MADISON, Wisconsin — Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers said Friday that every American should be concerned about President Donald Trump’s top border adviser’s “chilling” suggestion that he could be arrested for advising state employees on what to do if confronted by federal immigration agents.
“I’m not afraid,” Evers stated in the extraordinary YouTube video. “I’ve never once been discouraged from doing the right thing and I will not start today.”
The issue is guidance issued by Evers’ administration last month in response to state employees who inquired about what to do if agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement showed up at their offices.
Evers advised them to contact an attorney right away and ask the officers to return if one was not available. The memo also instructs state employees not to turn over paper files or grant ICE officers access to computers without first consulting with the state agency’s attorney, and not to answer questions from the agents.
The recommendations are similar to the guidance issued by Connecticut’s Democratic governor in January. The guidelines also reflect what the National Immigration Law Center and other advocacy groups have suggested should be done when immigration officials visit a workplace.
Republican critics claimed the guidance was an order from Evers not to cooperate with ICE agents, which the governor flatly denied in Friday’s video. Evers stated that the goal of the guidance was to provide “clear, consistent instructions” to state employees to ensure that they have a lawyer present to assist them in complying with all applicable laws.
He accused Republicans of lying about the guidance and spreading false information to fuel a “fake controversy of their own creation.”
“I haven’t broken the law,” Evers explained. “I haven’t committed a crime and I’ve never encouraged or directed anyone to break any laws or commit any crimes.”
Tom Homan, Trump’s top border adviser, was questioned about the Evers memo by reporters outside the White House on Thursday. When asked about the memo, Homan replied, “Wait and see what comes next.”
“You cannot support what we’re doing, and you can support sanctuary cities if that’s what you want to do, but if you cross that line to impediment or knowingly harboring and concealing an illegal alien, that’s a felony and we’re treating it as such,” Homan told reporters.
Some Republicans welcomed the possibility of Evers’ arrest. Republican Wisconsin state Rep. Calvin Callahan shared a fake image on social media of Trump in a police uniform behind a grim-faced Evers in handcuffs outside the state Capitol.
Homan’s comments and Evers’ response come a week after Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan was arrested at the courthouse on two felony charges. She is accused of assisting a man in evading immigration authorities by escorting him and his attorney out of her courtroom through the jury door last week after learning that federal officers were looking for his arrest.