AG Knudsen blasts Gallatin County Attorney for advising against ICE contract

Yahoo

24-05-2025

Gallatin County Courthouse in Bozeman. (Keila Szpaller/The Daily Montanan)
A Gallatin County Commissioner described a scalding letter from the attorney general about a local legal opinion as 'political theater' and said Friday the county has had the longest-standing agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement of any county in Montana.
Wednesday, Attorney General Austin Knudsen sent a letter to the Gallatin County Commissioners criticizing a legal opinion — which Knudsen put inside quotations as 'legal opinion' — by Gallatin County Attorney Audrey Cromwell.
The April 24 opinion from Cromwell argued against entering into an agreement with ICE to detain undocumented immigrants from across the state at the Gallatin County Detention Center.
Cromwell said doing so would raise constitutional and legal questions and potentially cost taxpayers millions of dollars.
The Trump administration has been aggressive in pursuing, and in some cases deporting, immigrants nationwide, including in Montana, as the president pledged to do in his campaign.
In March, MTN News reported that ICE detained 17 immigrants it described as undocumented in Bigfork.
In some cases, judges have found authorities under Trump acted without due process and deported people illegally, including legal immigrants and even U.S. citizens. A New York Times analysis said illegal deportations are difficult to undo.
But immigration is a political hot button, and in his criticism of the Gallatin prosecutor, Knudsen said the American people sent Donald Trump back to the White House 'to secure our border,' and Montanans want state officials to support his agenda, 'not undermine it.'
'At its core, the Cromwell Opinion is an endorsement of the disastrous open border policies of the Biden administration,' Knudsen said in his letter.
In a 2024 report, the Pew Research Center said unauthorized immigrants hit a 12.2 million peak in 2007 and, after a downward trend, crept up again in recent years to 11.1 million in 2022, and likely higher since then.
'My office fought back against these destructive policies for four long years, and I refuse to stand by as feckless left-wing prosecutors attempt to subvert the will of the people and put dangerous criminals back on the streets,' Knudsen wrote.
In response, Cromwell said in a statement that Gallatin County already participates in a program, known as the federal 287(g) program, that ensures 'undocumented individuals charged with a crime in Gallatin County are immediately flagged and held for ICE.'
The 287(g) program authorizes local law enforcement officials to perform specific immigration duties under the agency's oversight.
'Given constitutional concerns regarding due process, significant legal liability, and added strain on overburdened County resources, I stand by my legal opinion, which advises the Commission against entering into an additional agreement with ICE to detain non-local undocumented immigrants in the Gallatin County Detention Center,' Cromwell said.
Her legal opinion said earlier this year, a court found Suffolk County in New York responsible for $60 million in a class action lawsuit that found unconstitutional detention practices of undocumented immigrants. The county is appealing the decision, according to a local news report.
Gallatin County Commissioners said they already cooperate with ICE on immigration and will 'continue to work closely with the Gallatin County Attorney, who was elected by our community.'
'And we will continue supporting the Sheriff and his dedicated team of public safety heroes,' Commissioners said in a statement.
In an interview Friday, Gallatin County Commissioner Zach Brown said under the existing agreement, Gallatin County already temporarily holds detainees for ICE to pick up when an immigration flag comes up during booking.
'That's a legal framework that is in place and has been in place for a long time,' Brown said.
Cromwell's opinion said 1.4% of the county jail population has been flagged for ICE holds over the last year.
Brown also said he wanted to cut through some of the rhetoric around immigration. For one, Brown said the president and the attorney general are conflating civil and criminal law — and doing so 'intentionally.'
In other words, he said, local government and county law enforcement handle criminal offenses, but federal civil procedures govern people whose immigration status is questioned.
County facilities and services aren't designed, funded or empowered to execute federal civil procedures, he said. Rhetoric, including from President Trump, implies that every illegal person is a criminal, he said, but that's not necessarily true.
'If someone has an immigration issue, that does not make them inherently a criminal under American federal law,' Brown said.
However, he also said Gallatin County has made 'record investments' in public safety, including in salaries, new positions, and equipment, and resources for the drug task force, courts, 'and on and on.'
'That trajectory and commitment to law enforcement is really strong with this commission and within this community,' Brown said.
In February, MTN News reported ICE agents arrested six alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua in Gallatin County. At the time, Sheriff Dan Springer told MTN News law enforcement had been working to combat the gang and had been successful given no violent incidents had been reported.
Springer could not be reached by voicemail Friday for an update.
Cromwell's opinion said those people were held solely on ICE detainers and not on criminal charges, and the situation demonstrates the risk that counties may inadvertently hold people without due process.
Brown also pointed to statistics that show Gallatin County has the second lowest crime rate among urban counties in Montana, only behind Flathead County.
Citing the Montana Board of Crime Control, he said Gallatin had 540 incidents per 10,000 in 2023, the most recent data available, compared to 1,100 per 10,000 in Cascade County, reporting the highest number per capita.
Info Box
Reported Crime incidents per 10,000 in 2023 (urban counties), according to the Montana Board of Crime Control:
Cascade County – 1,100 Yellowstone County – 887 Missoula County – 865 Butte-Silverbow – 640 Lewis & Clark County – 632 Ravalli County – 565 Gallatin County – 540 Flathead County – 487
Source: Gallatin County Commissioner, citing Montana Board of Crime Control Dashboard.
Brown also said that at its root, immigration is squarely a federal issue, and an argument about a county contract, 'a minor, minor issue,' is a distraction from the fact that Congress hasn't taken action on immigration reform since 1986.
'It's infuriating that these issues are getting talked about at the local government level. Just that, in and of itself, is political theater,' Brown said.
He said local government is at the behest of the federal government when it comes to immigration, it's experienced whiplash upon changes in administration, and it will continue without action.
'Congress is allowing the executive branch to make policy on immigration law, and that's not the executive's job under the constitution and our form of government,' Brown said.
He called on Montana's congressional delegation to legislate, and he said the dispute over the additional agreement between ICE and Gallatin County is just a symptom of the disease.
'The cancer in the system is Congress' inaction. So Congress needs to get off their butt and do their job,' Brown said.
U.S. Sens. Steve Daines and Tim Sheehy are from Bozeman in Gallatin County and could not be immediately reached for comment on Friday. However, in remarks three weeks ago and posted on his Facebook page, Daines said presidential leadership matters.
He said law enforcement officers in Bozeman told him they weren't getting any response from ICE under the Biden administration, and that changed right after Trump was sworn into office.
'Within 30 days, those ICE agents swarmed and got those TDA (Tren de Aragua) guys apprehended and deported from our country. That directly affects my hometown of Bozeman,' Daines said.
In his letter, Knudsen, said the 'horrors aren't hypothetical.' In his letter, he said under the Biden administration, the state Crime Lab reported 262 fentanyl-linked deaths in Montana, and he said 100% of illicit fentanyl seized in Montana is trafficked across the border.
'In one Gallatin County operation conducted in March, three illegal immigrants were arrested on drug-related charges and methamphetamine, cocaine, cash and four vehicles were seized,' Knudsen said.
He also said earlier this year, the Eastern Montana High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area seized 9,400 carfentanil pills in Billings, just a couple of hours away from Gallatin County. He said carfentanil is 100 times more potent than fentanyl, 'making it even more dangerous and deadly.'