Sheriff candidate Zach Van Emerick backs local cooperation with ICE, calls for federal funding for civil detainee housing

Zach Van Emerick told Davis County Citizen Journalism interviewers he would support local law enforcement assistance to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. "Absolutely, 100%," he said when asked whether his office would back ICE operations.

Van Emerick described operational difficulties he has seen in Salt Lake County when jails house civil immigration detainees rather than criminal inmates. He said civil detainees must sometimes be treated to different standards of housing and that local jails need additional federal funding for training and possibly separate housing areas to meet those standards. "The federal government needs to kind of put up a little more funding to train our deputies and also if they need to have a separate housing area for detainees," he said.

He added that if a person has criminal charges they should be detained and treated like other detainees, but distinguished that civil immigration detention raises separate policy and logistical issues for county jails. The candidate framed his stance in operational terms rather than outlining specific local changes or budgets; he said cooperation with federal agencies is important and that funding and training are practical necessities to make that cooperation feasible.