CHEYENNE — The Laramie County Sheriff’s Office shared a news release Thursday asserting that its 287(g) immigration enforcement program has improved public safety over the past year.

Under Sheriff Brian Kozak, deputies have made 538 arrests for federal immigration violations since LCSO entered into the program with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in October 2025, the release said. 

All of the arrests originated from traffic stops where state laws had been violated by the arrestees, according to LCSO spokesman Brandon Warner.

Deputies are not allowed to conduct immigration inquiries during routine calls, the release said, and only 1.1% of the sheriff department’s 45,000 calls in the past year involved immigration enforcement.

“We completed an audit on all of our 287(g) arrests, and so we reviewed each video camera of each stop and the reports,” Kozak said in a phone call with the Wyoming Tribune Eagle. “We have an auditor who takes care of that within the agency to make sure all of our deputies are 100% compliant with our policy, and there is a verified reason to stop someone based on a violation of Wyoming state law.”

The 287(g) program was implemented following complaints of “unlicensed, unsafe, and undocumented commercial truck drivers utilizing county roads to bypass state ports of entry,” according to the release. LCSO also implemented targeted operations like “Truck Around Find Out,” through which truck operators considered unsafe were removed from the road by deputies.

These operations have been met with resistance, with the American Civil Liberties Union arguing LCSO’s 287(g) agreement could lead to racial profiling of drivers. Kozak disagrees, explaining to the WTE that the operations are made to target unsafe truck drivers who are violating the law.

“In most cases, most of these operations are done in the early morning hours; that’s when they operate because they are trying to avoid law enforcement,” Kozak said. “Of course, you can’t see the race of the driver.”

Kozak noted there is no way to report trucking companies hiring undocumented drivers. He has brought the issue to Wyoming Department of Transportation Director Darin Westby and National Highway Traffic Safety Administrator Jonathan Morrison, the release said.

ACLU Wyoming responds

In a statement emailed to the Wyoming Tribune Eagle, ACLU Wyoming Executive Director Libby Skarin said the statistics shared by LCSO “fail to tell the full story of the Wyoming families whose lives have been disrupted and torn apart by 287(g) agreements.”

ACLU and Lichter & Associates, a Colorado-based immigration firm, alongside Kevin Lewis, Drake Hill and his wife, former Wyoming Superintendent of Public Instruction Cindy Hill, have sued Kozak over mishandling of cases during these operations.

They all represent Mario Fabian Valenzuela-Robles, an undocumented man who has lived in the United States for more than 20 years. He was detained by Laramie County deputies in April following a traffic stop.

Since his arrest, Valenzuela- Robles’ attorneys have tried to find out what happened when he was arrested by deputies. The attorneys have received two documents from the LCSO: one implied a Cheyenne Police Department officer assisted with the traffic stop and was the one to turn on his body camera. The second subsequent version of this document said a deputy handled the stop alone and that the body camera footage was stored by LCSO.

Currently, Kozak is being required to turn over additional documents within a 10-day deadline, after Laramie County District Judge Robin Cooley declined Drake Hill’s request to hold Kozak in contempt.

The ACLU’s case was filed on behalf of Juntos Wyoming, the Unitarian Universalist Church of Cheyenne and Drew’s Barbershop, all of whom claimed that Kozak overstepped his duties as sheriff by signing 287(g) agreements without obtaining Laramie County commissioners’ approval. The case was dismissed in August by Cooley, who ruled that “the plaintiffs lacked standing to bring the challenge,” according to their website. They appealed the dismissal in September, though no further updates have been shared. 

“People of color and immigrant families see what is happening, hear what is being said, and feel the pain when their families are broken apart,” Skarin said. “This has resulted in an erosion of trust in local law enforcement and deters immigrant families from coming forward when they are victims of crime.”

Kozak touts lower crime, expresses additional goals

Crime in unincorporated areas has dropped to record lows, and property crime levels currently sit 67% below the national average, the news release further states.

“Sheriff Kozak notes that offenders who previously traveled from Colorado to commit crimes in the county have largely disappeared, attributing this change to no-nonsense enforcement practices and teamwork with partnering agencies,” the LCSO release read.

The release said Kozak hopes broader improvements are made, including ways to hold accountable businesses that are exploiting undocumented labor. Kozak also supports bipartisan efforts to expedite visa processing for victims and witnesses of crime who assist law enforcement, as well as a streamlined process for work permits and visas, according to the release.

The Federation for American Immigration Reform and the National Sheriffs’ Association have invited Kozak to share his perspective in Washington, D.C., later this year and in February of next year.

Kozak, a Republican, faces a challenge in Tuesday’s general election from Democrat Robin Cozad in his bid for a second four-year term in office.