Several Wyoming law enforcement agencies partner with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to enforce federal immigration laws. The reach of those partnerships can extend beyond agencies with official ICE agreements.
In Laramie County, reports show that some immigration arrests carried out by the Laramie County Sheriff’s Office, which signed an ICE Task Force agreement, originated with Cheyenne police officers. Because the Cheyenne Police Department doesn’t currently have a similar ICE agreement, which would allow local officers to conduct some immigration enforcement during routine policing, it funnels those cases to the Laramie County Sheriff’s Office.
A March 16 arrest report from the sheriff’s office, for example, states that a deputy “responded to Love’s Travel Plaza to assist Cheyenne Police Department with an immigration investigation.” At the truck stop, the deputy met a man who “did not speak or write English,” as well as two Cheyenne police officers, one of whom “assisted with translation.”
After finding that the man “did not have authorization to be in the United States,” the deputy placed him under immigration arrest and booked him into the Laramie County Detention Center. The report doesn’t state why Cheyenne police initially stopped the man.
Another report from March 26 states that a sheriff’s deputy assisted a Cheyenne police officer with an immigration investigation after the officer stopped a man for “driving the wrong way on a one-way street” and found that he had “no documentation.” The deputy placed the man under immigration arrest and booked him into the Laramie County jail.
Cheyenne Police Department Spokesperson Alexandra Farkas explained in an email that if a Cheyenne police officer comes into contact with someone who may be in the country without authorization, they “will request assistance through dispatch, who would route the request to an officer assigned to the Laramie County Sheriff’s Office ICE Task Force.”
Farkas said the Cheyenne Police Department doesn’t keep track of how often officers request help with immigration investigations.
“Since the [Cheyenne Police Department] does not conduct immigration enforcement investigations, we don’t maintain that data,” Farkas wrote in an email. She pointed WyoFile to the Laramie County Sheriff’s Office, which she said “would be responsible for documenting those investigations and may be able to provide that information.”
According to records from the Laramie County Sheriff’s Office, the Cheyenne Police Department has requested deputies’ help with immigration investigations 28 times between October 2025, when a group of Laramie County deputies first became certified to enforce immigration laws, and July 2026.
Asked why Cheyenne Police Department Chief Mark Francisco chose to coordinate with sheriff’s deputies to conduct immigration investigations rather than signing the department up for its own Task Force agreement, Farkas said there are already enough local resources to conduct immigration enforcement.
“At this time, it appears the resources the Laramie County Sheriff’s Office has dedicated to this initiative are sufficient to meet the needs of our community,” Farkas wrote.
Laramie County’s other local police agency, the Pine Bluffs Police Department, also requested help with immigration investigations from Laramie County deputies before inking its own ICE Task Force agreement in April.
A March 14 report from the Laramie County Sheriff’s Office states that a deputy was dispatched to Pine Bluffs after a Pine Bluffs police officer “requested a deputy to complete an immigration investigation.” At the scene, the deputy observed the officer “speaking with three occupants outside of their vehicle.” After an ICE agent approved arresting the three individuals, the deputy brought them to the Laramie County Detention Center. The report doesn’t state why Pine Bluffs police officers initially stopped the vehicle.
Laramie County Sheriff’s Office records show that the Pine Bluffs Police Department requested help from the sheriff’s office three times to conduct immigration investigations.
Pine Bluffs Police Chief Austin Smith didn’t respond to WyoFile’s inquiry before publishing time. Before signing his department up for the Task Force agreement, Smith told Wyoming News Now that the ICE contract “just streamlines and gives us the tools instead of playing phone tag with the federal government.”
This story was updated Aug. 5 at 3:30 p.m. with additional data from the Laramie County Sheriff’s Office.
Why would anyone think it is unusual or even newsworthy that law enforcement agencies often help each other out with law enforcement actions? I am amazed this has become any kind of public issue. It is routine for them to ask each other for help when needed and the public can only benefit from that. Why would the Sheriff need to ask permission from County Commissioners to do that?
Thirty years ago in August 1996 in Jackson Hole , agents of the INS Immigration and Naturalization Service joined forces with the Jackson PD and did a sweep. About 150 alleged undocumented people were rounded up the week before Labor Day. Many of them were loaded into horse trailers for transport.
Horse trailers.
A Jackson solution to a Jackson ‘ problem’ that took years to rectify, to the embarassment of many. The ‘ problem’ never was fully corrected ; never went away ; was not forgotten.
My friends visiting from Seattle were getting four brand new tires put on their car in Jackson in the summer of 2000 over the noon hour . Car goes up on the lift, we go to the New York bagel and sandwich shop for lunch. Only two tires made it. Word came down that INS was doing what they do , sweeping the shops for undocumenteds. The tire installers vanished , mid job. Gone Gomez. The pain came when the tire shop had nobody left to do the remaining work. Front shop managerial people and office ladies were , regrettably , not crosstrained on the pneumatics and hydraulics. They had to call around in desperation to find someones , anyones who could break beads balance tires and git’r done without breaking painted nails or soiling their fast fashion garb. How do you say FUBAR in Spanish ?
Grrr.
p.s. Anybody ever seen a half satire – half documentary 2005 movie called ” Day Without A Mexican ” wherein all the Hispanic speaking people in California suddenly vanish in the same instant, leaving the white culture to fend for itself when a third of the workforce is Gone Gomez, too? It only took a week for California society to totally break down and descend into post-apocalypse survival mode.
I know a lot of Republicans and a certain orange-tinted demagogue who need to see that movie. That classic movie is more relevant now than it was when it came out 20 years ago. Thinking of you , Donald and your henchmen Stepehen Miller and Tom Homan. We miss you , Kristi Noem, just not for flattering reasons.
The problem isn’t that they are Mexican, the problem is there here illegally, I know lots of Mexicans that come to work in Wyoming legally, big difference
Well Dewey, that was a long time ago. Jackson is a different town now.
Jackson’s employee workforce will not be hassled by ICE as the entire town would lose 90% of its workforce from McD’s to Ace hardware, to Target, to Albertsons, to every hotel cleaning staff etc. etc
Jackson Hole is not going to lose its low paid immigrant workforce.