According to the Blaine County Sheriff's Office, there are several officers who are now part of a task force working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security. Under the memorandum of understanding among the three agencies, those officers may apprehend persons in the United States without documentation.
Sheriff Travis Daugherty was quick to allay various rumors running wild in the county.
“We are not going house to house looking for illegals,” he said. “We are also not going to workplaces doing mass raids.”
As documented in a recent traffic stop body camera footage, an apprehension may proceed as follows: Once the officer makes a stop for a legitimate cause, he/she asks the driver for their license and registration and perhaps insurance verification. If everything is in order, the driver may be released with a ticket or warning.
However, as in the body camera case, if the driver is not verified – such as an expired license or no license – the officer may contact ICE to determine if that agency wants the driver detained.
When ICE responds with an affirmative reply, the officer places the driver (or a passenger) into custody. That individual is not held at the Blaine County Jail but instead is transferred to an approved facility.
The county is seeking to gain an agreement with Homeland Security allowing it to keep their detainees at the Watonga facility until they are processed and transported, but that agreement has not been reached as of yet.
During the traffic stop, the driver who was detained attempted to reenter his vehicle and was ‘taken down’ by the arresting officer. After the driver was placed in handcuffs, he began complaining of pain in his ribs and his breathing was ragged. There was some confusion about his medical history because of a language barrier, but he was transported to Mercy Hospital Watonga by ambulance and emergency medical personnel, where he was x-rayed and released with a cracked rib, according to the report at the Sheriff's Office. That report did not release the name of the driver, in keeping with HIPPA regulations.
He was later transported to a Logan County facility to be processed by Homeland Security.
However, members of the Hispanic community who asked their name not be used said that people of color are now more afraid of law enforcement and fear they may be stopped simply because of their skin color or nationality. Some have indicated they or their family members want to leave the county for someplace they consider safer whether they are in the country legally, naturalized citizens or were born here. They feel their families are at risk of being ripped apart and members deported even if they are no risk to society.
That, the source said, could take a toll on already stretched funding for the county, some of which goes to support the sheriff’s office. It could also leave hard to fill jobs, especially in agriculture, empty.
Daugherty asks that anyone with issues or questions about the county’s agreement with or the presence of ICE/Homeland Security officers in the county contact his office for more information.