Sheriff Mike Lewis denies collaboration with ICE on street-level enforcement

Sheriff Mike Lewis

WICOMICO COUNTY, Md. — Wicomico County Sheriff Mike Lewis is pushing back against community rumors alleging close cooperation between his office and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), particularly in efforts to detain or deport undocumented immigrants.

In an interview with WMDT’s Leila Weah, Lewis said he has been inundated with public concern and speculation, but maintains that his department is not partnering with ICE on street-level enforcement.

“I get phone calls about it all the time,” Lewis said. “I can assure you, not one of my deputies has been working with ICE on the street.”

Local residents have questioned whether former sheriff’s facilities, including the Wicomico County Detention Center on Naylor Mill Road, are being used by ICE to detain immigrants. Lewis denied the claims.

“I heard that rumor,” he said. “I can tell you the Wicomico County Detention Center is not being used as a detention facility or a holding facility for ICE. It’s not happening.”

While denying operational partnerships in the field, Lewis acknowledged that his office is working with the Wicomico County Executive’s Office to draft a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with ICE. The proposed agreement, still in early development, would allow for limited cooperation—specifically within the local jail, and only after individuals are arrested for unrelated offenses.

“We won’t be doing any enforcement efforts on the streets,” Lewis said. “That is not my goal. I’m not going to be working with ICE on the streets at all. Any and everything we will be doing will be done within the local jail… to assist [ICE] in identifying dangerous individuals and getting them out of our community.”

Lewis emphasized that the county’s immigrant population—both documented and undocumented—has generally not posed public safety concerns.

“The migrant population in Wicomico County has not been problematic to me. It’s not been problematic to our agency,” he said. “Most of the immigrants that we see in Wicomico County, even legal and illegal, have been victims of crime.”

As for the persistent claims of ICE-operated detention sites in the county, Lewis said he has no knowledge of such facilities.

“If ICE does have a holding facility in Wicomico County,” he said, “I’ve never been there.”