DHS: Sanctuary county should not shield suspect in fatal wreck

The Department of Homeland Security on Sunday said that immigration officers asked Wisconsin law enforcement to detain and hand over an illegal immigrant who caused a fatal car wreck. State law enforcement recently charged Noelia Saray Martinez-Avila with two counts of felony vehicular homicide and impaired driving for causing a wreck that killed two teenagers in Wisconsin’s Dane County, according to DHS.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, requested that state law enforcement notify the agency before releasing Martinez-Avila to await trial. ICE also asked state authorities to hold her for up to 48 hours past the ordinary release time to enable immigration officers to take her into custody directly. The county previously refused to honor similar requests due to its sanctuary jurisdiction policies, according to DHS.

DHS said that Martinez-Avila, who immigrated illegally from Honduras, is accused of driving the wrong direction on a highway and striking a vehicle while intoxicated on July 20. Eighteen-year-old Hallie Helgeson died at the scene, and 19-year-old Brady Heiling died from his injuries a few days later.

How are the Trump administration’s lawsuits against sanctuary jurisdictions going? A federal judge on Friday ruled against the Trump administration in a case it brought against the state of Illinois after the city of Chicago refused to cooperate with immigration authorities. The judge said that the Trump administration’s request would violate the 10th Amendment, which reserves powers not specifically given to the federal government in the Constitution to the states. The judge dismissed the suit without prejudice, meaning that the federal government can amend its complaint and try again.

The Trump administration is also suing New York City and Los Angeles, as well as the state of New York, for similar sanctuary policies.

Dig deeper: Read Christina Grube’s report on the Trump administration’s lawsuit against Los Angeles.