Here & Now

Closer Look: Marathon County Deputy Sheriff On Immigration

Frederica Freyberg:

There’s also a lot of fear and uncertainty in communities in northcentral Wisconsin according to local authorities. There’s a large Hispanic population in and around Wausau and that’s where local law enforcement is working to calm fears. We’re joined tonight by the chief deputy of the Marathon County Sheriff’s Department Chad Billeb. Thank you for being here.

Chad Billeb:

Thank you for inviting me.

Frederica Freyberg:

How did you become aware there are fears in the Hispanic community about new immigration rules?

Chad Billeb:

The sheriff and I were approached by a member of the Hispanic community. He’s an activist with that community who told us about fears especially on the west end of our county where parents were afraid to take their children to school, were afraid to go to work and go about their daily routines. So we suggested and asked that he link us up with those individuals. And that we do our best to help quell their fears.

Frederica Freyberg:

Are those fears unfounded?

Chad Billeb:

I don’t know where those fears come from. I’m sure that some of what they hear in the media and news reports just word of mouth that goes through those communities is what gets that fear started. And we want to reassure those citizens they have nothing to worry about.

Frederica Freyberg:

Because what are you telling people in that regard?

Chad Billeb:

What we’re telling them is that at this point in time we have had no new information or new direction provided to us and that we’ll continue to work with their communities like we always have and that we are not actively out enforcing immigration law because we’ve never been tasked with that in the past and this point in time do not plan to do any type of enforcement activity like that.

Frederica Freyberg:

What law enforcement ramifications are there to people being afraid of law enforcement?

Chad Billeb:

What our fear is, if there’s a perception of fear that any law enforcement officer they come in contact with is going to be enforcing immigration law, that they might take drastic actions to flee or evade or heaven forbid, fight with law enforcement in order to maintain that freedom they believe they have.

Frederica Freyberg:

And in what kind of circumstance would this be most likely to happen? I understand, you know, people might be, as you say, afraid to kind of leave their house and would that include driving on the highway?

Chad Billeb:

It can include any number of different scenarios. Driving is certainly one of them. We know that they have to get to and from school. They have to get to and from work and if their fear is being pulled over by a law enforcement officer might result in their detention, we don’t want them to take off on us. That’s our goal in reaching out to them because it puts everyone in the community at risk when something like that happens.

Frederica Freyberg:

And can you speak on behalf of your sheriff’s department about what would be the reaction there if, in fact, ICE came in with major enforcement?

Chad Billeb:

What I can tell you from our perspective is right now we are running a jail that is extremely overcrowded. We currently have inmates housed in several surrounding counties. Today we have close to 120 inmates housed out. We simply don’t have the space to detain any more individuals in our county. We're putting forth a lot of effort in order to control that jail population, a lot of alternative programs and quite honestly considering the drug problem we’re having here in central Wisconsin, it’s becoming increasingly difficult. So housing alone would be a huge obstacle for us.

Frederica Freyberg:

And yet you aren’t suggesting, I presume, that if there are immigrants, undocumented immigrants that actually are wanted for a particular crime that you’re not going to touch them?

Chad Billeb:

Absolutely. What I can tell everyone is we’ll continue to do as we have in the past. If someone has a warrant, there is a detainer for them or they’ve committed a crime, then we will detain. We will go through the standard immigration practices like we have in the past and we will handle those cases on a case-by-case basis. We are not going out and actively searching out individuals to detain, though, who have not committed a crime, don’t have a detainer or a warrant.

Frederica Freyberg:

And when we describe committing a crime, is that any kind of crime?

Chad Billeb:

It's a crime that would normally have someone incarcerated or arrested so they be treated no differently than anyone else that we would come in contact with. Major offenses. We’re not talking a speeding ticket or a parking violation. These are crimes that would normally receive law enforcement attention just like any other citizen.

Frederica Freyberg:

What kind of guidance has your department or others had from ICE or other federal agencies on this?

Chad Billeb:

At this point, we have had no further direction. We hear the same reports other citizens are through media reports and until we get further direction we will continue as we have.

Frederica Freyberg:

All right. Chief Deputy Chad Billeb. Thanks very much for joining us.

Chad Billeb:

Thank you for having me.