Abele switches stand on immigration policy for inmates

By Larry Sandler of the Journal Sentinel
June 4, 2012 5:30 p.m.

Backing down from his earlier veto threat, Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele has signed a County Board resolution to limit detaining inmates at the request of federal immigration officials, Abele's office announced Monday.

The resolution is not binding on Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr., who opposed the measure and says he believes federal law prevents him from obeying it. Clarke blasted Abele's turnaround.

Last month, the board approved a resolution saying the sheriff's office should not cooperate with immigration detention requests unless the inmate has a serious criminal record, belongs to a gang or is suspected of being a terrorist.

Abele had publicly vowed to veto the measure, saying, "We can't dictate federal law." That was a rare moment of agreement between the usually liberal county executive and the conservative sheriff, who called the resolution "a political statement."

But in signing the measure, Abele said in a written statement, "As I've said in the past, I believe immigration issues like this are best handled at the federal level. Because of that, I was reluctant to sign this policy. However, after meeting with advocates and talking to experts on both sides I'm signing this as the start of what I hope will become a bigger conversation on immigration reform."

Abele spokesman Brendan Conway said the executive had spoken to representatives of Voces de la Frontera and Milwaukee Inner city Congregations Allied for Hope, as well as to U.S. Marshal Kevin Carr, Clarke's former second-in-command, before deciding the resolution could aid efforts to forge a local consensus on the immigration issue.

Conway said Abele realized he shouldn't have promised to veto the measure, but said, "I'd rather change my mind than be too stubborn to admit my approach wasn't the correct one."

That didn't sit well with Clarke, who said, "He's established a pattern of bait-(and)-switch, of deceit, or misleading people. For me, it's almost impossible to have a relationship with a guy I can't trust."

Clarke said he would have understood if Abele had said he needed to research the issue further before taking a stand, or would have respectfully disagreed if Abele had taken a contrary position and stuck to it.

But Clarke didn't buy the explanation that Abele decided that signing the measure was the right thing to do after saying the opposite.

"It's not the right thing to do to lie to people," Clarke said. "To me, this guy has no credibility."

Abele switches stand on immigration policy for inmates - JSOnline