Hennepin County Sheriff Dawanna Witt is responding to the threat of being arrested over the county's policy on not assisting ICE with civil immigration enforcement.
Witt says federal officials have threatened to arrest her personally for what they describe as witness tampering.
The threat followed the recent dismissal of a federal lawsuit against her department for not assisting ICE with immigration enforcement, and a report by the New York Times that federal immigration officials said they would seek criminal charges against Witt and a sheriff in Chicago.
In a social media post, Witt says there is no legal basis for the witness tampering claim because her office is following the law, and the threats won't change that.
"Those threats won't cause me to abandon my legal responsibilities or disregard the Constitution," Witt wrote. "My focus remains on doing my job: protecting all residents of Hennepin County and keeping our communities safe. I will not stray from that mission in the face of intimidation."
Witt says her focus remains on her job in Hennepin County.
