ICE Contract Defeated

How ordinary Carver County residents organized, testified & stopped a local partnership with ICE

This is a story I’ve been meaning to tell for awhile but have only now found the time:

One Citizen Draws a Line

It started with a solitary citizen taking a principled stand.

On September 23, 2025, Monique LaCroix testified before the Carver County Board of Commissioners in opposition to the pursuit by Carver County Sheriff Jason Kamerud of a contract to rent county jail cells to ICE for the imprisonment of abductees by that federal agency.

Organizing Against Injustice

A handful of Carver County citizens subsequently organized a petition drive, ultimately resulting in more than 500 county citizen signatures in opposition to the ICE contract.

A County Pushes Back

That organizing produced countless emails, phone calls, and a handful of face-to-face meetings with County Commissioners to express citizen concerns about the potential ICE contract.

Facing Power Directly

A group of citizens met with Sheriff Kamerud to hear his explanation of the contract, voice their opposition to any such contract, and to present him with the petition illustrating the breadth of oppostion among Carver County citizens.

That organizing also produced a group of citizens who wanted to voice their opposition to an ICE contract at the next Carver County Board of Commissioners meeting on December 16.

ICE Brutality Enters the Equation

On December 14, ICE agents infamously chased two construction workers up to the rafters of an open roof on the home they were building in Chanhassen during subzero weather. They waited for three hours while citizens stood ready to help the men after ICE finally left.

Just days before, on December 9, ICE agents tackled and arrested an American citizen in Minneapolis for looking Somali.

Public Testimony as Resistance

ICE’s brutality provided the context in which twenty-four speakers spent an hour and fifteen minutes testifying in opposition to Kamerud’s pursuit of an ICE contract. The meeting earned local television coverage and the live streamed video of the meeting has nearly 1,400 views.

Manufactured Support

The Carver County GOP got wind of the hearing and quickly posted a survey online:

They claimed to have 135 supporters. At least they felt compelled to proclaim their support for civil rights!

Silence from Supporters, Resolve from Opponents

At the next Commissioners meeting on January 6, 2026, nine citizens again testified in opposition to the ICE contract.

Not one person testified in support of an ICE contract, despite the Carver County GOP’s best efforts to gin up that support.

Victory: The ICE Contract Withdrawn

The next day, January 7, the Carver County Sheriff’s department announced it would abandon its pursuit of a contract with ICE.

When Officials Dismiss the Public

On January 13, the Carver County Local News published an article by Commissioner Lisa Anderson strangely claiming the citizen testimony cited above was based on “rumors” and “misinformation” and that citizens should come armed with facts when testifying.

Facts, Not Rumors

After unsuccessfully attempting to publish a correction to Anderson’s article, the organizers recorded their response:

After attempting to submit this community column to Carver County Local News in order to correct Commissioner Lisa Anderson's characterization of our response to Sheriff Kamerud's abandoned pursuit of a contract with ICE, we have resorted to this recording. Our column follows:

Regarding Commissioner Lisa Anderson’s January 13 column ("How to respectfully address your local public board"), we agree with her central premise: Facts matter.

However, we must correct the record regarding her claim that citizens were reacting to "rumors" regarding an ICE contract.

The discussions about housing federal detainees were not social media rumors. They were confirmed negotiations. Sheriff Kamerud himself stated in the Carver County Local News (Jan. 14) that he "had a conversation with an ICE official" and that his team "investigated the idea" of a contract. The Sheriff also posted an official statement on the Department’s Facebook page announcing his decision to conclude those investigations.

Commissioner Anderson asks, “As a commissioner, I was surprised—what ICE contract? Did I miss something?”

This admission is precisely why active civic engagement is so vital. It appears that concerned citizens were aware of these significant negotiations before the Board was fully briefed. By speaking up early—while the Sheriff was still "investigating"—Carver County residents helped the County avoid a costly mistake before it ever reached the Commissioner’s desk.

We do not believe citizens should wait until a contract is signed and placed on an agenda to voice their values. That is often too late.

We appreciate Sheriff Kamerud’s willingness to listen to his constituents and his fiscal prudence in "doing the math" to realize this contract was a bad deal for Carver County. We look forward to working with both the Sheriff and the Commissioners to keep our tax dollars focused on local safety.

Signed,

Christine Patzner, Carver
Nancy Haaheim, Chaska
Joan Halligan Chaska
Monique LaCroix, Chaska
Grace Pope Carlson, Chaska
Joan Ludwig, Chanhassen
Rebecca Varone, Chanhassen
Doris French, Chanhassen
Leslie & Chris Erickson, Chanhassen
Nancy Gagner, Chanhassen
Hillary Patz, Victoria
Barbara Brooks, Waconia
Linda Plessner, Waconia
Margaret Coldwell
Ellie Krug, Elected Official

Metrics For Success

• 500+ petition signatures

• Countless emails and phone calls to commissioners

• Face-to-face meetings with commissioners and the sheriff

• 33 citizen testimonies

• 2,007 video views of the commissioner meetings

• 1 defeated ICE contract

A Blueprint for Citizen Power

These determined patriots, organized, coordinated, got educated, mobilized and articulated their opposition.

A handful of people can make a world of difference.