BOZEMAN — Gallatin County leaders have decided to stop working on a plan that would allow them to team up with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to detain undocumented immigrants from other areas.
The proposal: ICE has requested 10 beds to temporarily house inmates being transferred into the federal court system. ICE offered to pay $135 per day for each bed. This proposal gained traction around a week ago.
This proposal started when the Gallatin County Sheriff’s office suggested it, and the County Commission, which is the group in charge of making county rules, showed interest by writing a letter. Before moving forward, they needed to get legal advice from Gallatin County Attorney Audrey Cromwell.
On April 24, 2025, Cromwell wrote a report explaining that the agreement could create legal problems and concerns about how it might affect local taxpayers. She pointed out that Gallatin County is already part of a program that helps manage undocumented individuals who are charged with a crime, without bringing in people from other places.
At the Gallatin County Commission meeting on Tuesday, nearly 30 community members spoke out on the proposal from ICE to use space in the Gallatin County Detention Center.
“It was mixed in terms of people from both sides of the issue. Pro ICE anti-ICE. I would say the majority was folks who were in opposition,” says Gallatin County Commissioner Zach Brown.
“And in the week before the meeting, our office has received hundreds of emails and phone calls, and all of those messages have been in opposition,” says Brown.
On May 2, 2025, Cromwell reached out to ICE for more information about the proposal. However, on May 9, 2025, the County Commissioners told the County Attorney to stop working on the idea.
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