Lincoln is apparently not being singled out as a sanctuary city by federal immigration authorities.
The city does not appear on lists created by Immigration and Customs Enforcement of communities with the highest volume of detainer requests and communities that have declined detainer requests, County Attorney Joe Kelly said this week.
Sanctuary cities are again in the news after U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said the Department of Justice was planning to punish sanctuary cities that refused to help federal agencies enforce immigration laws and deport immigrants living in the U.S. without legal permission who are charged or convicted of crimes.
Sessions said those communities could lose Department of Justice grant funding, which both Lancaster County and Lincoln receive.Ìý
Lancaster County is one of about 300 communities on a "sanctuary jurisdiction" list put out by an anti-immigration group based on the county's decision not to honor ICE detainer requests.
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But local officials have said that designation is not accurate, because the county cooperates with federal immigration authorities in every way but one.
The county doesn't honor the requests because they are signed by an ICE employee and not by a judge, Kelly has said.
Several courts have ruled in favor of the immigrants held by these detainers, putting counties who detain people based on the requests in a poor position legally, he said.
But local officials say that list doesn't reflect the fact that the police and jail staff cooperate with ICE by providing information on people in jail.
They provide fingerprints on every person booked into Lancaster County jail who were not born in the U.S.Ìý
And Lancaster County notifies ICE when someone who is in the country illegally is about to be released from jail. And ICE picks up people based on the notifications, said Brad Johnson, county corrections director.Ìý
The system seems to be working, according to Kelly. ICE staff are working weekends and nights so they can make a quick pickup, he said.
Lincoln and Lancaster County receive about $370,000 a year from three grants the Justice Department could block without congressional approval. Much of the money is used to support the Lincoln/Lancaster County Drug Task Force and the city’s gang unit, based on information from city and county staff.