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Yahoo
7 days ago
- Politics
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Milwaukee PD accessed Illinois Flock cameras for classified investigation
The Milwaukee Police Administration Building downtown. (Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner) Across the nation, law enforcement agencies are accessing Flock Automatic License Plate Reader (ALPR) camera databases, regardless of whether they have their own contract for the AI-powered system. Researchers from 404 Media published a data trove derived from Flock audits earlier this week. Although the audit data came from the Danville Police Department in Illinois, Wisconsin Examiner found that intelligence units within the Milwaukee Police Department (MPD) also appear in the database. The audit data shows that last year on July 15 and Oct. 21, personnel from the Southeastern Threat Analysis Center (STAC) — a homeland security-focused arm of the MPD's fusion center — conducted a total of three searches within Danville PD's Flock network. STAC gathers and disseminates intelligence across eight counties in southeastern Wisconsin. MPD's own Fusion Division is co-located with the STAC. Together the units operate a 'real time event center,' a vast network of both city-owned and privately owned cameras and operate Milwaukee's gunshot detection system known as Shotspotter. They also monitor social media and conduct various types of mobile phone-related investigations. STAC has also explored the use of drones, facial recognition technology and predictive intelligence. MPD's Flock searches were logged under the user name 'D. Whi' from 'Milwaukee WI PD – STAC'. In the dataset's 'reason' column, the searches were recorded as 'HSI investigation' and 'HSI vehicle loader.' Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) specialize in matters of immigration, illegal exporting, cyber crime and national security. By tapping into Danville's Flock data, according to the audit, STAC was able to access 4,893 Flock networks and an equal number of individual devices, such as cameras, for the July 15 search alone. The other two searches from October reached 5,425 Flock networks and devices and captured data from a one-month period. 404 Media's investigation focused on how Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has accessed Flock databases nationwide, despite not having a contract with the company themselves, and how various agencies appeared to conduct immigration-related searches. Whereas many searches were logged as 'immigration violation,' 'ICE' or even 'ICE ASSIST,' others only noted the involvement of HSI. In a statement sent Wednesday morning, an MPD spokesperson denied that STAC's use of Danville PD's Flock network was immigration-related. 'Information regarding this investigation is classified and not available as it is ongoing,' the spokesperson wrote in an email to Wisconsin Examiner. 'I can confirm it is related to a criminal investigation with HSI and not immigration related.' The spokesperson later added that this was a 'HIDTA investigation,' referring to a federal task force linked to the federal High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area program. MPD's HIDTA units are attached to the department's Special Investigations Division, a separate branch from the Fusion division and STAC. 'The majority of HIDTA and STAC investigations are classified,' the spokesperson wrote in the statement. 'Oftentimes, these investigations involved confidential informants and sometimes it could take years to resolve.' Several police departments in Milwaukee County utilize Flock cameras. MPD entered into its contract in 2022. Over 1,300 registered cameras operate across the city as part of Community Connect, a program supported by the Milwaukee Police Foundation, according to the program's web page, with nearly 900 'integrated' cameras which grant MPD real-time access. Both the use of automatic license plate readers and MPD's ability to participate in immigration enforcement are governed by specific policies. The department's immigration policy, SOP-130, cautions that 'proactive immigration enforcement by local police can be detrimental to our mission and policing philosophy when doing so deters some individuals from participating in their civic obligation to assist the police.' The policy limits MPD's ability to assist ICE with detaining or gathering information about a person to 'only when a judicial warrant is presented' and when the target is suspected of involvement in terrorism, espionage, a transnational criminal street gang, violent felony, sexual offense against a minor or was a previously deported felon. Privacy advocates have raised concerns and filed lawsuits over Flock's ability to collect and store data without a warrant. The license plate reader policy – SOP 735 – allows personnel to access data stored 'for the purposes of conducting crime trend analyses' but only when those activities are approved by a supervisor and are intended to 'assist the agency in the performance of its duties.' MPD personnel may use Flock to 'look for potentially suspicious activity or other anomalies that might be consistent with criminal or terrorist activity' and are not prohibited from 'accessing and comparing personal identifying information of one or more individuals who are associated with a scanned vehicle as part of the process of analyzing stored non-alert data.' Automatic license plate reading technology captures information from any passing car. In some cases, investigators may also place specific vehicles on a Be On the Lookout (BOLO) list, also known as a 'hot list', which notifies law enforcement whenever a specific vehicle is seen by a license plate reader-equipped camera. A Thursday morning public hearing held by the city's Finance and Personnel Committee considered whether more Flock cameras should be added to Milwaukee's already existing network. Ald. Scott Spiker spoke in support of the cameras, and said he worked to install license plate readers in his own district. Spiker described having discussions with local business district leaders and MPD's fusion center, which resulted in cameras being deployed on 27th Street. 'Don't ask me where, because I won't tell you,' said Spiker, adding that the cameras 'serve a variety of purposes' from combating car theft to aiding Amber and Silver Alerts. 'There's going to a broader question, which I imagine will be a subject of the public testimony, however, and I'm fine hearing it, but ultimately there's going to be a discussion to be had in the city of anything that smacks of surveillance software, and what sort of oversight is provided, and should be provided,' said Spiker. He added that such a discussion 'will be had in full in Public Safety' and that although he welcomed public testimony, the committee was there to discuss approving a contract, and not concerns over surveillance. 'The camera's already in use by MPD, and in use by our parking checkers,' said Spiker. 'When they do night parking enforcement, they use ALPR's. When they do zoning enforcement during the day, they use ALPR's. So these are already in use. They have no facial recognition or any of the stuff that's been in the news. But it is a legitimate question to ask what degree of surveillance of any sort, given the national context, do we want to have oversight over?' Spiker said that there's a 'big debate' about surveillance but that 'we can't sort that out today.' Amanda Merkwae, advocacy director with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Wisconsin, complained that the public had not been alerted ahead of time about the discussion of the Flock contract. 'I've been checking daily and the documents in this file and the text of the resolution weren't posted until yesterday [Wednesday] afternoon,' said Merkwae. 'So I think for an item that has significant implications for the civil liberties of Milwaukeeans, particularly the most vulnerable resident, that's concerning.' The agenda had been out for over a week, and was amended a couple of days before the hearing, Ald. Marina Dimitrijevic later explained. Merkwae said, 'We know that ICE has gained access to troves of data from sanctuary cities to aid in its raids and immigration enforcement actions, including data from the vast network of license plate readers across the country.' She cited a 404 Media investigation earlier this month, which found that Flock is building a massive people look-up tool which pulls in different forms of data, including license plate reader data, 'in order to track specific individuals without a warrant.' Merkwae also referenced 404 Media's findings this week revealing immigration-related look-ups, as well as the classified investigation that involved MPD's intelligence units. The advocacy director also questioned what MPD's policies mean in practice when federal or out-of-state law enforcement want to access its Flock databases. 'If law enforcement told us that they wanted to put a tracking device on every single car in the country so that we know where every car is every single moment of the day, and we're going to build a database of all those locations run by an unaccountable private company, and accessible to every law enforcement agency across the country without needing any type of a warrant, I think we would be alarmed and we would have some follow-up questions,' said Merkwae. 'So at the end of the day, we think the public deserves to know how it is being surveilled and the common council deserves to know the answers to some pretty basic questions before approving contracts for surveillance technology that's deployed without a warrant.' In 2023, Fox 6 published a map of Flock cameras operated by MPD. The map, broken up by aldermadic district, shows a large cluster of cameras located on the North Side around District 7, as well as a cluster on the South Side around District 8. Smaller clusters of cameras were located on the East, far Southwest Side and Northwest Side of the city. signal-2025-05-29-135844 After Merkwae testified, Spiker raised a question about whether public testimony should continue, given open meetings laws. A lengthy discussion followed about which issues and topics may be discussed in the hearing by committee members, which halted public testimony for over 20 minutes as alders heard from city attorneys and MPD. Ald. Miele Coggs said hearing the public's concerns before a contract is approved for surveillance technology was important. Ald. Dimitrijevic also stressed that public comment was an important step, saying that the committee would not go into closed session to discuss the Flock contract before the public finished speaking, or otherwise limit public testimony. When public testimony continued, Milwaukee residents shared further concerns about the technology. Ron Jansen said that the city has seen a surge of surveillance gear used by MPD. 'Between the growth of a fascist regime in Washington … and our own militarized and violent police force here in Milwaukee, it's clear that the last thing we need is more ways for police to track us,' Jansen said. He added that Flock networks are capable of tracking and cataloging 'people's every movement throughout a given day' even if they're not the target of an investigation. Other residents, including locals from Spiker's district and representatives from the court diversion non-profit program JusticePoint, also spoke against Flock's expansion. Tara Cavazos, executive director of the South 27th Street Business District, said Flock cameras had made her area safer. 'We are the initiators of these three additions to the Flock network,' said Cavazos. 'And we donated the funds for two years of use of these Flock cameras. So they're not coming from MPD's budget, it's coming out of our budgets. These Flocks are not going to be placed in a neighborhood, it's not specific to any vulnerable communities, they are in business districts on state and county highways.' Cavazos said that since Flocks have been deployed, car thefts declined 'significantly on the south end of our corridor, where the border between Milwaukee and Greenfield is,' and that 'we've caught a homicide suspect.' Leif Otteson, an executive director of two business districts, said that he hears from people who want more surveillance. Otteson recalled working to expand the city's ring camera network, which STAC and other parts of MPD's fusion center have access to. Otteson has talked with people who want cameras in their community gardens and other areas. 'I just want to make that clear, that people like myself are getting those requests,' said Otteson. Once public testimony concluded, the committee went into closed session for over an hour. The discussion pertained to an unspecified 'non-standard' provision in the Flock contract, which had been raised by the city attorney's office. When the committee returned to open session, they voted 4-1 to hold the file due to legal concerns with the contract until the next committee meeting on June 18. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Yahoo
Man who died in Milwaukee Jail identified
The Milwaukee County Jail. (Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner) A man who died at the Milwaukee County Jail earlier this week has been identified as Gabriel Muniz-Jimenez, 33. Records from the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner's Office, obtained by Wisconsin Examiner, show that Muniz-Jimenez was pronounced dead Wednesday at 10:56 p.m. He is the second person to die in the jail so far this year. On Thursday, the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office (MCSO) reported that an unidentified 33-year-old man had died after his cellmate reported to correctional officers that the man 'appeared to be unconscious and in medical distress,' Urban Milwaukee reported. The sheriff's office said that the deceased man had been booked into the jail in November on felony methamphetamine possession. Online court records show that Muniz-Jimenez was charged with methamphetamine possession in April 2024 and the court case was filed in July. Booking information online shows that Muniz-Jimenez was booked into the jail in late November on methamphetamine charges. Court records showed that Muniz-Jimenez required a Spanish interpreter in court. The sheriff's office announcement this week said officers attempted lifesaving measures including the use of Narcan, which can reverse an opioid overdose. A demographic report from the Medical Examiner's Office on Muniz-Jimenez labels the cause as undetermined. MCSO has not responded to a request for comment, and the Waukesha County Sheriffs Department, which is investigating the death, declined to identify who died in the jail. The MCSO is a member of the Milwaukee Area Investigative Team (MAIT), which handles officer-involved deaths such as shootings and in-custody deaths. The Milwaukee County Jail has garnered controversy for deaths in recent years. The 2022 suicide of 21-year-old Brieon Green was the first of six in a 14-month period, and families of people who died have allied with activists to call attention to the deaths. In March, 48-year-old Joseph Boivin died at Froedtert Hospital after being found by a nurse in the middle of a health emergency at the jail. A jail audit detected numerous issues, including use of force and what the auditors called 'dangerous suicide watch practices.' A recent review by the Texas-based auditor Creative Corrections found that the jail has come into full compliance with 71.2% of the proposed corrective actions, with another 28.8% being in partial compliance. The jail still needs to fund two new suicide watch cells. Jail officials are renovating housing areas and have said they are updating suicide watch policies. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
21-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Mainers deserve investment in our health and stability — not family separation
Voces de la Frontera gather alongside allies in Milwaukee for a protest on May Day, 2021. (Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner) Maine voters send our elected officials to Washington to solve problems — not make them worse. But Congress is moving forward with budget plans that would harm the health, stability, and well-being of Maine's families, aging residents, and immigrant communities. Fortunately, Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King and our representatives have the opportunity to reject these dangerous proposals and fund real solutions. The proposals being advanced by Congress would slash funding for healthcare and food assistance that Mainers rely on and funnel billions into expanding the Trump administration's capacity to separate families and put immigrants in detention — severely compromising our communities' health, safety, and stability. As the oldest state in the country, Maine communities rely on Medicaid and a strong healthcare system to stay healthy. More than 350,700 Mainers rely on Medicaid, which faces billions in budget cuts under these proposals. These cuts could cause devastating damage to our healthcare economy. Community health centers — serving 204,000 patients at 174 clinics across the state — would likely have to close their doors, costing over 2,200 jobs. Our families also depend on food assistance, but the current budget proposals threaten to take it away. On top of the USDA cuts that pull food from the shelves of distributors like Good Shepherd Food Bank, Congress's proposals would sharply cut Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) funding, which feeds over 172,200 — or one in eight — Maine residents. While these budget plans make devastating cuts to programs that Maine's young and old depend on, they authorize Congress to allocate billions to separate families and uproot workers who call Maine home. Immigrants are integral members of our state's communities, but Congress's budget proposals include up to $350 billion — potentially up to a half-trillion — to drastically expand the Trump administration's ability to detain and deport our immigrant neighbors. The administration's Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency recently put out a request for proposal for new detention centers — potential contracts totaling up to $45 billion. The funding to pay for them would come directly from taxpayers. The devastation from this inhumane investment would be felt most acutely by our families and economy. Over 20,500 children in Maine have at least one immigrant parent. As of 2023, nearly 53,450 immigrants live in Maine — and though they make up only 3.8% of the state's population, immigrant workers account for nearly 5% of the state's labor force, filling critical gaps as older generations retire. In 2023 alone, Maine's immigrant residents paid $625.8 million in taxes, contributing to the Medicare, Social Security, and other programs that Mainers depend on. Instead of taking taxpayers' dollars away from healthcare and nutrition to fund family separation and tax breaks for the wealthy, Congress must invest in solutions that enhance the health, stability, and family unity of all Mainers. They should invest in less costly, more supportive services like legal representation that uphold the right to due process and help people navigate the immigration system without taking them away from their families, communities, and jobs. And they should maintain and support our nation's longstanding investment in healthcare and food assistance. The stakes for our communities couldn't be higher, and the budget decisions made by Congress this spring will have long-lasting consequences. As Maine's members of Congress move forward with their debates on budget reconciliation, we urge them to remember this: the health and stability of our communities is in your hands; we send you to Washington to solve problems and deliver solutions that give every Mainer a fair shot at building a safe, healthy, and meaningful life. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
18-04-2025
- Politics
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ACLU letter raises alarm about Milwaukee PD surveillance
A surveillance van or "critical response vehicle". (Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner) The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Wisconsin has issued a letter asking elected leaders in Milwaukee to temper the acquisition and use of surveillance technologies by the Milwaukee Police Department (MPD). On Thursday evening, the police department went before the Fire and Police Commission (FPC) to push for the use of facial recognition technology. This, along with the common council's recent approval of drone usage by the MPD, has spurred the ACLU to call for a two-year pause on the adoption of new surveillance technologies, and craft frameworks to regulate the technology MPD already has 'with meaningful opportunities for community input.' Although it acknowledges that many on the council and within MPD 'care deeply about the safety and well-being of our city,' the ACLU's letter also warns that 'history has shown time and again, authoritarianism does not always arrive with flashing lights and villainous speeches — it often comes wrapped in routine procedure, paperwork, and people 'just doing their jobs.'' 'We are already seeing how surveillance technology is being weaponized in real time,' the ACLU continued, citing data-gathering, automatic license plate readers, artificial intelligence (AI), and other tools that are used to 'target and detain individuals.' The MPD has long denied that it uses facial recognition technology. As part of an investigation into surveillance technologies which the department obtained ahead of the 2020 Democratic National Convention (DNC), Wisconsin Examiner reviewed 'investment justification' records from the state's Homeland Security Council which suggested that the Southeastern Threat Analysis Center — a homeland security-focused aspect of the MPD's intel-gathering Fusion Center — utilized Clear facial recognition technology. It was described as a 'mobile device' that would allow police to 'conduct timely identification of individuals in the field to prevent terrorist attack.' By contrast, MPD PowerPoint presentations prepared for the April 17 FPC meeting openly advertise the use of facial recognition. The PowerPoint details two examples of arrests made using facial recognition software. One 'case study' from March 2024 involved a fatal gun violence incident where the suspects fled. The PowerPoint said that they were later seen at a gas station, and that facial recognition software provided leads to both suspects. Noting that 'facial recognition results are advisory in nature and are to be treated as investigative leads only,' the PowerPoint states that a Department of Corrections agent confirmed the software's results, leading to arrests the next morning. One of the PowerPoint slides shows in-custody photographs of the arrested men above pictures of them masked in a gas station. The slides showed that the facial recognition software had a 'similarity' rating of 99.7% for one man, and 98.1% for another. Both men are waiting for a trial. The other case study focused on a sexual assault incident involving a gun. Like the other example, surveillance footage of the suspect from a gas station helped lead to the arrest. MPD sent out a facial recognition request to local agencies. It was answered by the Wauwatosa Police Department, which returned two pictures of the same individual. The pictures had similarity ratings of 99.1% and 98.9% respectively. The arrested man was sentenced to 20 years in prison. The PowerPoint presentation lists 14 cases from the North and South Sides of Milwaukee. It states that MPD 'would be diligent in balancing the need for effective, accurate investigations and the need to respect the privacy of others,' and that facial recognition does not establish probable cause to arrest someone or obtain a warrant. 'It may generate investigative leads through a combination of automated biometric comparisons and human analysis,' the PowerPoint states. 'Corroborating information must be developed through additional investigation.' PUBLIC Facial Rec for FPC A PowerPoint presentation detailing the Milwaukee PD's plans for facial recognition software. MPD has reviewed procedures for the technology's use nationwide, and stated that 'oversight of the system will consist of an audit report showing information requested, accessed, searched, or disseminated.' All requests for facial recognition must be approved by a supervisor, and the department will keep a log of each search and the type of crime involved. Biometrica is the chosen facial recognition vendor. The PowerPoint states that the company has worked with the NAACP and the ACLU to provide anti-bias training for users of the software. The reassurances, however, do little to quell the concerns of privacy advocates. In their letter to the MPD and common council, the ACLU of Wisconsin highlighted ongoing immigrant roundups by the Trump administration, and the deportation of Milwaukee residents to a notorious maximum security terrorism prison in El Salvador. 'It is being used to monitor and prosecute political protesters, people seeking reproductive health care, LGBTQ+ individuals, and doctors trying to provide care,' the letter states. 'These are not projections — these are present-day realities carried out by bad actors within the federal government and local jurisdictions.' The ACLU letter warns, 'while we trust that our local leaders and police officers have good intentions, history reminds us how quickly larger systems can override those intentions.' In recent years MPD has expanded its network of surveillance cameras and other activities such as its phone surveillance operations remain shrouded in secrecy. MPD has also built up its social media surveillance footprint using AI-powered software, after downplaying the very existence of those activities in years past. 'Data collected in Milwaukee does not stay in Milwaukee,' the ACLU states. 'Once it enters a federal pipeline, it can be accessed, shared, and used in ways we cannot predict — or stop. That's why now, more than ever, we must choose restraint. The rule of law at the federal level is unraveling before our eyes.' The same set of concerns came up during a March 20 FPC meeting, where commissioners discussed the MPD's use of drones and facial recognition technology. Police officials claimed that complaints about law enforcement using drones lagged behind the rate of agencies acquiring the technology, suggesting that the public approves. Police officials said that MPD's 'Airborne Assessment Team,' which is attached to the department's Specialized Patrol Division, would help increase situational awareness, de-escalate dangerous situations, aid search-and-rescue, help manage major events and offer unique opportunities to 'positively engage' with the community. In protest situations, drones would allow MPD to monitor an area while not physically placing officers nearby, whose presence could trigger an escalation among the protest crowd. MPD said that its drones do not have facial recognition capabilities. Still, the growth of MPD's surveillance powers have worried some community members. Commissioner Bri Spencer said during the meeting that it would be nice for a community-based tech advisory board to be established to help review MPD's surveillance requests. Spencer said that nationwide and historically, it's not unheard-of for law enforcement surveillance programs to get out of hand. 'I get it for water rescue, I'm very worried about things like protests,' said Spencer. 'I think for very good reason. Our federal government is doing some very funky things right now with protesters. So I get what you're saying, and I see in the SOP that you're like, 'We're not going to do that.' I don't know if that's sufficient in terms of a protection, particularly for people who are skeptical about the use of these technologies.' Police officials said that drones are a crowd management tool, and that during the Republican National Convention (RNC) they helped monitor protest movements to ensure opposing groups didn't come into contact with one another. Spencer reiterated, 'I think I just worry about the cost to individual civil rights and, like, how that's going to just keep growing in our society…I wish the public had more input into whether or not the use of this type of technology is happening here. Talking to the community is not the same as letting them have a decision about whether or not they want drones in their city being run by police.' MPD spokespeople said the department based its drone usage procedures on best practice guidance from the ACLU, and that the department is 'very late' to the drone game. The Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office, for example, officially announced its drone program in 2021. Ahead of the DNC nearly five years ago, the MPD acquired large white vans called 'critical response vehicles', which are also attached to the Specialized Patrol Division and came equipped with their own tethered aerial drones. Wisconsin Examiner found that the sheriff's drones were used to monitor police accountability protests, with the number of flights dropping significantly once the protests subsided. In its letter Thursday, the ACLU stressed that police abuse of surveillance 'is not ancient history' but rather 'it's living memory for many in our city.' Some may remember the reign of police chief Harold Breier, who surveilled civil rights activists, LGBTQ+ communities, and Black Milwaukeeans. 'And those who carried out that surveillance often believed they were 'just doing their jobs.'' The ACLU's letter questions what a personality like Chief Breier would do with today's surveillance powers. 'We're not calling for a ban,' the letter states. Instead, the ACLU calls for a two-year pause on acquiring new surveillance technologies, especially facial recognition technology, 'while we assess the potential risks.' In the meantime, the letter urges city leaders to 'pass a framework for regulating existing surveillance technology, such as adopting a Community Control Over Police Surveillance (CCOPS) Ordinance to bring accountability to these decisions before it's too late.'
Yahoo
16-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Milwaukee County Board makes stand against ICE
Voces de la Frontera gather alongside allies in Milwaukee for a protest on May Day, 2021. (Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner) The Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors passed a resolution Tuesday opposing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents 'operating outside the limits of the law in and around the Milwaukee County Courthouse Complex,' while also calling on the sheriff to work with the county executive and chief judge of the First Judicial District to 'ensure access to services and safeguard every individual's constitutional right to due process.' During the board committee meeting Chairwoman Marcelia Nicholson called the resolution, which she authored with Supervisors Caroline Gomez-Tom and Juan Miguel Martinez, both 'reactive' and 'proactive.' The resolution also calls for Milwaukee County residents to be educated on their rights during immigration encounters, such as distributing educational material around the courthouse complex. 'Let me be clear,' Nicholson said, 'everyone regardless of immigration status deserves due process. And that's not a radical idea, that's the Constitution. And yet when federal immigration enforcement takes place in our courthouse complex, it sends families into hiding, deters survivors of violence from seeking protection and discourages tenants from asserting their rights.' Nicholson said that 'it erodes trust in the very systems we are responsible for upholding.' In early April, the community learned of two ICE arrests in the county courthouse. The Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office said in a press statement that ICE had not given prior notice of one of the arrests and that the sheriff's office was not involved in making the arrests. Days later, the men were identified as Edwin Bustamante-Sierre, 27, and Marco Cruz-Garcia, 24. ICE said that the men had been convicted of violent crimes or were linked to gangs. Online court records show that one of the men, Cruz-Garcia, was arrested the same day he went to family court for a domestic violence-related restraining order, which was dropped that day. Nicholson said the arrests took place in the 'public hallways of our courthouse and Safety Building.' She added, 'That action didn't just detain individuals, it delivered a message: 'This space may not be safe for people who look a certain way, or speaks a certain language.'' The arrests were widely condemned by local officials and activists. Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley said in a statement that the courthouse 'stands as a cornerstone of justice where residents come to seek information, resources and fair participation in the legal process' and that 'an attack on this safe, community-serving space undermines public trust, breeds fear among citizens and staff and disrupts the due process essential to our courts.' Milwaukee County Chief Judge Carl Ashley, as well as members of the Board of Supervisors also decried the arrests. Local groups from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Wisconsin to Voces de la Frontera, and the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression also blasted ICE for making arrests in the courthouse. The ACLU highlighted that ICE enforcement often causes immigrant communities to avoid contacting law enforcement, even when they are in danger of becoming crime victims. On April 10, Congresswoman Gwen Moore said in a statement that 'ICE has seemingly front-run Milwaukee's justice system, potentially denying the city justice and potential victims a remedy.' Moore added, 'This Administration's decision to remove sensitive location protections will stir even more fear in our communities, prevent victims of crime from coming forward, and disrupt houses of worship, schools, and hospitals.' In a joint statement Nicholson, Gomez-Tom, and Miguel Martinez said that the resolution 'puts us on the right side of history and the right side of humanity.' The resolution is 'about helping people … protection process…[and] protecting the promise of what our Courthouse is meant to be – a place of fairness, access, and truth.' During public testimony on Tuesday, Sup. Willie Johnson Jr. said that he agreed that the arrests 'were an erosion of trust'. Echoing Nicholson's words Johnson said that 'we are stewards of Milwaukee County government, we represent the citizens of this county and we should be respectful of the rights of people to go about their business, be where they need to be, and do what they need to do.' Sup. Miguel Martinez said 'this is just the first step towards creating more action.' The board is expecting a report back from the sheriff and county executive regarding rules around the courthouse, he said. 'This administration really is descending into 1939 Nazi Germany,' Miguel Martinez continued. 'And I'm not saying that with hyperbole because there's people that are getting deported and people that are citizens, and are not returning. We have people with residency getting their residency stripped away from them. And every single day, it descends into more and more madness.' He said that it was the responsibility of board members 'as local representatives of our communities, that we make sure that we fight every single day against this unlawful administration, and make sure that we let everybody know that we are here to protect them, and we won't let our country descend into absolute tyrannical madness.' Sup. Gomez-Tom added that it is the county government's responsibility 'to serve our community, and all inhabitants of our county.' Milwaukee County residents go to the courthouse for many different services besides the justice system, including victim services, child support or obtaining legal documents, 'and everyone should have a right to do so, and to do so in peace,' said Gomez-Tom. Supervisors Anne O'Connor said that to her knowledge, the Trump administration is the first to pursue immigration arrests in what were once considered 'safe places' such as courthouses or churches. At a press conference she attended in the days after the arrests, O'Connor said, ICE agents were parked illegally outside and wouldn't identify themselves further. She described the feeling as 'a cloak of anonymity' and said her constituents are concerned about vulnerable communities such as resettled Afghan-U.S. allies, Rohingya, and Congolese communities who get services from nonprofits. Sup. Patti Logsdon abstained from voting on the resolution's passage, saying her decision 'is not a reflection of indifference or opposition to the values of justice or fairness,' but concern about the legal uncertainty surrounding the passing and implications of this resolution.' Logsdon asked for legal guidance as to what policies the county has in place already to guide ICE interactions, as well as the legal jeopardy elected officials who support policies that could conflict with federal immigration law may find themselves. Logsdon also questioned whether Milwaukee County could be sued for going against immigration enforcement, who would pay for it and how much it would cost 'in defending and educating undocumented immigrants about their rights.' Several members of the public also attended the board meeting, expressing support for the resolution, concern for immigrant communities and opposition to Trump administration immigration policies. Gomez-Tom noted that she is the daughter of Mexican immigrants. 'I know what that chilling effect looks like when someone in your family is at risk…maybe isn't even at risk, but is scared that they could be at risk of being detained, of being questioned,' she said. 'What happens is people get paralyzed.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
