Suit says sheriff shouldn't hold inmates at ICE request

A class action lawsuit against Nobles County seeks to stop a practice that attorneys say denies immigrants of their civil rights.

The suit, filed by the ACLU of Minnesota, alleges that Sheriff Kent Wilkening holds certain inmates in detention even after they've posted bond or are ordered to be released by a judge.

Attorney Norman Pentelovitch said the sheriff is permitted to hold inmates on criminal violations until they're released by a judge, on bond, or on a promise to appear in court.

"But because they're immigrants they're treated differently than anybody else, any U.S. citizen, would be by Sheriff Wilkening ... keeping those immigrants in detention, just on a request from ICE," he said. "That request has no force of law. They don't have to keep somebody in jail, and in fact they don't have the authority to do that. It's in effect a new arrest without probable cause of a crime."

Pentelovitch said that in one case, charges were dismissed but the man wasn't released, because of a request from immigration officials.

"There's more examples like this," he said. "This is the kind of thing that is happening all the time — that somebody is arrested; a bond is set; they try to pay it, or they do pay it. They aren't released, they're held by the sheriff for ICE when they really don't have a lawful authority to do that."

The sheriff did not respond to a request for comment.

The ACLU brought similar action against Nobles County, in southwestern Minnesota, in 2015. A federal judge ruled last year that holding a detainee, who would've otherwise have been released, to honor an ICE "detainer request" is a violation of the Fourth Amendment.

Correction (Aug. 18, 2018): Due to an editing error, an earlier version of this story misstated the location of Nobles County. This version is correct.