As Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity has ramped up across the Twin Cities, area residents have lined up to passionately express their opinions on a rumored plan to house detainees in the Carver County Jail.

“People have voiced their opinions on both sides of that issue,” Carver County Sheriff Jason Kamerud reported in a phone interview. “My email was flooded with people discouraging me from pursuing the contract and people encouraging me to pursue the contract.”

Trouble is, there never was serious consideration given to the idea, because the jail facility — with a capacity of 111 beds — cannot handle the influx expected from rising ICE detentions.

Kamerud said he did have a conversation with an ICE official about the possibility of a contract for a guaranteed number of beds in the Carver County Jail, but nothing came of it.

The sheriff’s department actually contracted with ICE for decades to assist their operations in the region, Kamerud explained. But that contract lapsed during the COVID-19 pandemic and was never renewed.

“We had a conversation about rekindling that contract,” he said.

The sheriff’s team investigated the idea but quickly determined it wasn’t feasible. The jail’s average daily population typically hovers around 50, and setting aside the 60 beds needed for ICE holds would provide little if any wiggle room.

“That doesn’t give me any bandwidth to accommodate additional arrests,” Kamerud said. “I can do the math.”

Under the county’s previous contract with ICE, the jail would house between 20 and 30 detainees at any given time. Kamerud said the Carver County Jail could manage that level of influx.

“The previous contract was much looser,” he recalled. “They only paid for beds that they used. And we only provided that space when we had space.”

Because of the growing number of ICE detentions throughout the Twin Cities, Kamerud suggested that federal officials might not have even approved a contract for just 60 guaranteed beds.

“They’re typically looking for 100-plus beds,” he said. “So less than 60 was a deal breaker for them, and 60 or more was a deal breaker for us.”

Kamerud said the conversation never turned to the financial aspects of a possible contract, but the expectation was that ICE would have paid a daily rate for each guaranteed bed. Any actual offer was a moot point, however, because the Carver County Jail couldn’t come close to meeting ICE’s needs.

“There was no point in having any conversation about the economics,” he said.

Strong Opinions

Eight Carver County residents attended the Carver County Board of Commissioners meeting on Jan. 6 to speak against approval of any contract between the jail and ICE.

Monique LaCroix of Chaska spoke on behalf of one immigrant who was afraid to appear in person at the public meeting. She said the majority of undocumented Carver County residents are hard-working, contributing members of society, but they’ve now been forced into hiding.

“Fear has changed everything,” LaCroix said.

Kenneth Ribe, a retired pastor from Chanhassen, spoke on behalf of a single father who works as a food, grocery and medicine delivery driver to help feed his family. The undocumented resident now feels unsafe doing his job.

“I cannot risk being detained and unable to return home to my children,” the single father wrote.

Leslie Erickson of Chanhassen read a statement from an owner of a landscaping and snow removal business. Many of his employees are Hispanic and have stopped coming to work.

The increase in ICE activity throughout the region has negatively impacted the local workforce and is driving up labor costs, he reported.

“Migrant workers are a vital part of our local workforce,” he wrote. “They contribute to the functioning of our county every single day, often without recognition.”

Rebecca Varone of Chanhassen, a member of Crown of Glory Church in Chaska, said two Hispanic congregations meet at the church regularly. But during the entire month of DecemberV, a sacred month on the Christian calendar, one of those congregations didn’t meet at all.

“They are afraid to worship,” she reported.

She urged the county not to “hand the keys of the local jail to federal bureaucrats,” then asking, “When did we learn so much hate toward immigrants?”

Margaret Caldwell, a Carver County resident, said her job in the school readiness program interacts with migrant families regularly. She reported that many families now avoid going shopping or going to the doctor for fear of being detained and beaten.

“Having a detention center run by ICE will not be good for kids and families,” she said, “and will reflect poorly on who we are as a community.”

Ellie Krug of Victoria agreed that any cooperation with ICE will sully the reputation of the county.

“It will not make us look like a welcoming place,” she said. “In fact, it will make us look like an intolerant place.”

During the county meeting, Sally Brown of Chanhassen presented a petition with the signatures of 500 county residents expressing their opposition to a contract between Carver County and ICE.

Taking Care of Our Own

Sheriff Jason Kamerud has a different take on the detention of local residents by ICE agents. If given a choice, he’d prefer to house local immigrant residents in the Carver County Jail.

“ICE is going to do their job and detain some of them anyway,” he noted. “Where would I rather have Carver County residents housed? In the Carver County Jail in Chaska or in an ICE detention facility in Florida, Nebraska, El Salvador?

“To me, I think that our residents and their families are best served being housed in Chaska, where I know they’ll get medical care; where I know that their friends and family can come visit; where I know that we run a clean and decent facility and that their rights will be respected,” he continued. “I don’t know all of those things to be true in other facilities. I just know that’s how our facility is run, and I know that proximity to support mechanisms like family is important.”