As Minnesota Reels Amid Immigration Crackdown, a Sheriff Agonizes Over Her Role
#Sheriff Dawanna Witt #Hennepin County #ICE #Immigration Crackdown #Minnesota #Re-election #Department of Justice
📌 Key Takeaways
- Sheriff Dawanna Witt of Hennepin County is considering cooperating with ICE to potentially end an immigration crackdown in Minnesota.
- Witt's jail is the only one in the state that refuses to assist with federal immigration enforcement, a policy supported by her constituents.
- The sheriff faces a lawsuit from the Department of Justice and intense backlash from residents over her deputies' role in protecting a federal building.
- Witt's decision could impact her re-election chances and the broader immigration enforcement landscape in Minnesota.
📖 Full Retelling
🏷️ Themes
Immigration Enforcement, Political Dilemma, Community Backlash, Legal Challenges
📚 Related People & Topics
Minnesota
U.S. state
Minnesota is a state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the south, and North Dakota and South Dakota to the west. The northeast corner has...
Hennepin County, Minnesota
County in Minnesota, United States
Hennepin County ( HEN-ə-pin) is a county in the U.S. state of Minnesota. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,281,565, and was estimated to be 1,273,334 in 2024, making it the most populous county in Minnesota and the 34th-most populous county in the United States. Its county seat is Minneapo...
United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement
US federal law enforcement agency
# United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) **United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)** is a federal law enforcement agency operating under the jurisdiction of the **U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS)**. It serves as the primary investigative and enforcement ar...
🔗 Entity Intersection Graph
Connections for Minnesota:
- 🏢 United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (7 shared articles)
- 🌐 Presidency of Donald Trump (4 shared articles)
- 🌐 Minneapolis–Saint Paul (2 shared articles)
- 🌐 Sanctuary city (1 shared articles)
- 👤 Keith Ellison (1 shared articles)
- 🏢 Federal Bureau of Investigation (1 shared articles)
- 🌐 Philadelphia (1 shared articles)
- 🌐 Mail and wire fraud (1 shared articles)
- 🌐 Misdemeanor (1 shared articles)
- 🏢 Ministry of justice (1 shared articles)
- 👤 Jerry Blackwell (1 shared articles)
- 🌐 United States congressional hearing (1 shared articles)
📄 Original Source Content
Advertisement SKIP ADVERTISEMENT Supported by SKIP ADVERTISEMENT As Minnesota Reels Amid Immigration Crackdown, a Sheriff Agonizes Over Her Role Sheriff Dawanna Witt of Hennepin County says she thinks she could help end the crackdown by allowing some measure of cooperation with ICE. She also knows that could cost her re-election. Listen to this article · 6:57 min Learn more Share full article By Ernesto Londoño Reporting from Minneapolis Feb. 6, 2026, 5:04 a.m. ET As elected officials in Minnesota have desperately sought to persuade the Trump administration to end an immigration crackdown, Dawanna Witt, the sheriff of Hennepin County, finds herself in a pivotal spot. The jail she runs in Minneapolis is the largest in the state and the only one that refuses, as a matter of policy, to assist in any way with federal immigration enforcement. The approach is broadly supported by her constituents, Sheriff Witt said in an interview. But the sheriff said she had been agonizing over whether allowing some measure of cooperation with the federal authorities in their push for deportations might serve a broader good. “I don’t think that Donald Trump or Tom Homan are going to leave without feeling like they have some sort of win,” Sheriff Witt said, referring to the White House border czar, who has been newly assigned to oversee the crackdown in Minnesota. “I don’t ever want to be put in a position that I had the power to make them leave and another one of our citizens gets killed.” Speaking in her office in downtown Minneapolis this week, Sheriff Witt looked weary. The showdown over immigration enforcement between the Trump administration and elected Democrats in Minnesota has left Sheriff Witt under tremendous pressure from all sides. Sheriff Witt is a defendant in a lawsuit the Department of Justice filed in September, which argues that policies that restrict sharing of information with immigration officials amount to unlawful obstruction of federal law enforcement functions. ...