Lyon County Attorney Abby Wikelius answered questions from Lyon County Commissioners, as they expressed concerns about the county being placed on a list of “sanctuary jurisdictions” by the Department of Homeland Security last week. Wikelius said Lyon County has not received any information explaining why the county was placed on the list.

MARSHALL — Late last week, Lyon County ended up on a list of Minnesota counties that the Department of Homeland Security said were defying federal immigration law. Lyon County Commissioners say they don’t know why the county ended up on the list of “sanctuary jurisdictions” and they want it taken off the list.

On Tuesday, Commissioner Todd Draper asked the Lyon County attorney whether it would do any good to have a formal policy saying Lyon County follows state and federal laws.

“I guess the only good it would do is people would say, ‘Well, the county board went on the record saying that we follow the law. Get us off this list,'” Draper said.

“I think that’s why we’re having this discussion,” said Commissioner Gary Crowley. “We want the public to realize that we’re not doing nothing. We’re trying to get off the list, but it’s almost impossible.”

After discussion, commissioners directed County Attorney Abby Wikelius to draft a letter that could be sent to U.S. Rep. Michelle Fischbach and the DHS.

On Thursday evening, DHS released a nationwide list of cities, counties and states they said were obstructing federal immigration enforcement. In Minnesota, 20 counties were on the list, including southwestern counties like Lyon, Cottonwood, Nobles, Martin and Watonwan Counties.

The list was taken down from the DHS website on Sunday. As of Tuesday, the web page only had a “Page Not Found” error message. But Draper said he had heard concerns from Lyon County residents.

“I received a few phone calls and texts, and a lot of people are not very happy that we’re on that list,” he said.

“I’m unaware of why Lyon County would be on this list, as we have always fully complied with state and federal law,” Wikelius said. It was unclear how DHS decides what makes a county a “sanctuary jurisdiction,” she said. “There is no definition of ‘sanctuary county’ that I’m aware of, and so I don’t know how the Department of Homeland Security came up with such a list . . . I think that there needs to be some more information that is provided to a county before they’re on a list.”

A DHS news release on May 29 said jurisdictions on the list would receive formal notification of potential violations of federal laws.

“To the best of my knowledge, we have not received any such correspondence from the Department of Homeland Security,” Wikelius said.

This isn’t the first time that Lyon County has been called a “sanctuary county.” In January, the Minnesota Star Tribune reported that a dozen Minnesota counties had ended up on a list of jurisdictions said to not fully cooperate with ICE.

Groups like the Center for Immigration Studies, a think tank that says it has a “low immigration” vision, and America First Legal, a nonprofit founded by Trump adviser Stephen Miller, included Lyon and other Minnesota counties on lists of “sanctuary counties” on their websites.

Crowley said the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office had tried to look into why Lyon was labeled as a “sanctuary county.” But they “got nowhere,” he said.

Commissioner Paul Graupmann said Lyon County commissioners had talked with Sheriff Eric Wallen about the situation in January. Graupmann said commissioners had learned that different states had different practices on detaining people for immigration enforcement.

Graupmann said Lyon County law enforcement cooperates with ICE, but Minnesota state law says they can’t continue to keep a person in jail after their sentence has been completed.

“We communicate with ICE, and we cooperate with ICE. But they need to be at the door when the person is done, and then the individual can be handed over. We do not retain them beyond their sentencing,” he said.

Draper asked Wikelius if there was any way for Lyon County to go on record, or set a formal policy that the county would follow the law.

“I think you can go on record and reach out to express frustration, in letter form, as to why you’re on the list, and just reiterate that we believe we’re in full compliance with federal law,” Wikelius said. She suggested that the letter be sent to Fischbach, as well as to the Department of Homeland Security.

Commissioners directed Wikelius to draft the letter.