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Tom Tiffany, the Republican nominee for Wisconsin governor, addressed the role of state and local police in immigration matters during a WISN-TV debate on Wednesday. He said undocumented immigrants who are charged with crimes and held in local jails should be removed from Wisconsin through cooperation with federal immigration authorities, ICE. Asked whether he would make that cooperation a legal requirement, Tiffany said he would. He added that local, county and state officers ought to work closely alongside federal authorities.
Tiffany’s opponent, Democratic Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, had a vastly different take on enforcement of illegal immigrants. Crowley said he wouldn’t ban all ways that local law enforcement could be working with federal immigration authorities to deport people who have been convicted of crimes. But Crowley’s measures for how he would actually be enforcing the number of illegal immigrants in the state would go far beyond what the Republican nominee suggested for the cooperation of local law enforcement with federal immigration authorities.
Crowley would for example not allow local government to enter into contracts with the federal agency. He wants to require judicial warrants before agents of the federal agency could enter local and state jails and prisons. He also does not want to allow agents of the federal immigration agency to cover their faces with masks. The Milwaukee County Executive said these steps would be necessary to safeguard civil liberties.
Because ICE arrests have risen this summer, many sheriffs and police agencies across the country now confront this issue head-on. According to federal data, arrests hit record highs over the summer, and from January 2025 through the most recent reporting period, over 2,100 people in Wisconsin were taken into custody.
Through ICE's 287(g) program, which lets specially designated local officers carry out certain immigration enforcement tasks, 20 Wisconsin county law enforcement agencies already take part in immigration enforcement. In November, voters will select a governor, and they will also elect sheriffs in Sauk and Winnebago counties. How closely to work with ICE is a central question in both sheriff contests.
Both parties frame the issue in a unique way. On the border security issue Republicans are emphasizing immigration enforcement while Democrats are focused on how the deportations by the Trump administration are actually being carried out by ICE agents and how they behave. Tiffany wants to put cooperation with immigration agents into law, while Crowley wants to reduce the presence of the federal agency in local jails and impose stricter rules upon them.
