Amidst a nationwide ramp-up of immigration arrests, Leelanau County Sheriff Mike Borkovich says his office will offer any and all requested assistance to agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP), if/when those agencies come to Leelanau County. Borkovich’s pledge comes in the wake of ICE raids over the weekend in places like Chicago, Atlanta, and Cleveland, as well as an ICE-related incident in at least one Michigan city. The uptick in raids, part of President Donald Trump's agenda, has divided Michigan’s community leaders and law enforcement officials.

Trump signed no fewer than 10 executive orders pertaining to immigration during his first week in office, quickly pushing forward on campaign promises to carry out mass deportations of undocumented immigrants. 

The policy changes have led to a significant increase in immigration-related arrests. ICE, reporting daily arrest totals on X.com, tallied 969 arrests on Monday, 1,179 on Sunday, and 956 on Saturday. 

On Sunday, a major ICE operation in Chicago resulted in 1,000 arrests. And over the weekend, the Ann Arbor Police Department confirmed that ICE agents had “made contact with one business in downtown Ann Arbor,” though no arrests were made.

The promise of increased ICE activity has led local officials throughout Michigan to clarify protocols for cooperating with ICE. Detroit Mayer Mike Duggan told reporters the city’s policy has always been to cooperate with federal immigration agencies.

Other leaders have been more defiant: Washtenaw County Sheriff Alyshia Dyer said her department was “not getting involved” and wouldn’t assist ICE in arresting or detaining suspects, while Grand Rapids Police Chief Eric Winstrom proclaimed that his department is “not in the business of immigration enforcement.”

The U.S. Department of Justice has threatened federal prosecution against local and state officials who do not cooperate with immigration enforcement.

Reached Monday afternoon, Borkovich told the Leelanau Ticker his department plans to comply fully with federal immigration enforcement efforts, up to and including providing backup for ICE agents during raids or detaining arrested persons in the Leelanau County Jail.

“Our cooperation with them is such that, if they ask for backup or help, we give it,” Borkovich says of ICE. “Other than that, it's their operation. But yes, if they go to a house to talk to somebody about their immigration status and the people have weapons inside, or threaten ICE agents, or anything like that, we're going to be involved.”

According to Borkovich, Leelanau County Sheriff since 2012, it’s historically rare for ICE or CPB to request assistance from his department. He also says he hasn’t been notified by any federal agency about any planned operations in Leelanau County.

“They usually don't tell us what they're doing,” Borkovich says. “And we usually don't tell them what we're doing. Basically, we handle crime as it happens in the county, and they handle the immigration stuff. They don't call ahead and say, ‘Next Tuesday, we're coming in and rounding people up.’”

There have been intersections between federal enforcement agencies and the Leelanau County Sheriff’s Office in the past. In 2018, CBP arrested a small business owner in Lake Leelanau, igniting controversy and outcry in the county. More recently, Borkovich says his department has had to call ICE for assistance on a few cases.

“Some people were deported this year from Leelanau County,” Borkovich says. “They were involved in knife and gun incidents, and they were deported and sent out of the country. In that particular case, they were in our county, we arrested them, we called ICE, and they came and picked them up. That’s just how it goes. We’re not a sanctuary county here.”

The Leelanau Ticker sent a follow-up inquiry to Borkovich and Undersheriff James Kiessel Tuesday morning, seeking details about the number of illegal immigrant cases the Sheriff’s Office has dealt with in the past year; neither Borkovich nor Kiessel had responded as of press time.

Borkovich acknowledges there have been rumors of potential ICE raids in Leelanau County, and tells The Ticker he’s had conversations about the possibility with numerous concerned parties, including school superintendents and farmers. While the sheriff downplays the likelihood of raids at local schools – “I’ve never seen anything like that,” he says – he acknowledges that farming communities like Leelanau might be a target due to the high percentage of agricultural labor performed by foreign-born individuals.

According to Department of Labor data, 62 percent of farmworkers in the U.S. are immigrants, and 42 percent are undocumented. Some experts worry the Trump Administration’s mass deportation plan will devastate the agricultural workforce.

“You're either in the country legally or illegally,” Borkovich says when asked about those concerns. “Now there's a way for people who are not residents of this country to get work permits. There's a visa system. Let's use it.”

Speaking to MIRS, a Michigan-based legislative watchdog news source, John Kran, national legislative counsel for the Michigan Farm Bureau, said many Michigan farms are on the “brink of collapse” and can’t even afford the costs of federal visa programs. Kran called for Congress to “modernize” the program to make it more affordable and favorable for farmers – something Borkovich agrees with.

“Right now, work visas have to be renewed every year,” Borkovich says. “I think we need to look at something nationally that’s more like a five-year work permit. That would be better for the laborers who come here to work, and better for the employers who train people every year. Our immigration system is definitely broken, from that context.”