Isiah Holmes, Wisconsin Examiner

The activities of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents around the Milwaukee County Courthouse continue to spur controversy. Late last week, ICE agents arrested Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, a 30-year-old Mexican immigrant accused of misdemeanor battery. Flores-Ruiz appeared in Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan’s court on April 18, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

Now, the FBI is investigating whether Dugan helped an undocumented immigrant avoid arrest after that immigrant appeared in her courtroom. Although the immigrant hasn’t been identified, Flores-Ruiz, whose immigration status is unclear, “appears to match the description,” the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

The Wisconsin Examiner’s Criminal Justice Reporting Project shines a light on incarceration, law enforcement and criminal justice issues with support from the Public Welfare Foundation....

In Kenosha, the local Democratic Party office has received calls about residents who put up yard signs supporting Vice President Kamala Harris receiving letters, warning of reprisal and biblical hell fire if they don’t vote for former President Donald Trump.

Lori Hawkins, chair of the Kenosha County Democratic Party, said that people have been reporting the letters to the Kenosha Police Department. “There’s a couple different versions of it, but most people I know have gotten both of them,” Hawkins told Wisconsin Examiner.

One of the letters, images of which were shared with Wisconsin Examiner, opens with the line, “We see that you have Democrat signs on your property.” The letter asks, “are you not aware that when you die that you will be held accountable before almighty God for voting for an open border that allows millions of illegal immigrants to freely enter, many of which are felons and evil people that have been doing deadly harm and will continue to do so [?]” The letter goes on to warn that voters will be held accountable by God “for voting for communism to take over America,” ending that “we don’t want anyone going to horrible hell, but you are on a fast path to it.” ...

The Milwaukee Police Association (MPA) has endorsed Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, following a visit Friday by Trump’s running mate J.D. Vance.

In brief remarks to the police association, Vance thanked Milwaukee officers for providing security last month during the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee where, he said, he “never felt safer.” He then focused on undocumented immigrants as a cause of crime in Wisconsin and other states. “When you hear Republicans say every state is a border state, that is not just a slogan,” Vance said, “that is a sad reflection of the reality that we have drug cartels operating about as far north in this country as we possibly could.” He denounced “the policies that have come from the Harris administration that make it harder for the police to do their job,” including providing shelter and aid to immigrants “who shouldn’t be here.”

Projecting a Trump victory in November, Vance said police officers’ job is about to get “a lot easier.” ...

The Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office has filed a criminal complaint charging four Hyatt Hotel staff in Milwaukee with felony murder in the death of 43-year-old D’Vontaye Mitchell. In late June, according to police reports, hotel security staff beat, dragged, and held down Mitchell while trying to remove him from the hotel.

The charges were filed Tuesday against Todd Alan Ericson, 60, Brandon LaDaniel Turner, 35, Herbert T. Williamson, 52, all of the city of Milwaukee; and Devin W. Johnson-Carson, 23, of the city of South Milwaukee.

Arrest warrants were issued for the four, but as of Wednesday night, according to online records, none appeared to be in custody at the Milwaukee County jail. ...

Columbus, Ohio police officers shot and killed a homeless man close to Milwaukee’s King Park on Tuesday. The shooting took place more than a mile from the security perimeter of the Republican National Convention, which has drawn more than 4,000 police officers from across the country to the city.

Security camera video of the incident, obtained by the Wisconsin Examiner from the Milwaukee Alliance, a community organizing group, shows two men walking into the street appearing to be fighting when the police officers enter the frame and immediately shoot one of the men.

A group of teenagers who were playing basketball at the park said the police started firing within 20 seconds of arriving at the scene. King Park is known to have a tent community of unhoused people, which has fluctuated in size over the years. On Monday evening, the Poor People’s Army led a march from King Park to the Republican National Convention grounds to raise awareness of the needs of unhoused people. Community members near the scene said the victim, first identified by Urban Milwaukee as Sam Sharpe, lived in the encampment in the park. Some local residents said the man was known to live in the park with his dog. ...