“No, Bonneville County is not a sanctuary city” – ICE mixup melts on closer inspection

BONNEVILLE COUNTY, Idaho (KIFI) - Rumors are circulating online that three Idaho counties, including Bonneville County, are sanctuaries for illegal immigrants; These rumors were the result of an online report last updated August 27th by the Center for Immigration Studies based on data from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

But according to Roger Christensen, Commissioner for district 1 of Bonneville county, the information released by ICE is inaccurate.

"Absolutely not," Christensen responded when asked if Bonneville County was in fact a "sanctuary county". "We've never passed to any kind of a resolution or adopted us as a sanctuary county."

So, where is this misinformation coming from?

Since last week the Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office has been in contact with ICE and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with regards to being listed as a “Limited Cooperation Facility” for ICE Detainers and processes.

According to SGT. Bryan Lovell of the sheriff’s office, through their talks with ICE it was determined the enforcement agency made a mistake in their report.

"Looking back in our records, at least back to 2019, we had 78 of those individuals that were undocumented come through our jail and have various criminal processes and proceedings," Lovell told Local News 8. "And all 78 of those individuals were released to ICE from our facility when they were finished with their, proceedings here."

Local News 8 has reached out the the ICE field office in Salt Lake City to confirm this.

Despite the mistake, county leadership says they've had to deal with a backlash. Several state legislators have accused the county and President Biden “of ignoring Idaho's strict anti-sanctuary city law."

"You had a certain group of people who basically took this as reality and they said, well, 'it's the commissioners that do it.'" Said Christensen. "The commissioners aren't in charge of the jail its the sheriff. And our sheriff has done an excellent job."

U.s. Immigration customs and enforcement is working on correcting the list.

However, the Bonneville County sheriff says the spread of misinformation can happen at record pace.

Sheriff Sam Hulse is asking people "to be cautious of information published by entities or various media platforms that appear to have not done their due diligence in confirming facts and information."