal illegal aliens.”
Dubbed “Midway Blitz,” the operation dramatically increased the pace of immigration arrests in greater Chicago within its first month-and-a-half. The surge coincided with frequent clashes between federal agents and protesters, who documented incidents in which agents drew firearms while conducting immigration arrests or facing demonstrators. Within a month, the operation resulted in two shootings by federal agents.
DHS withdrew from the operation’s command center at Naval Station Great Lakes by mid-November, as did Texas National Guard members deployed to support immigration enforcement officers. The agency in December shifted its attention to Minnesota, where it launched “Operation Metro Surge.” That operation has already resulted in thousands of arrests, DHS announced Monday. As in Chicago, it has also sparked daily confrontations between activists and immigration officers and led to two shootings, including the Jan. 7 incident in which an ICE agent shot and killed Renee Good, a U.S. citizen.
News of the immigration crackdowns in neighboring states has prompted some in Wisconsin to wonder: Might our communities be next?
While the Illinois and Minnesota operations have undoubtedly touched Wisconsin — some immigrants detained in Chicago last fall passed through Milwaukee while in ICE detention, for instance — DHS has yet to devote the same attention to Wisconsin.
Still, Wisconsin Watch has tracked agency arrest and detention records for months, noting a sharp increase in apprehensions beginning shortly after President Trump’s inauguration last January.
Here are some other storylines we’ve followed:
- A vast majority of the roughly 1,000 immigrants arrested by ICE in Wisconsin between January and October of last year had prior criminal convictions or pending criminal charges. But arrests in Wisconsin of immigrants with no criminal history were ticking upward. Roughly 17% had no prior criminal convictions or pending charges. Roughly half of those without criminal histories were arrested at DHS’ downtown Milwaukee office, often while checking in on the status of their immigration cases.
- Immigrants picked up by ICE while awaiting a decision in a criminal case often forfeit their bail. In many cases, Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne said, prosecutors are left in the dark when ICE detains a defendant in their jurisdiction.
- DHS’s claims about arrestees’ criminal histories do not always match court records. Among the two dozen immigrants arrested in Manitowoc last October — the largest ICE raid in Wisconsin since Trump took office — was Abraham Maldonado Almanza, a dairy worker from Mexico. DHS claimed he had a prior conviction for identity theft, but court records in Wisconsin and Iowa, where Maldonado Almanza lived before moving to Manitowoc, show nothing to corroborate the claim. DHS also claimed that the Manitowoc operation netted a Honduran national charged with sexual assault of a child, but that man, Hilario Moreno Portillo, had been in ICE custody for months at the time of the Manitowoc arrests, court records showed.
Even without enforcement surges like those in Illinois and Minnesota, the Trump administration’s immigration policy overhauls are reshaping Wisconsin. We recently documented the consequences for two immigrant workers in key sectors of the state’s economy: a Mexican engineer at an aluminum foundry in Manitowoc and a Nicaraguan herdsman who lacks legal status while working on a dairy farm near Madison. Their employers, who rely on immigrant labor to expand or maintain their operations, are also feeling the pinch, as will consumers if farmers’ and manufacturers’ hiring woes drive up prices.
You can find more of our immigration coverage here.
As we continue reporting on the White House’s immigration crackdown, we want to hear from you. What questions would you like us to answer? What are we missing? Where should we look next?
Email me at pkiefer@wisconsinwatch.org.
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