Sheriff candidates say they will keep working with ICE but differ on detention roles

At a Davis County Conservatives candidate forum, candidates competing for the Republican nomination for Davis County sheriff agreed they currently cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement through jail detainers but offered different views on expanding that cooperation.

Aaron Perry, who highlighted experience in corrections and county law enforcement, framed his approach around continuing established jail-based coordination and said local deputies should not become substitute federal immigration agents without clear authority and resources. Zach Van Emerch and other candidates said the sheriff’s office should back federal enforcement when suspects in custody have criminal charges, but that large-scale detention of immigration-only cases requires federal funding and dedicated facilities.

Candidates raised three practical constraints: legal distinctions between criminal detainees and immigration administrative holds; the cost and staffing burden of separate detention facilities; and the need for explicit agreements or cross-deputization if deputies were to participate on ICE task forces. Several candidates argued for continuing current detainer cooperation for people booked on criminal charges while urging Washington to fund training, housing and transport for immigration-only detainees.

The candidates also emphasized they would preserve civil liberties and public safety. One candidate said the sheriff’s office must notify mayors and partners before large operations and rely on mutual-aid relationships when federal involvement expands.

The forum did not include any formal pledges to open new county detention centers. Candidates uniformly said any change that increased local detention responsibilities should be funded by the federal government and be implemented only after legal and fiscal review.