Jackson Newspaper Gives Community A Heads-Up During Active ICE Investigation

A local newspaper announced an immigration arrest operation while it was ongoing Friday in Jackson Hole using information from a local sheriff, prompting some to criticize both entities over safety and security concerns.

The Jackson Hole News & Guide reported Friday that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials were active in the area that day, trying to execute 17 warrants on specific people in Teton County.

Spanish-language instructions on how to read the story in Spanish preceded the body of the online story.

The news about ICE was “according to Teton County Sheriff Matt Carr, who spoke with the News&Guide before noon Friday,” the outlet wrote, adding that Carr said ICE was still in the community at that time, but that he did not want to assist or impede it.

Though the story leads with Carr as its primary source, the sheriff told Cowboy State Daily on Monday that the Guide called him, and he merely confirmed to the outlet what others had told its reporters about the operation, which was becoming visible in the community.

Carr said he also wanted to give community members clarity about the “targeted” nature of the operation.

“I just confirmed (the information),” said Carr, adding that he didn’t seek to endanger federal agents by exposing their operation. “I fully support the mission of ICE to remove criminals out of our community.”

But he acknowledged that rumors about the operation can stir fears in Jackson.

“My goal was just to let the public know, ‘Yes, they’re here but they’re here for targeted individuals and it was not any sort of widespread roundup,” said Carr.

The sheriff confirmed that he was the person who told the Guide that ICE was executing 17 warrants, but he said he told the paper that information was “unconfirmed.”

What’s Happening In Our Community

As for the Guide, its editor in chief Johanna Love offered a brief statement in response to a list of questions emailed Monday morning.

Love pointed to the two stories the outlet published about the ICE operation, and said those were based on multiple sources: reports from the public, social media, tips and interviews with current and former law enforcement officers.

“We plan to continue reporting what’s happening in our community,” said Love. 

‘Bullshit Still’

Former top ICE officials had differing reactions to the paper’s mid-operation announcement and the sheriff’s involvement in it.

One said it’s understandable for Carr to confirm the specifics of information already beginning to circulate and to lend clarity. The other cast Carr’s involvement as a security breach.

“But listen, that’s bullshit still,” said Scott Mechkowski, former deputy director for ICE’s New York office, after hearing Carr’s explanation that he was merely confirming and clarifying.

“If there was an ongoing investigation he knew about, he could have said ‘I’m not at liberty to discuss – there is enforcement activity happening, but I can’t discuss everything else,’” said Mechkowski. “That’s what he should have said.”

Mechkowski asked whether Carr would have confirmed an active FBI or U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration operation to the press.

“I highly doubt he’d have said ‘The DEA is still doing (expletive) DEA operations in my community’ until it’s over,” said Mechkowski. “Do you ever hear a reporter call a sheriff and say… ‘Hey is the DEA doing work here today? Is the FBI doing investigations?’”

But immigration is such a politicized issue, some media and local officials will overlook security worries to expose ongoing operations, he argued.

Cowboy State Daily called Carr back to ask Mechkowski’s question.

Carr said his office cooperates “constantly” with federal agencies like DEA and FBI. He didn’t outright answer whether he’d expose their operations, but said, “I think we have a much better working relationship with those folks.

“They don’t cause mass hysteria when they come to town,” Carr added. “They don’t have the same effect.”  

Nah, It’s Understandable

John Fabbricatore, who served prior as ICE’s senior executive director for Colorado and Wyoming, offered a counterpoint: he said Carr’s involvement in the story is understandable if he sought to lend clarity to news that was already circulating.

“Because you don’t want fake people saying they’re ICE and going in and fraudulently taking advantage of illegal immigrants,” for example, said Fabbricatore.

“As long as he’s not giving locations, I think (his statement) is for people in the community who might be asking if ICE is targeting criminal aliens,” said Fabbricatore.

Carr had told the Guide he didn’t know where the agents would be working. The Guide reported from other sourcing that ICE agents were seen at Latitude 43 – a 294-unit apartment complex.

As for the paper, said Fabbricatore, it’s going to pursue what it sees as its mission.

“News is going to report what they believe is viable news,” he said. “I may not agree with it in the aspect of a tactical situation for officers, but (the paper has) a right to let the public know.”

News outlets do report on ongoing manhunts and law enforcement operations, though that is most frequently upon an announcement by the agency involved, a public spectacle, or publicly-filed court documents against the suspect.

'Activism Masquerading As Journalism'

Tim Murtaugh, a senior advisor on the 2024 Trump campaign and the communications director on the 2020 Trump campaign, took a sterner view of the Guide’s story.  

“This is nothing other than activism masquerading as journalism, simply because they are letting their hatred of Donald Trump interfere with good judgment,” he wrote in a Monday email statement to Cowboy State Daily.

“This publication is prioritizing people who break the law over law-abiding citizens in their own community and also putting the safety of law enforcement officers at risk at the same time. You want to know why trust in the news media is at an all-time low? This is a good example of why," Murtaugh said.

Where’d The FBI Come From?

Carr learned about the ICE operation Thursday from an FBI agent who was involved with it, the sheriff said, adding that that was a “very good thing” because it gave the sheriff’s office time to let its street deputies know armed federal agents would be out in the county.

ICE gave Carr just four minutes’ notice, with unfamiliar ICE agents contacting dispatch at 5:56 a.m. for an operation set to unfold at 6, he said.

Usually the Casper-based ICE agents the sheriff’s office knows will give more notice than that, Carr said.

Carr has gained an “understanding” that ICE is not happy with the FBI agent about the early notification, the sheriff said.

Neither ICE nor the FBI would speak to that.

A spokesperson for ICE’s Denver Enforcement and Removal Operations office declined to confirm whether ICE was in Jackson Hole on Friday, citing “operational tempo and the increased interest in our agency.”

The FBI confirmed that it was assisting Friday with an immigration effort under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which is ICE’s umbrella agency. And the FBI pointed out that it’s helping ICE because of a Jan. 20 executive order by President Donald Trump.

The order creates a taskforce of agents under the U.S. Attorney General – like FBI – to help Homeland Security agencies – like ICE.

Trump’s order says the goal of that coordination is to “end the presence of criminal cartels, foreign gangs, and transnational criminal organizations throughout the United States, dismantle cross-border human smuggling and trafficking networks, end the scourge of human smuggling and trafficking, with a particular focus on such offenses involving children, and ensure the use of all available law enforcement tools to faithfully execute the immigration laws of the United States.” 

They Don’t Trust

It is unclear whether the FBI agent who notified Carr of Friday’s operation was a leak or was following FBI protocols that may differ from ICE protocols.

If it’s correct that ICE only gave Carr’s office four minutes’ notice, that speaks to a rocky relationship between the two agencies, according to Mechkowski.

“If he’s saying he got four minutes, you know what that’s telling you? They (ICE) don’t trust the sheriff,” he said.

That rocky relationship has been making headlines since last fall.

Carr does not honor ICE administrative detainers, the federal agency reported prior.

Carr countered at the time, saying he’s concerned about people’s rights against unlawful detentions and about the county becoming liable in court – but he’ll honor warrant-style detainers that are signed by judges, magistrates or court clerks.

Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.