Some Iowa law enforcement officials question the accuracy of a Homeland Security report listing jurisdictions refusing to cooperate with federal requests to hold undocumented immigrants. President Trump signed an executive order in January calling on the government to document jurisdictions not cooperating with federal efforts to find and deport immigrants in the country illegally.

According to the Des Moines Register, the first list released Monday cited 206 examples of immigrants who were said to have been released from custody by local jails despite requests from federal agents. According to the report, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement issued 12 detention requests to Montgomery County and five requests to Franklin County during the week of January 28th to February 3rd.

Montgomery County ranked fourth nationally among non-compliant jurisdictions for the number of detainers it received during that week, according to the report. But Montgomery County Sheriff Joe Sampson and Franklin County Sheriff Linn Larson, both Republicans, told the Register their departments did not receive any detainer requests during that period.

Sampson says his department has not been contacted by anyone from ICE since October. Larson said his department has proactively flagged ICE to check the immigration status of five people since the start of the year.

(Mike Peterson/Radio Iowa – Shenandoah)