Long-time law enforcement trainer proposes local ICE ordinance

Mike Sinner spent his entire career in law enforcement.
He began his career with the military police, part of the Army, stationed in Germany.
After his time in service, he began working for the Stearns County Sheriff’s Office as a jailer, then moved his way up to use of force instructor.
Eventually, he became the jail administrator for Goodhue County.
He and his wife even worked as consultants from time to time, training correctional officers on how to act more responsibly.
But now Sinner, a Dodge County resident, is taking his knowledge to county commissioners in hopes they will adopt “best practices” to “protect the health, safety and general welfare of the citizens of Dodge County” in light of actions by federal immigration officers.
As part of his request for a public hearing he wrote:
“The operations of Immigration and Customs Enforcement hereafter to be referred to as ICE) and US Customs and Border Patrol (hereafter referred to as CBP) in Minnesota have:
Not been conducted in a manner that is consistent with established law enforcement practices or the Doctrine o f Legitimate Expectation
Have consistently violated their own policy and procedure
Have consistently employed unqualified/ undertrained officers
Have consistently disregarded the rights and safety of the citizens of Minnesota”
Appalled
Sinner got connected to training officers through the Minnesota Jail Resource Center. The goal was helping with liability reduction and staff training that focuses on improving the way officers treat people.
“Treating people with dignity and respect became a big deal to us,” Sinner said.
He said that he sees ICE and border patrol officers “not treating people with dignity and respect at the start, and rather than trying to deescalate situations, they escalate it so they can either use force or arrest, which is not the way they should be doing things.”
Sinner said that normally, officers are trained to de-escalate situations, but it appears “they are escalating them.”
“I’m appalled by the use of force,” he said.
The tactics used by ICE, specifically during Operation Metro Surge, have caused concerns for local law enforcement as well.
“We are absolutely concerned about how their tactics and actions reflect on our office and local law enforcement. We’ve worked hard to try and build trust within our minority communities,” Sheriff Scott Rose wrote in January. “This trust is important to ensure our local residents are comfortable and willing to come to us when crimes occur and/or when they fall victim to crimes. We don’t enforce immigration or federal laws. If you are a victim, or you want to report a crime — we don’t care if you’re documented or not. Our responsibility is to you and your family’s safety, not your immigration status.”
Rose did not respond to a request for comment for this story.
Local Concerns
Sinner said the killing of both Renee Good and Alex Pretti were trigger points for him to get involved.
Recently, a video of Hayfield resident Olivia Jensen’s verbal confrontation with ICE in Rochester, and officers following her to Claremont, went viral on social media.
But Sinner said he has been made aware of other local incidents where ICE agents spot license plates of constitutional observers, then drive to their homes. The agents tell the observers that they know their names, workplaces, and their kids’ names and schools.
“And that is way out of bounds,” Sinners said.
Sinner did not provide any specific examples of those claims.
It’s what drove him to propose the ordinance, modeling it off of what has been previously passed by Mankato, which now requires agents to communicate with the city and refrain from wearing face coverings, and Duluth, which clarifies the communication and enforcement relationship with the federal government in immigration enforcement.
Recommendations
As part of the proposal Sinner laid out the following recommendation:
The Dodge County Board of Commissioners adopt a County wide ordinance requiring all ICE and CBP officers to:
Contact the Dodge County Sheriff, before beginning operations in Dodge County to:
Determine the scope of DHS operations
Establish the intended duration of operations
Verify the necessary warrants and authorizations are in place
Request any assistance that might be needed from local law enforcement

Require ICE/CBP officers to:
Have received and passed all training required to perform assigned law enforcement duties
Conduct all law enforcement operations without wearing a mask to hide their identity (masks would be authorized for extreme weather conditions)
Wear easily identifiable uniforms (i.e. not tactical gear, blue jeans, or camouflage etc.) when conducting routine operations that distinguish them as authorized law enforcement officers (and not someone who might try to impersonate an officer as in the Hortman murders and Hoffman shootings)
Authorized undercover operations are permitted and covered by Minnesota statutes 299A.59
Operational Security: The Department of Public Safety uses secure systems for notifying law enforcement agencies of conflicts where multiple undercover or surveillance operations might overlap
Limitations on Conduct: While engaging in undercover activities, officers are generally exempt from certain public view requirements (such as in municipal ordinances regarding uniforms). However, they are bound by guidelines that typically prohibit initiating, encouraging, or participating in illegal acts.
Body Camera Exemption: Departmental policies regarding body-worn cameras often do not apply to undercover operations or covert, authorized eavesdropping
Wear functioning body cameras, at all times, while conducting authorized operations
Carry only the weapons appropriate for the specified operations (as determined by DHS policy and procedure. See Safe Tactics)
Follow all applicable Federal, State and Local laws as well as current DHS policies and procedures

Recommend that all allegations of inappropriate or unlawful conduct be referred to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) for Investigation.
Next Steps
County Administrator Jim Elmquist, said he would bring the hearing request to the board chair at the next meeting and said “they can decide whether to include it as a future item.”
“If they were interested, I would follow a process for consideration — this is determined by the board,” Elmquist said, noting officials would likely turn to their by-laws to determine if it meets the criteria.
Sinner said he hopes to have about 25 signatures as part of a petition and for that many to be in attendance, in hopes of the county board taking up the measure.
For Sinner, it’s about federal law enforcement behaving the way he expects them to behave. He said he has “high expectations for the people who are in law enforcement, and I am not seeing that kind of behavior in them that is reasonable.”