A handful of Republican Wyoming lawmakers are looking to revive a bill that would ban sanctuary cities and counties in the state.
The effort picked up steam after Immigration, Customs and Enforcement (ICE) told Cowboy State Daily on Tuesday that the Teton County Sheriff’s Office has let 103 illegal immigrants who were in the local jail slip away before ICE could get them in the past 21 months.
State Rep. Daniel Singh, R-Cheyenne, said he sponsored such a bill in the 2024 legislative session, and expects to see it revived in the 2025 legislative session, though he does not believe he’ll be the prime sponsor this time.
Singh’s bill failed introduction this year and didn’t make it to the state House of Representatives floor. It would have cut state funding from any Wyoming county that passed a policy restricting its agents from working with federal immigration authorities.
“Unfortunately, the (House) Speaker told me that wasn’t coming out of the box,” said Singh. “Now it looks like we should have passed this last year.”
Singh emphasized that the bill is specific to federal immigration efforts and wouldn’t expand other kinds of federal law enforcement, such as the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
Singh said he’s not familiar with what’s going on in Teton County specifically, though he “wasn’t shocked” when he heard the county wasn’t working smoothly with ICE.
Singh’s father was an immigrant from Trinidad who came to the United States legally, he said, adding that his uncle also waited for years to enter the nation, and worked hard within it until he died.
“When people cut the line and they come here illegally, it forces the local government to have to accommodate a population that’s already unwilling to work with the laws — when there are people who have been waiting in line years on years on years, to get in here and do things the right way,” Singh said.
House Speaker Albert Sommers, R-Pinedale, told Cowboy State Daily that Singh’s bill didn’t fail introduction because of its contents, but because it was arranged at the bottom of a huge stack of bills in a session already burdened with several proposed law changes.
Sommers said he also voted against an earlier version of the bill when it was spearheaded by former state Rep. Chuck Gray, a Casper Republican who is now Wyoming’s secretary of state. But at that point there was a question as to how pervasive illegal immigration was in Wyoming, he said.
But …
It’s uncertain whether the 2024 bill as worded would have remedied the situation in Teton County.
Teton County is not a sanctuary county, its Commission Chair Luther Propst, a Democrat, told Cowboy State Daily on Wednesday. He said the county has not passed policies restricting its officers from working with federal immigration authorities.
The county's capital city, Jackson, also isn't a sanctuary city, Mayor Hailey Morton Levinson confirmed in a Wednesday email.
Propst voiced doubts about whether the bill, if passed, would apply to Teton County.
“My impression is we cooperate fully with ICE and as always, our law enforcement follows the Constitution,” said Propst.
He said he respects both ICE and his local sheriff, Matt Carr, but recognizes the balance of interests between the two.
ICE has been unable to retrieve 103 illegal immigrants when Carr wouldn’t detain them for 48 hours as other Wyoming counties are willing to do.
Carr told Cowboy State Daily he’s concerned about inviting a Fourth Amendment lawsuit by doing that. He said he’d be happy to hold detainees for ICE if the agency can get its detainer requests signed by a judge, magistrate or court clerk.
“I do think it’s fair to say that Sheriff Carr faces a tough balancing act that all law enforcement faces,” said Propst, “which is cooperating with federal agencies on the one hand, and on the other hand making sure that he follows the rules as developed to implement the Fourth Amendment.”
Carr had said the American Civil Liberties Union is more interested in suing his county than other Wyoming counties, possibly because the community would be more favorable to such a lawsuit.
The ACLU of Wyoming did not answer a series of questions on that matter Wednesday.
In a Tuesday statement to Cowboy State Daily, ICE said Carr cancelled an intergovernmental contract with the agency in February of 2023. The contract would have let Carr keep illegal immigrants for ICE longer with less risk of liability.
Call Your Lawyer
Rep. Mike Yin, D-Jackson, also emphasized Carr’s plight. He offered a hypothetical about civil rights, using former Wyoming Freedom Caucus Chair John Bear — a Republican legislator from Gillette — as an example.
“If John Bear was arrested and the federal government told his county to detain him without a judge’s order, should the sheriff do it?” asked Yin.
He spoke to the difficulty of discerning people’s citizenship on the spot.
“Everyone should be concerned if Wyoming forces their sheriffs to do whatever the federal government tells them,” said Yin, adding, “If John Bear got arrested and detained longer than lawfully allowed without a judge’s order, I hope he calls a lawyer about his rights being violated.”
As far as Yin knows, the legislator added, no Wyoming county is a sanctuary county. He said he’s “disappointed” U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman, R-Wyoming, did not support a bipartisan border bill Congress contemplated this past winter.
Hageman, who has been critical of Carr’s relationship with ICE, had called the bill a “poison pill,” noting that it would have sent $60 billion to Ukraine, and $14 billion to Israel. It also carved out billions for humanitarian aid in Gaza.
Top Issue
New Wyoming Freedom Caucus Chair Rep. Rachel Rodriguez-Williams, R-Cody, said she and others aligned with the group are committed to pro-security immigration efforts in Wyoming.
She noted that it’s been a top issue for Wyoming voters, and instances of violent crimes by illegal immigrants have provoked outrage in other states.
She asked the Legislature’s Judiciary Committee to study immigration law and potential law changes this year, but the legislative Management Council rejected that agenda item, Rodriguez-Williams noted.
“County commissioners, law enforcement and judges alike all need to step up to the plate and enforce the law, like they’ve taken an oath to do,” said Rodriguez-Williams. “I know we’ll see Representative Daniel Singh’s bill come back this session, and I predict that we’ll see other actions taken this coming session, to protect the citizens of Wyoming.”
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
