Immigrant Advocates Urge Preparation for Possible ICE Surge in Wisconsin

Hundreds of people gather near the Wisconsin State Capitol on Jan. 9, 2026, to remember Renee Good, a 37-year-old woman killed by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Minneapolis. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)

Time is quickly approaching for Immigration and Customs Enforcement to potentially launch a significant operation in Wisconsin, warns Darryl Morin, national president of Forward Latino. 

“Unless there is a significant change in priorities, there will be a large enforcement action in Wisconsin,” Morin said in an email to supporters Saturday night. 

Forward Latino is a national nonprofit advocacy organization based in Milwaukee that addresses community empowerment, democracy, civil rights and other issues such as hate crimes, gun violence and immigration. 

South Side resident Juanita Lara said her intuition is to carry her birth certificate as a precaution in case she’s stopped by an ICE agent. 

Erika Wilson-Hale, who also lives on the South Side, said she believes parents should be careful about sending their undocumented children to school and that residents should take caution. 

“If ICE does come you better be prepared, you better be ready,” she said. “Be wary because your rights will be violated. We are in scary times.” 

Elected officials discuss possibility of ICE operations

State Rep. Ryan Clancy, D-Milwaukee, wrote in a Facebook post Saturday, Jan. 17, that “it’s not a matter of if (ICE) comes, it’s when.”  

Clancy said Milwaukee doesn’t have a substantial plan to keep the community safe from ICE, but he and others do. 

“The plan is that the community keeps us safe, through Voces de la Frontera’s ICE hotline and Comité Sin Fronteras ‘community verifier‘ program, through legal observers, through legislation and through mass mobilization,” he said. 

Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley said in a prior email to NNS that, although the county cannot legally impede or interfere with the actions of federal immigration agents, “we will do everything in our power to keep our communities safe, informed and prepared.”

Mayor Cavalier Johnson said during a news conference after the Good shooting that federal immigration enforcement poses a risk to public safety. 

“Occupying cities and targeting immigrant communities simply does not make our communities safer,” Johnson said.

Milwaukee Ald. Alex Brower is hosting a town hall on Feb. 2 to discuss ICE activities and operations in Milwaukee. That meeting will be held at The Vivarium, 1818 N. Farwell Ave., at 6:15 p.m. 

Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez, who is running for governor, said in a Jan. 12 statement that there had been credible reports of increased ICE activity in Wisconsin. She called on state and local officials to take immediate action to protect public safety and civil rights “by adopting strong protections and transparency standards governing federal immigration enforcement operating in Wisconsin.”

Resources for residents

Voces de la Frontera ICE Hotline: 1-800-427-0213

Forward Latino Toolkits in English and Spanish.

Previous Milwaukee NNS reporting on resources and answers to common questions concerning immigration enforcement and constitutional rights.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.