SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — Minnehaha County State’s Attorney Daniel Haggar says U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents who arrested a man at the county courthouse on May 30 were not out of line.
“I do think that the ICE agents acted reasonably given all the circumstances,” Haggar said Friday. “Minnehaha County isn’t a sanctuary county. The courthouse isn’t a sanctuary courthouse. People get arrested in the courthouse all the time.”
Haggar says ICE agents arrested the individual in the lobby of the courthouse. The 25-year-old arrestee was not a criminal defendant, but rather someone subpoenaed by the defense. For her part, Minnehaha County Public Defender Traci Smith sent KELOLAND News a statement Wednesday which says in part that “The actions of the prosecutor and ICE not only disrupted the trial but directly undermined the Defendant’s constitutional right to a fair trial and caused irreparable harm to the judicial process.”
The court case in question remains open. With these developments, both the Minnehaha County public defender and its state’s attorney point to the rule of law.
“There was a valid removal order,” Haggar said. “And so when you talk about the rule of law, law enforcement, prosecutors, we’ve taken oaths to uphold the law when a judge gives an arrest order.”
Smith says these developments will reverberate beyond this case, writing in the Wednesday statement that “The chilling effect this incident is likely to have on future witness cooperation, especially within our immigrant communities, cannot be overstated.”
Dan Santella: What do you say to someone concerned about this?
“Yeah, I understand those concerns,” Haggar said. “Again, what happened in this case, hadn’t testified at the jury trial, right. Wasn’t going to testify at the jury trial. That portion of evidence was completed. Got arrested in the lobby of the courthouse. Again, valid arrest warrants and valid court orders. We don’t have the luxury of not complying with those. That’s law and order.”
Smith also sent KELOLAND News a statement Friday which says “based on the actions of the prosecutor in this case in making the witness unavailable for a retrial, the defense attorney will be requesting a copy of the courthouse video and filing a motion to dismiss the case with prejudice.”
