A Cheyenne-based judge on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit filed by a church, barbershop, and immigration advocacy group in May against Laramie County Sheriff Brian Kozak.
With the help of the American Civil Liberties Union, the coalition had accused Kozak of exceeding his authority when establishing three agreements to work with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
The advocacy group Juntos, the Unitarian Universalist Church of Cheyenne, and Drew’s Barbershop alleged that Kozak never got permission or expense authorization from the Laramie County Commission to work with ICE, and that he didn’t follow Wyoming’s administrative procedure laws.
Those entities haven’t shown how any specific harms they suffered from Kozak’s immigration enforcement entitled them to defend the County Commission’s authority in court, Laramie County District Court Judge Robin Cooley ruled in a Tuesday order.
Drew’s Barbershop lost an employee because the sheriff’s deputies worked with ICE to deport him to Nicaragua, the original complaint says.
Juntos had to shift its events to online rather than in person because the immigration community harbored fears of being detained if they ventured out to travel to the events, the complaint says.
And the church had to redirect around $10,000 from its charity and donation coffers to bolster its ministry for immigrants, adds the complaint.
“Although Plaintiffs allege concrete harms arising from immigration enforcement, they have not alleged a particularized injury arising from the alleged infringement of the Commissioners’ authority,” says the order.
The harms the plaintiffs described, rather, stemmed from the enforcement activities, not the county’s approval process, which was challenged in the case.
Then quoting from an earlier Wyoming case, the judge added, “It is not the function of the judicial branch to pass judgment on the general performance of other branches of government. Instead, it is our function to resolve specific controversies between adverse parties and determine whether those parties, in the context of that controversy, have complied with the law.”
Cooley dismissed the case. She specifically avoided answering the question of whether Kozak exceeded his authority, because the groups that brought the suit didn’t show they have standing to press that question in the first place, Cooley wrote.
The plaintiffs’ attorney Elizabeth Bartels Lance did not immediately respond to a Thursday-morning text message request for comment and inquiry about potential appeal.
Meanwhile...
Meanwhile, Kozak faces another immigration-advocacy suit that Colorado-based Lichter Immigration, its investigator Kevin Lewis, and its attorney Drake Hill are waging against him.
The Lichter suit accuses Kozak's office of withholding important records from the firm while it represents an immigrant who needs those records to fight his own case.
Kozak has called that case a political maneuver, pointing to his investigation of one of Lewis' and Hill's political allies.
Lewis, conversely, said Kozak's assertions are "ridiculous" excuses.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
