Two sheriffs say there are indicators that members of the Tren de Aragua gang may be operating in Whitewater, Wisconsin, and they’ve formed a task force with Whitewater police to share information on it.
Sheriffs Travis Maze of Jefferson County and Dave Gerber of Walworth County also said they cooperate with ICE on detainer requests. They are taking steps to determine when illegal immigrants end up in their jails. “If ICE wants a detainer, we will do that,” said Maze.
Walworth County Sheriff Dave Gerber told WRN that the agencies formed the task force because there are “reasons to believe and indicators that there might be members of TdA (Tren de Aragua) in the Whitewater area.” Asked which indicators, he said, “Just individuals we had contact with, who have the tattoos, the clothing, the history, and the origin that are indicative of people with that gang.”
Jefferson County Sheriff Travis Maze first told Wisconsin Right Now about the task force. “There are concerns we have that they (TdA) might be in the Whitewater area,” he said. “I don’t know if there is any known activity, but it’s believed the group is there based on observations.” Maze said the FBI is involved.
The Tren de Aragua gang, with roots in Venezuela, “is known for engaging in various criminal activities, including drug trafficking and violent crimes, which pose a significant threat to our communities,” according to ICE. The U.S. Treasury Department describes TdA as “a Venezuela-based transnational criminal organization that is expanding throughout the Western Hemisphere and engaging in diverse criminal activities, such as human smuggling and trafficking, gender-based violence, money laundering, and illicit drug trafficking.”
Gerber said the task force represents an “ongoing investigation,” involving Whitewater police and multiple law enforcement agencies, so he could not say much more about it. “The City of Whitewater had a large influx of immigrants, which everybody knows,” he added.
Whitewater Police Chief Daniel Meyer, whose letter to Biden a year ago about challenges posed by illegal immigration sparked national attention, told WRN, “We have been working to learn as much about Tren de Aragua (TdA) as we can here in Whitewater based on our recent demographic changes. That has included networking with other local jurisdictions and sharing information. Beyond that, I don’t have any more information to provide at this time.”
He added, “This group is simply sharing information – much of which is law-enforcement sensitive info that was distributed by federal law enforcement agencies. Given the type of activity that has been reported in other areas of the country, we want to make sure we are aware of what to look for if TdA were to begin operating in our area.”
Gerber said the goal of the task force is to gather and share “intel” in order to “protect the citizens of Whitewater.” The sheriffs of Jefferson, Walworth, Waukesha, and Rock Counties “all agreed to assist the City of Whitewater any way we can with resources they need to gather intel or work toward making the community safe,” Gerber said. He said Whitewater police are “taking the lead” on the effort.
So far TdA has not been attached to any known crimes in the area that he knows of, he said, but he added that it’s law enforcement’s job to make sure it stays that way. Gerber said the task force “met within the last few months.”
Gerber added that the Walworth County Jail asks inmates a list of questions to determine whether notification to a foreign consulate needs to be made. He said that if ICE puts a detainer on an inmate, his sheriff’s office will honor it. Gerber says the Walworth County Jail typically has fewer than 10 ICE detainers.
Gerber said he would cooperate with any law enforcement agency working to protect the residents and visitors of Walworth County, including ICE.
Not all Sheriff’s Departments cooperate with ICE; for example, Dane County’s sheriff has rejected 90% of ICE detainer requests in the last few years, even for accused violent criminals.
The detainers give ICE 48 hours to pick up accused illegal immigrant criminals before they are bailed out or released from the jail for other reasons.
Maze, a newly appointed sheriff, told WRN that the Sheriff’s Department had just purchased a new piece of equipment to check inmates’ identities through federal databases of people stopped at the border.
“We ended up buying a device that does a fast-track look at identity. The equipment we had before wasn’t accessible to federal databases,” he said.
Maze said the practical reality is that it’s difficult to determine sometimes whether someone is an illegal immigrant in the jail because “people provide false information all the time.” Thus, pinpointing an exact number is no easy task.
He said the jail asks people if they are residents, and he is exploring whether they can also start asking whether people are citizens. Maze said his agency isn’t applying to be 287g (the program that gives deputies federal immigration authority, such as in Waukesha County) because of staffing issues; his agency is 30 percent down. “I am doing everything I can to put deputies on the roads and in the jail,” he said.
Maze added that, in the past, 50% of the time when the Sheriff’s Department contacted ICE about a possible illegal immigrant in the jail, ICE did not come and get them.
“We have not had much luck when we contacted them in the past,” said Maze.
Of course, things may change now that President Donald Trump and his Border Czar Tom Homan have made getting illegal immigrant criminals out of the country a priority.
