Update: On Thursday afternoon, Attorney General Brenna Bird announced she had filed the threatened lawsuit against in Winneshiek County and Sheriff Marx.
In a report released Wednesday afternoon, the Iowa Attorney General’s Office said AG Brenna Bird will ask a district court to cut off all state funds for Winneshiek County over a Feb. 4 Facebook post by Sheriff Dan Marx. The post addressed questions Marx had been asked by county residents, who were concerned about potential actions by “federal agents from three letter agencies including ICE, FBI and others” and what role the sheriff’s office “would play during such a visit or operation.”
“I share your mistrust and many of your concerns with the legitimacy of how these federal agents conduct business,” Marx wrote. He then explained that he and his officers will assist ICE and other federal law enforcement agencies if requested when those agencies’ “actions and paperwork are within constitutional parameters.”
But if “their actions or paperwork are not within constitutional parameters (such as non-judicially vetted ‘detainers,’ which are very different than warrants and are simply an unconstitutional ‘request’ from ICE or other three letter federal agency to arrest or hold someone), then we will make every effort to block, interfere and interrupt their actions from moving forward.”
According to Marx’s post, “The only reason detainers are issued is because the federal agency does not have enough information or has not taken the time to obtain a valid judicial warrant. Simply put, they are not sure they are detaining the right person and need more time to figure it out… [T]hese detainers are violations of our 4th Amendment protection against warrantless search, seizure and arrest, and our 6th Amendment right to due process.”
“Our sole oath and allegiance are to the Constitution and the protection of an individual’s rights,” the sheriff said. Marx said he was describing his “long-time stance on not recognizing detainers.”
According to Bird, this Facebook post — just the post by itself, rather than any actions taken by the sheriff or his deputies — is a violation of Iowa law. “Violating Iowa Code chapter 27A has one remedy under State law: loss of funding for the county,” the AG’s report states.
That section of Iowa Code was created by SF 481, which Gov. Kim Reynolds signed into law in April 2018. Reynolds, and the Republicans in the Iowa Legislature who passed the bill, said it was necessary to address the problem of “sanctuary cities” in Iowa, despite the fact there were no sanctuary cities in Iowa. The governor was possibly more candid about the motivation for the bill in a campaign fundraising letter she sent to supporters two months earlier in which she said the bill was a way to “send a message to the far-left liberals in Des Moines and Iowa City.”
Reynolds was running for governor for the first time in 2018, after becoming governor when Terry Branstad resigned for a role in the first Trump administration. During the campaign she routinely appealed to fears Iowans might have about undocumented immigrants in the state.
Under the section of Iowa law created by SF 481, anyone can file a complaint with the Iowa Attorney General’s Office or a county attorney’s office alleging a local government is failing to fully cooperate with federal immigration agents, or does something to discourage law enforcement officers from cooperating with federal immigration agents. The new section of Iowa Code also requires police departments to detain people at the request of those agents, even if the person isn’t charged with a crime.
In the case of Winneshiek County, it was Gov. Reynolds who filed the complaint.
“Based on the sheriff’s posted policy this letter shall be treated as a complaint I am filing with the attorney general…” the governor said in a letter to the Winneshiek County Board of Supervisors and Sheriff Marx. The letter is dated Feb. 5, the day after Marx’s Facebook post. “Understand that a sheriff and a county can become ineligible to receive any state funds if the local entity is found to have intentionally violated the provisions of [Iowa Code] Chapter 27A.”
AG Bird announced the same day she was responding to Reynolds’ complaint by opening an investigation into Marx and the sheriff’s department. On Feb. 7, Bird’s office sent the sheriff a request for information, and Marx supplied all the requested information on Feb. 14.
According to the report, the AG’s Office has concluded that the sheriff and his deputies have been cooperating with ICE. Since SF 481 went into effect in 2018, the sheriff’s office has received 21 detainer requests from ICE, and it has complied with all of them. The official written policy of the sheriff’s office on working with ICE meets the standard of cooperation required by Chapter 27A, and a statement from the Winneshiek County Attorney’s Office confirmed that the county, including the sheriff’s office, was complying with the law.
Even though all the official actions taken by Marx and his deputies are considered to be in compliance, the AG’s Office said, “Sheriff Marx’s Facebook post violated Iowa Code section 27A.4 by discouraging ‘the enforcement of immigration laws.’”
The report quotes from the cover letter Marx sent with information he provided, in which the sheriff states, “I expect my deputies to obey all federal, state, local and Constitutional requirements as they serve the people of Winneshiek County. When my deputies work with another state, local or federal law enforcement agency, it is my expectation that those agencies will also obey the law and protect the constitutional rights of those people that we are expected to serve . . . I acknowledge that some of the language I used in the letter could have been clearer on this point.”
That acknowledgement isn’t good enough for the attorney general.
“First, the Sheriff must delete the offending Facebook post,” the report states. “Second, to correct the discouragement he must make a new post with substantially the following language:”
People of Winneshiek County,
The Winneshiek County Sheriff’s Office fully complies with all state and federal law. We cooperate with ICE, FBI, and others under both state and federal law. Iowa law requires full and complete cooperation with federal immigration authorities. We follow that law. We will always comply with ICE detainers and, at least since November 26, 2018, we have done so. This post serves as formal revocation of my earlier February 4, 2025 post.
Since we adopted our official policy that we will comply with ICE detainers, we have complied with all 21 ICE detainers that ICE has made with our office. We will continue to comply with every ICE detainer request made in Winneshiek County.
On February 4, I posted a message on Facebook that implied we would not fully comply with state and federal law. I have deleted that message, which I disavow. It was wrong. It made many incorrect statements regarding my Office’s policies on ICE detainers. This message explaining that the Winneshiek County Sheriff’s Office has always complied with every single ICE detainer made and will continue to comply, as required by both state and federal law, replaces that message.
My office has a long-time stance on recognizing and complying with ICE detainers. We will continue to do so.
Respectfully,
Sheriff Dan Marx
The report, which is dated March 26, said that Marx had until 5 p.m. on Wednesday, March 26, to delete his original Facebook post and then publish a Facebook post with the sort of language the attorney general wants, or “the Attorney General will file an enforcement action as required by chapter 27A.” [Bold type in the original.]
It’s not clear when the AG’s Office informed Marx of that deadline. The office published the report online at 4:44 p.m. on Wednesday, just 16 minutes ahead of the deadline.
Shortly after noon on Thursday, Marx’s Feb. 4 was removed from the Winneshiek County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page. And at 12:14 p.m., a new post was published on the page addressing the complaint filed by Gov. Reynolds and the AG Office’s report.
“Upon the conclusion of the investigation, to prevent litigation and potential loss of state funding, the Attorney General’s Office required us to take down the original post and replace Sheriff’s Marx’s original statement with a statement the Attorney General’s Office had scripted,” the new post said. “The language of the post proposed by the Attorney General was not acceptable to the County. To demonstrate good faith, we chose to take the post down, and for the sake of transparency to the people of Winneshiek County, we are posting, below, our February 14, 2025, response to the AG’s request for information.”
“Sheriff Marx’s response outlines how Winneshiek County has been in compliance with Iowa Code Chapter 27A while protecting the constitutional rights of our citizens. The response also confirms the Sheriff’s Office commitment to remain in compliance with State and Federal immigration laws while staying true to the Constitutional protections afforded the citizens of Winneshiek County. “
“While we are disappointed and disagree with the Attorney General’s conclusion, we remain confident that this issue can be resolved.”
The AG’s Office has not issued any further statements about the complaint since publishing the report on Wednesday.
Gov. Reynolds’ Feb. 5 letter regarding Sheriff Marx was the first, and so far only, time a complaint has been filed under Iowa Code Section 27A.
