Photo: Gage Skidmore
Donald Trump pointing at Shawano on a map of Wisconsin.
You might not think that Madison and Shawano County have much in common.
A couple decades ago Shawano County, in northeast Wisconsin, was home to the Badger State’s chapter of the notorious Posse Comitatus. The Posse was a right-wing white Christian nationalist movement. The Wisconsin branch abducted an IRS agent and regularly harassed DNR personnel, among other antics. They were heavily armed and generally regarded as somewhat dangerous.
But I guess a lot has changed in Shawano County, population 41,000. Because last week the Trump administration identified four places in Wisconsin that they define as “sanctuary” communities: Milwaukee, Madison, Dane County and, who would have thunk it, Shawano County.
I was just about to send a congratulatory email to the county administrator when I read further in the Wisconsin State Journal story on the matter. I was disappointed to find that Shawano suspects it's all just a terrible mistake. While Madison and Dane County officials enthusiastically defended their communities’ policies, Shawano administrator Jim Davel was running for the exits. “We have no idea how we got on this list whatsoever right at this point,” Davel sputtered. “I think it was just a big mix-up, probably some paperwork or something.”
He’s probably right. The Trump administration mirrors its namesake. It’s cruel and corrupt and often incompetent — sometimes comically so. Also last week, the administration issued a major report on children's health, replete with citations to scientific papers that did not exist.
Or maybe they’re just confused. Because Shawano County actually has openly declared that it will not cooperate with federal law enforcement, at least when it comes to gun laws. According to the website of the appropriately named Grieve Law, Shawano is one of several Wisconsin communities that has declared itself a “Second Amendment Sanctuary.”
Grieve defines a sanctuary as, “A jurisdiction that has laws in-place that prohibits (sic) or impedes the enforcement of gun laws that potentially violate the 2nd Amendment: the right to bear arms.”
What’s really interesting is that, by the law firm’s own definition, these are places that have actually passed official policies declaring themselves Second Amendment sanctuaries. But as both Madison and Dane County pointed out, neither community has made any such official sanctuary declaration when it comes to undocumented migrants.
Because I wanted to get this straight I engaged with Grieve’s helpful and friendly bot, Ashley. Here’s my interaction with “her” — can a bot truly have a gender?
Me: Hey, Ash! I have a question.
Ashley: Please go ahead.
Me: Since you are for sanctuary communities, I assume you also support places like Madison that provide sanctuary for undocumented migrants?
Ashley: We may be able to help you with that. Do you mind explaining the situation in a bit more detail?
Me: You bet. Grieve Law supports communities that say they will openly defy federal law. If a city like Madison says that it will openly defy federal law I would assume you support Madison as well?
Ashley: I am sorry I would not be the best person to answer that question; however, the lawyer may be able to address it.
Me: Great! Can you pass my question on to the lawyer?
Ashley: I will forward your message to the lawyer. May I know where you are located, city and state?
Me: Of course. I live in Madison, Wisconsin.
Ashley: Thank you for briefing me on the situation.
Me: You bet! When can I expect the lawyer to contact me?
Ashley told me I could expect a call from a lawyer on Monday. But within minutes I got this reply via email: “You recently filled out a legal inquiry on our website. Although your situation is unfortunately outside of our firm's area of practice, you may have options with a different firm. We were able to send your information to Immigration Attorneys, LLP, and Immigration Law Office in our Legal Network who may be able to assist you, and they should be following up with you shortly!”
And shortly thereafter I got an email from an immigration law firm in Milwaukee. The bots seem to have misunderstood the snarky nature of my inquiry. Apparently, AI has not yet captured the fine human art of irony.
In any event, maybe it really was all just a terrible mistake because a couple days after the Department of Homeland Security issued its list of sanctuaries, it retracted it.
I’m so disappointed, because I was ready to urge my alder to introduce a resolution creating a sister community relationship with Shawano. Maybe it’s not too late. If Shawano County doesn’t want the jack booted thugs taking away their guns, maybe they won’t want the feds deporting migrant workers that local farms and businesses depend on. What the heck. Let’s reach out to them anyway and see what they say.
Solidarity!
Dave Cieslewicz is a Madison- and Upper Peninsula-based writer who served as mayor of Madison from 2003 to 2011. You can read more of his work at Yellow Stripes & Dead Armadillos.
