The Dictatorship
Pam Bondi’s cynical ploy to force sheriffs to do ICE’s dirty work
This week, sheriffs across the country said that they will not do the legally dubious work of the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement, even as newly sworn-in Attorney General Pam Bondi threatens prosecutions and funding cuts.
Sheriffs in Iowa, New York and North Carolina were among those who said they would not prioritize mass deportations.
Sheriffs in IowaNew York and North Carolina were among those who said they would not prioritize mass deportations, even after Bondi threatened to cut off federal funds to sanctuary jurisdictionsand acting U.S. Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove took the extraordinary step of calling for an investigation — and possible prosecution — of Tompkins County, New York, Sheriff Derek R. Osborne. At issue there is the court-ordered release of an undocumented immigrant from Sheriff Osborne’s jail. Sheriff Osborne and other Tompkins County officials have affirmed that the sheriff’s office followed all applicable laws, but Bove is attempting to use this case to send a warning to other jurisdictions that limit collaboration with immigration authorities.“We will use every tool at our disposal to prevent sanctuary city policies from impeding and obstructing lawful federal operations,” he said. But the Trump administration has a problem: Local jurisdictions have the legal discretion to make their own decisions on immigration enforcement, and sanctuary policies — which limit collaboration, rather than instructing or impeding federal authorities — are perfectly legal. That’s why the Trump administration is hoping that fear and misinformation, and using threats that violate the Constitution, will cow local leaders into collaboration.
Attacking sanctuary policies like the one in Tompkins County is not only cynical, it’s bad policy. The evidence is clear that, when sheriffs do the job of federal law enforcement, everybody is less safe. People become afraid and less likely to report crimes. Trust decreases in government overall. Immigrants are less likely to send their kids to school.That’s on top of the financial and personnel costs. Law enforcement agencies are having a hard time hiring. Terry Norris, the executive director of the Georgia Sheriffs Associationtold NPR, “Georgia sheriffs are like almost every other agency throughout the country. We have a very difficult time hiring deputies and jailers.”
Sheriffs’ jails are often overcrowded, with people dying every day across the country. They can ill afford to focus officers on a federal edict that won’t make their communities safer. Doing the administration’s job diverts local resources that could be used for substance use treatment and mental health support. Finally, immigration enforcement is complicated and increases the risk of wrongful detention, exposing sheriffs to liability and potential litigation.
For these reasons, sheriffs from Iowa to California have affirmed their unwillingness to aid the Trump administration’s efforts, or have pulled back on existing collaboration with immigration authorities. Sheriffs have recommitted their concern for the safety of all residents in their counties, terminated voluntary information sharing and affirmed their commitment to doing only what the law demands on immigration. “Our sole oath and allegiance are to the Constitution and the protection of an individual’s rights,” Winneshiek County Sheriff Dan Marx wrote in a Facebook post in which he vowed not to honor detainer requests from Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
But the Trump administration has decided that it knows better than local law enforcement. The administration needs local law enforcement to reach its deportation goals. During the first Trump administration, 47% of deportations from within the United States went through jails. “To the sheriffs in the room, we need your bed space. We need your 287(g) agreements,” Trump “border czar” Tom Homan told attendees of the National Sheriff Association meeting on Saturday, referring to a program that can grant some immigration enforcement powers to officers in participating local law enforcement agencies. “We need that force-multiplier,” he said.
The Trump administration has decided that it knows better than local law enforcement.
Already, jails in the United States are in a state of crisis. More than 1,000 people die each yearmost before they have faced trial. During the Biden administration, ICE took steps, albeit too limited, to make sure people in its custody were safe. In 2021, they revoked a contract with the Bristol, Massachusetts sheriff who was accused of assaulting incarcerated people during a disturbance in the jail. The closure followed a report from the state attorney general that found a “callous disregard for the well-being of immigration detainees” in the facility, citing, among other things, the use of pepper spray, flash bang grenades and dogs.The Trump administration wants to reverse that progress and go further. Homan told the sheriffs on Saturday that he would place people back in jails like Bristol, relaxing conditions under which someone can be held in ICE’s custody. These promises are part of a two-prong strategy: make it easy for sheriffs eager to participate in mass deportations and make other sheriffs believe they have no choice but to collaborate.
In some places, state laws prohibit voluntary cooperation with federal immigration authorities. In other states, the law requires this activity. However, it is clear everywhere that federal law does not require that sheriffs or other local officials participate. These sheriffs do not violate federal law because they are not interfering with immigration enforcement. Under the 10th Amendment’s long-standing “anti-commandeering doctrine,” state and local governments cannot be required to enforce federal immigration law.
Sheriffs and lawmakers who institute these policies are simply making a decision to prioritize other responsibilities — like focusing on the safety of their communities — rather than volunteering deputies to execute immigration authorities’ mandate. They don’t have to do what the Trump administration tells them to do. Despite this, Bove turned to the threat of prosecutions. Because they don’t have the force of law on their side, they hope to rely on the force of fear.In Tompkins County, New York, the sheriff’s office has been very clear that it has acted “consistently with New York State law and judicial decisionsCounty policy, guidance of the New York Attorney General’s Office, and guidance of the New York State Sheriffs’ Association.” In fact, officials there have argued that rather than any refusal to collaborate, this case was a matter of immigration authorities failing to act in a timely manner. “Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) knew exactly when the individual in question was going to be released and had every opportunity to come to the Tompkins County jail to obtain the individual in question without any need for a pursuit or other incident,” they said in a statement.
The facts on the ground seem to matter little to a DOJ that is more interested in political theater. Their plans for mass deportation will succeed or fail based on whether they can intimidate local law enforcement leaders like Derek Osborne into carrying out their dirty work for them. It’s up to all of us, attorneys and sheriffs and the public, to call them on their empty threats.
Sirine shebaya
Sirine Shebaya is the executive director of the National Immigration Project. She is an immigrant rights litigator and advocate who focuses on the intersection of immigration, civil rights, and racial justice. Under her leadership, the National Immigration Project combines movement-centered litigation, policy advocacy, narrative change, and training and education strategies to defend and advance the rights of immigrant communities of color. Sirine has led successful campaigns and lawsuits to disentangle local law enforcement from immigration enforcement, to expand protective policies at the federal level, and to challenge federal, state and local laws that harm immigrants.
Max Rose
Max Rose is the executive director of Sheriff Accountability Action, which works alongside grassroots organizers across the country to end mass incarceration and stop deportations while building progressive political power. Max lives in Durham, N.C. and is on the board of directors at DataWorks NC. His writing, in the American Prospect, Washington Monthly, and academic publications, has focused on racism, place and justice.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President JD Vance announced Wednesday that the Trump administration would “temporarily halt” some Medicaid funding to the state of Minnesota over fraud concernsas part of what he described as an aggressive crackdown on misuse of public funds.
Vance, who made the announcement with Dr. Mehmet Oz, the administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said the administration was taking the action “in order to ensure that the state of Minnesota takes its obligations seriously to be good stewards of the American people’s tax money.”
Oz, who referred to people committing fraud as “self-serving scoundrels,” said the federal government would hold off on paying $259.5 million to Minnesota in funding for Medicaid, the health care safety net for low-income Americans.
“This is not a problem with the people of Minnesota, it’s a problem with the leadership of Minnesota and other states who do not take Medicaid preservation seriously,” Oz said.
Wednesday’s move is part of a larger Trump administration effort to spotlight fraud around the country. That effort comes after allegations of fraud involving day care centers run by Somali residents in Minneapolis prompted a massive immigration crackdown in the Midwestern city, resulting in widespread protests. President Donald Trump, in his State of the Union address on Tuesday, announced Vance would spearhead a national “war on fraud.”
Trump also recently nominated Colin McDonald to serve as the first assistant attorney general in charge of a Justice Department division dedicated to rooting out fraud.
Minnesota pushes back
Oz said the administration was simultaneously notifying Minnesota’s Democratic Gov. Tim Walz as he was making the announcement publicly.
“We will give them the money, but we’re going to hold it and only release it after they propose and act on a comprehensive corrective action plan to solve the problem,” Oz said.
He said Walz would have 60 days to respond and advised health care providers and Medicaid beneficiaries who were concerned to contact Walz’s office.
Walz, former Vice President Kamala Harris’ 2024 running mate, said in a pair of social media posts that the administration’s move had nothing to do with fraud.
“This is a campaign of retribution. Trump is weaponizing the entirety of the federal government to punish blue states like Minnesota,” Walz said. “These cuts will be devastating for veterans, families with young kids, folks with disabilities, and working people across our state.”
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said in a statement that his team has secured over 300 Medicaid fraud convictions since he took office in 2019. And he noted that he called on the Legislature earlier Wednesday to give him more staff and new legal tools to combat Medicaid fraud.
“Courts have repeatedly found that their pattern of cutting first and asking questions later is illegal, and if the federal government is unlawfully withholding money meant for the 1.2 million low-income Minnesotans on Medicaid, we will see them in court,” Ellison said.
Oz said the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services were also taking action to crack down on fraud in Medicare, the health care system relied upon by millions of older adults.
He said CMS for six months would block any new Medicare enrollments for suppliers of durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics or other supplies used to treat chronic conditions or assist in injury recovery.
The Office of the Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services found last year that Medicare improperly paid suppliers nearly $23 million for durable medical equipment from 2018 through 2024. But it found that most of that was before January 2020, when changes to the system were implemented.
Oz also announced a new crowdsourcing effort he said would help “crush fraud” by soliciting Americans’ tips and suggestions.
“All of us are smarter than any one of us,” he said.
In a news release accompanying the announcement, CMS said the funding being paused in Minnesota included some $244 million in unsupported or potentially fraudulent Medicaid claims and about $15 million in claims involving “individuals lacking a satisfactory immigration status.”
Immigrants who are not living in the U.S. legally, as well as some lawfully present immigrants, are not allowed to enroll in the Medicaid program that provides nearly-free coverage for health services.
CMS said in the release that if Minnesota fails to satisfy its requirements, it may defer up to $1 billion in federal funds to the state over the next year. CMS spokesperson Catherine Howden said the agency’s review of potential fraud cases would include sampling claims to see if they comply with federal requirements, and potentially requesting more information about specific claims.
Akeiisa Coleman, the senior program officer for Medicaid at the Commonwealth Fund, said CMS was taking a “highly unusual step” in deferring funding. She said if the state doesn’t have enough funds available, it may have to halt payments to providers, which could affect care.
Democratic-run states face cutoffs
The administration has threatened to cut off funding for various programs for some Democratic-run states over fraud concerns over the last few months.
One judge blocked those actions and required that payments flowing to Minnesota and four other states — California, Colorado, Illinois and New York — for a variety of social service programs. The government had said that there was “reason to believe” that those states were granting benefits to people in the country illegally. It did not initially explain where that information came from, but a government lawyer told the judge it was largely in reaction to news reports about possible fraud.
Another judge said she would not let it cut off funding for administrative costs for 22 states that have refused to hand over information about applicants and recipients of food aid through the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program.
The latest action was prompted in part by a series of fraud cases, including a nonprofit called Feeding Our Future accused of stealing pandemic aid meant for school meals. Prosecutors have put the losses from that case at $300 million.
Since then, Trump has targeted the Somali diaspora in Minnesota with immigration enforcement actions and has made a series of disparaging comments about the community. During his State of the Union address on Tuesday, Trump said “pirates” have “ransacked Minnesota.”
Federal agencies have also been enlisted to assist in targeting fraud in Minnesota.
Last December, the U.S. Treasury Department issued an order requiring money wire services that people use to send money to Somalia to submit additional verification to the Treasury.
The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services told Minnesota in January that it intended to freeze parts of payments for some Medicaid programs that were deemed high-risk. The state said that those cuts would add up to more than $2 billion annually if they lasted and made an administrative appeal.
___
Associated Press writers Geoff Mulvihill in Philadelphia, Steve Karnowski in Minneapolis and Fatima Hussein in Washington contributed to this report.
Conservatives’ crusade against reproductive freedom is deathly serious. Two controversies over the past week highlight some of the violence undergirding the MAGA movement’s assault on the idea of people choosing when and whether to bear children.
In Tennessee, two GOP state lawmakers are gauging interest in legislation that would make people eligible for homicide charges — and potentially the death penalty — for receiving or assisting with an abortion.
The bill’s co-sponsor in the state Senate said he doesn’t think the bill currently has the votes but ultimately could. Per the WSMV television station in Nashville:
“We want to be very open and have a conversation, whether it’s controversial or not — let’s hear from all sides to see where we are as Tennessee and where we stand,”[stateSenMark[stateSenMark] Pody said. “Talking to some colleagues, we don’t have the votes to move something like that in the Senate at this moment.”
Pody said he does not consider the bill dead on arrival in the Senate, adding he believes there is a possibility for negotiation and that Republicans in the House and Senate could reach an agreement on language that could pass both chambers.
Most Americans seem to think we shouldn’t kick the tires on state-sponsored executions for abortion recipients. Pody apparently disagrees.
His fellow co-sponsor in the House, state Rep. Jody Barrett, didn’t sound any more sane in his exchanges about the bill with reporter Chris Davis from WTVF, the CBS affiliate in Nashville.
“Murder should be murder, whether it’s a person in being or a person in utero,” Barrett said.
I asked Barrett directly about the criticism that the bill unfairly targets mothers.
“I think that’s a talking point saying that you’re targeting mothers. We’re not targeting mothers. We’re targeting unborn children and trying to protect them and give them the protection under the law for you and me,” Barrett said.
The tacit admission came later:
“A simple examination of the death penalty in Tennessee would show that that’s just not realistic. Now, do I have to admit that the death penalty is a possibility? Sure. But since the death penalty was reinstated in Tennessee in 1977, there’s been less than 200 people sentenced to death, and only 16 have actually been executed — none of them women,” Barrett said.
It’s safe to say the latter remarks are probably not going to be enough to soothe concerns about this morbid proposal — one that mirrors several others across the country in the past year.
In Vermont, a different controversy is unfolding over a right-wing influencer named Hank Poitras, who was elected chairman of a county GOP committee — and who once delivered an extremely graphic diatribe about committing an act of violence on a woman’s womb after she got pregnant.
Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog.
The Trump administration is temporarily halting $259 million in Medicaid funding to Minnesota, Vice President JD Vance announced Wednesday.
Vance said the payments will be paused “until the state government takes its obligations seriously to stop the fraud that’s being perpetrated against the American taxpayer.”
The news of the temporary halting of the massive amount of federal funding — which provides health insurance to low-income people — comes as the state has been a target of the federal government following allegations of fraud perpetrated by child care providers in the state. In December, federal officials froze $185 million in child care funds to Minnesota, and last month, the administration announced it was freezing $10 billion in funding for social services programs in five Democratic-led states, including Minnesota.
The latest news also follows President Donald Trump’s announcement at the State of the Union address Tuesday night that he was tasking the vice president with waging a “war on fraud.”
Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said Wednesday that officials identified “scammers” who he claimed “hijacked … a certain part of the Minnesota Medicaid system.”
Federal prosecutors have confirmedthere was large-scale social services fraud in Minnesota, with dozensof people — many of whom are Somalis — having been convicted of stealing more than $1 billion in public funds intended for food, housing and services for people with disabilities. But the administration did not provide detailed evidence on Wednesday of the alleged large-scale Medicaid fraud in Minnesota that Oz claimed.
“These schemes disproportionately involve immigrant communities,” Oz said. Generally, undocumented people are not able to be enrolled in Medicaid.
Vance mentioned a program that he said claimed to offer after-school services to autistic children but did not actually do so, though he did not offer any identifying information.
Oz added that the top fraudulent biller in the state “submitted 450 days where they claim they were working more than 24 hours a day,” but also did not provide corroborating information.
According to the health policy research organization KFF, Medicaid covers nearly 1.2 millionkids and adults in Minnesota, more than half of whom are nursing home residents. More than three-quarters of Medicaid enrollees in the state are working full time, that data also shows.
Oz said the federal government will only release the funds “after they propose an act on a comprehensive corrective action plan to solve the problem,” adding that Gov. Tim Walz, D-Minn., has 60 days to do so. He suggested similar announcements to come in other states “soon,” and mentioned Florida, New York and California as potential future targets.
“This is not a problem with the people of Minnesota,” Oz said. “It’s a problem with the leadership of Minnesota and other states who do not take Medicaid preservation seriously.”
Vance added: “The main reason that we’re doing this is that we want to make sure that the people of Minnesota have access to the services that they’re entitled to.”
In a post on X on Wednesday night, Walz said the announcement “has nothing to do with fraud,” and added, “The agents Trump allegedly sent to investigate fraud are shooting protesters and arresting children. His DOJ is gutting the U.S. Attorney’s Office and crippling their ability to prosecute fraud. And every week, Trump pardons another fraudster.”
Minnesota lawmakers and the state’s attorney general, Keith Ellison, have introduced legislation that would add more than a dozen new staffers to the AG office’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit and that would strengthen state fraud laws.
In a statement provided to MS NOW, Ellison hinted the state may sue in response.
“Courts have repeatedly found that their pattern of cutting first and asking questions later is illegal, and if the federal government is unlawfully withholding money meant for the 1.2 million low-income Minnesotans on Medicaid, we will see them in court,” he said.
Shireen Gandhi, commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Human Services, which administers Medicaid, said the government’s actions “significantly harm the state’s health care infrastructure and the 1.2 million Minnesotans who depend on Medicaid,” adding that federal officials “chose to ignore more than a year of serious and intensive work to fight fraud in our state.”
Spokespeople for Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn., and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., did not immediately respond to MS NOW’s request for comment.
Nour Longi and Emily Hung contributed reporting.
Julianne McShane is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW who also covers the politics of abortion and reproductive rights. You can send her tips from a non-work device on Signal at jmcshane.19 or follow her on X or Bluesky.
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