“You have the support of the Sheriff’s Office anywhere in Washington County,” – Sheriff Marty Schulteis to ICE

Washington County Sheriff Martin Schulteis says his agency fully collaborates with ICE, has one of its deputies sworn as a part-time Homeland Security Investigations task force agent, and is sending a daily report to ICE of all foreign-born individuals who are booked into the jail.

According to Schulteis, there are seven inmates currently in the Washington County Jail on ICE holds, and 9 foreign nationals overall. That’s out of 226 people in the jail. Asked for the names of the inmates with ICE detainers, he provided the following to WRN. The charges listed below come from online court records.

• Alcala Alvarado, Luis Alfredo – accused of felony retail theft greater than $5000
• Marin Chavez, Juan Carlos – accused of felony retail theft greater than $5000
• Palima Avariano, Dyland Alejando – accused of felony retail theft greater than $5000
• Lopez Ochoa, Franklin Jose – accused of felony retail theft greater than $5000
• Carreno Lozano, Jorge – accused of possessing to distribute intimate info
• Acosta Rivera, Alejandro – accused of 2nd-degree sexual assault child/bail jump
• Maldonado Casteneda, Guadalupe- accused of repeated sexual assault of the same child

Wisconsin Right Now has filed an open records request for the criminal complaint in each case.

“Once the local charges are addressed, we immediately notify ICE and hold for the courtesy 48 hours. I can’t recall a time where the time has elapsed, and ICE did not either pick up or drop the detainer for some reason,” said Schulteis.

Schulteis told WRN that he is “elated” that President Donald Trump is making the removal of illegal immigrant criminals a priority, and he pledges to do whatever he can to help ICE identify which Washington County jail inmates are not in this country lawfully.

WRN spoke to Schulteis to learn more about how his jail handles illegal immigration after state Sen. Chris Kapenga gave out statistics from four jails at a town hall meeting in Hartford. Kapenga said that the Dodge County Jail has 100 illegal immigrants in its jail; Waukesha County has 5; and that his office was told that Washington and Jefferson Counties did not know the number in their jails. WRN contacted Schulteis for more information about this because he is known as a rock-solid conservative sheriff.

According to Schulteis, a member of Kapenga’s staff communicated with a member of his staff, and some things got lost in translation; he then quickly provided WRN with the numbers and names. WRN also reached out to the Jefferson County Sheriff but didn’t hear back. It makes sense that Dodge and Waukesha can readily provide specific numbers because Dodge is an ICE detention facility and Waukesha County is one of the few jurisdictions that is a 287g jail, which means deputies there have federal immigration authority.

“At the jail, we take part in the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP),” Schulteis wrote. “It is a federal program that reimburses local government for the cost of incarceration of certain undocumented immigrants with criminal convictions that ICE chose not to deport for a variety of different reasons. This is part of the reporting process, but I do this as a steward of local tax dollars to recapture federal funds for what is really a federal issue.”

The Dane County Jail is at the opposite end of the spectrum; that sheriff recently announced that he is pulling out of SCAAP. WRN previously revealed that, in Dane County, 90 percent of ICE holds are not honored even for inmates accused of very serious violent crimes. In exchange for the SCAAP money, jails agree to provide ICE with details about some illegal immigrants in custody.

In Washington County, Schulteis said his agency is doing everything it can to identify illegal immigrants in the jail and let ICE know. That’s not limited to the jail’s involvement in SCAAP, he said.

He added, “Our office has one of our deputy sheriff detectives who is sworn as a part-time federal agent assigned to a Homeland Security Investigations Task Force. HSI Investigators are really the detectives of ICE and this is our closest working relationship. There are only a couple of other sheriff’s offices in the entire state that go to this length to work with HSI.”

“With the new federal administration, I personally had this deputy reach out to HSI and determine the best way the Washington County Sheriff’s Office can report arrests of all foreign-born subjects to ICE,” Schulteis said.

He said the jail tries to identify booked inmates’ immigration status. “We have always attempted to identify citizenship,” said Schulteis.

“Besides our HSI link, all supervisors have contact information for the ICE agent that is assigned to Washington County for any immigration issues that may come up,” he said.

Schulteis also shared an email exchange that he had last week with the Deportation Officer from ICE Milwaukee who oversees Washington County. “It indicates we are in the process of sending a report every day of the past 24-hour bookings into my jail of all foreign-born individuals.” According to Schulteis, the report includes the following:

Name
DOB
Citizenship
Birth City
Birth Country
Booking Status
Booking Date / Time
Booking Number
Estimated Release Date
Date Released (if already out of our custody)
Charges
Charge Description
Agency Name
Agency Case #
Detainer Information (PO Hold, INS Holds, US Marshal Holds) if any.

The email, dated Jan. 31, says, “I know your county has always been willing to work with ICE and I look forward to rekindling my working relationship with the good people of Washington Co. Feel free to have your officers reach out to me directly to my cell phone or email If there is an egregious offender. I will do my best to vet the list you send us. Thanks for the kind words and making my job easier with your help.”

Schulteis wrote the ICE official, “I know our staff enjoyed the working relationship…I just wanted you to know that you have the support of the Sheriff’s Office anywhere in Washington County. I know the Chief of West Bend Police shares the same sentiment. I assume the other chiefs have the same philosophy but know our office will assist when requested.”