As far as activists can tell, none of these detainees were from the Twin Ports. Most are from farther afield in the Midwest, and are just temporarily kept there before being sent to a larger detention center. The presence of these detainees has also resulted in a steady stream of ICE agents coming to town, staying in our hotels and eating in our restaurants - making a Superior a minor, but not unimportant spoke in the ICE wheel of repression. Activists have been tracking local hotel parking lots, and have found that a number of occasions they have stayed at places like the Holiday Inn Express.
As awareness of ICE's presence in Superior has grown, so has public opposition. Several protests have been organized over the past two years by groups like Indivisible: Rise Up Superior and the Northwoods Socialist Collective. A petition drive against ICE's use of the jail was organized by City Councilor Garner Moffat. And earlier this month dozens gathered for a signing protest, that included a march around the jail and signing songs of resistance to the detainees inside the walls.
On March 19 there was an effort to bring the matter to the Douglas County Board. The jail's contract with the feds was signed by the County Sheriff. While technically it is the County Board that has the sole power to enter into these kind of contracts unless it delegates that authority to someone else, for a long time the Sheriffs have been signing these agreements without any review and, apparently without any authorization (a records search has gone back to the 1930s, and failed to find any such authorization having been given). Current Sheriff Izzard renewed the jail's contract with the feds earlier this year. This bizarre situation is what triggered concerned citizens to take the issue to the Board, in hopes of getting them to take a stand and cancel the jail's contract with ICE.
Despite having been requested too, however, to date the Douglas County Board has declined to put the issue on their agenda. Board rules allow for public comment at their monthly meetings, but only on items that are on their agenda. When it was seen that the Board would be discussing whether or not to raise the salary given to County Sheriffs at the March 19 meeting, it was decided to use that issue to bring up the jail.
About 40 folks gathered before hand on the corner of Belknap St. & Hammond Ave. at 5pm for a sign holding protest. The protest was jointly called the Native Lives Matter Coalition and Northwoods Socialist Collective, with support from Indivisible: Rise Up Superior. Afterwards, about two dozen folks headed inside to the County Board meeting at 6pm inside the Government Center. The County Board Chair gave multiple warnings that speakers in the public comment section were only to speak on agenda items, and if they were speaking on the proposed Sheriff raise, they weren't to make their comments to the current sheriff. Nevertheless, despite this straight jacket, everyone who wanted to speak, was able to.
In the County Board discussion that followed, only a couple of Board members acknowledged or responded to the comments against the jail's contract with ICE - among them were Anders Hulstrom and Dennis Cummings. And on the issue of the raise, the Board decided to give give whoever gets elected Sheriff in the next election a $100,000 a year salary.
Board rules don't allow new agenda items to be brought up during a meeting. It's possible that this public mobilization will give courage to some additional Board members to bring this issue forward in committees and then the Board as a whole. We sincerely hope so. But nonetheless, it is frustrating that not only did the majority of the Board decline to even acknowledge these concerns at the March 19th meeting, but that to date they have decline to put it on the agenda of any of their meetings. During this time that the Board's head has been in the sand, several lawsuits have been filed by detainees from the Douglas County jail who are suing for illegal imprisonment and other wrongs, like being refused medical care.
For our part, we plan to continue to organize against the presence of ICE in our community, and in particular against the use of the County jail to hold detainees. We feel the use of our jail by Washington's brutal, anti-immigrant offensive is a stain on our community. Coming out of the March 19 meeting, activists are regrouping and beginning to brainstorm next steps. We will keep you posted!
In the meantime, here are links to some of the press coverage of the March 19 events, and below that, we are reprinting two of the speeches given during the public comment period.
- Superior Telegram newspaper
- Northern News Now TV station
- KUWS radio station
Speech #1: My name is Ella Thompson and I'm a life long Superior resident. I can confidently say that the sheriff should not be given a raise. Under his leadership Douglas County has been collaborating with and aiding a violent organization that goes around harassing, hurting, and even murdering our neighbors. The ongoing contract with ICE must be cancelled. We cannot compromise our humanity like this for the budge equivalent of pocket change. This is not even mentioning the rumors of refusing medical care for detainees, which is atrocious to think about given the number of people who have died or otherwise been harmed after being detained by ICE. We should not be dealing with these people, period, but especially not if we don't bother to give them the minimum of care and dignity they're afforded by law.
Speech #2: Hi, my name is Adam Ritscher and I live in Superior. I’ve lived there since 2001. I grew up on a farm in western Wisconsin in the ‘80s ‘90s - a time when many of my family's neighbors lost their farms, and most who didn’t then, have lost them since. The economy was changing, and many folks had to move away in search of work. I was one of them. I settled here because this city wasn’t too big for a farm boy, and I was able to find work. Things worked out for me, but it was a tough journey. There were over 250 dairy farms in this county the year I was born. Today you can count them on your hand with fingers left over. Free trade, rising prices and destructive corporate policies have led to many people having to move away from where they were born. I’m sure there are many in this room who have a similar story.
This past summer I met a young man who also had a similar story. To protect his identity, I’m going to call him “Max”. He was from Mexico, where because of our trade policies and the changing economy, he had to move away in search of work. Unlike me, he had a family - a wife and kids - so for him, the stakes were even higher. He heard there was work in Chicago, but when he got there ICE started doing mass raids. Terrified his family would get swooped up and separated, he came here to the Twin Ports, only to find that ICE was here too. So he hid his family in the woods. For months they lived there, while he tried to find work - something he was unable to do because of the political climate and his lack of English. His wife, who was pregnant, ended up having to deliver their baby in the woods because they were too afraid to go to a hospital. This happened right here, in the Twin Ports. It’s an example of the human price tag that having ICE in our community results in. Some kind folks were eventually able to get a place for Max and his family, but they have since had to leave our community. I sincerely hope that things work out for that young man who was just trying to do right by his family.
Politicians and TV loudmouths try to convince us that migrant workers are monsters. The reality is that they’re just like you and me - people trying to make a living in an upside down world where farms and jobs that were there yesterday are gone the next. Allowing ICE to use our jail contributes to all this misery. I know Douglas County is strapped for cash, and I know the sheriff just renewed the jail’s contract with the feds. Nevertheless, I urge you, that when discussing the possible raise for the County Sheriff, you bring forward this issue. I implore the Board to find its voice - like you have in the past - to take a stand and do the right thing. Thank you.
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