Sheriff Borkovich speaks on immigration enforcement, cooperation with feds

By Jacob Wheeler
Sun editor

Immigration has been in the political crosshairs since the new administration took office in January. So is the status of migrant farmworkers who are indispensable to the local economy of northern Michigan and countless other agricultural regions across the United States. A story in our Fourth of July edition, “Will immigration backlash affect Leelanau farmers?” examined what effect increased federal raids would have on Leelanau growers, and how local sheriffs view their duties with respect to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

In late June I interviewed Leelanau County Sheriff Mike Borkovich about his views on immigration (both legal and illegal), migrant farmworkers in the county, and how he viewed his department’s enforcement role. Borkovich and I had played a game of phone tag for weeks, but owing to the political sensitivity of the topic, he refused to speak on-the-record until we could meet face-to-face, for a 90-minute interview.

Borkovich was characteristically juggling many tasks at once. Days earlier, he and his deputies had recovered the body of yet another drowning victim in Lake Michigan (this time an 18-year-old whose canoe overturned in West Grand Traverse Bay); Cherry Festival and its usual craziness was about to commence in Traverse City; and Borkovich’s son Walter (a standout pitcher at Michigan State) had finally landed a Minor League contract with the Atlanta Braves organization, following a series of unforeseen hurdles during the Major League draft including an erroneous report that he had had surgery on his throwing arm. … Needless to say, Sheriff Borkovich had a lot on his mind.

On immigration enforcement, Leelanau’s top officer took a hardline approach: that anyone in the country illegally should be forced to leave, whether they came here last week or last century. He expressed no reservations about working with ICE, though he said the federal agency had made no recent overtures to his department about immigration raids. … Nevertheless, during the interview Borkovich did show a pragmatism on certain issues, such as his department’s use of Narcan, a nasal spray that police officers use to reverse a drug overdose — even though he was initially opposed to it because he felt the Narcan option would “enable drug users”.

Glen Arbor Sun: Let’s say someone who’s been coming here for 25 years from Florida, goes back and forth from Florida and Michigan, but has always been here illegally, has a relationship with the [Leelanau] farmer, should that person [be allowed to continue working here]?

Sheriff Borkovich: The person who’s here, who wants to work here, who’s illegal, needs to first go back to wherever they’re from, and then apply through the process, just like you or I would apply for a passport. I’m not one to sanction, “I’ve been beating my wife for 25 years, and therefore in the 26th year, it’s past practice, acceptable.” That crime doesn’t go away. If you beat your wife, you beat your wife.

Because you beat your wife for 25 years doesn’t give you any status with me or this system. This says, if you want to work in this country and you’re not a U.S. citizen, here’s a process and a way for you to do it. I think it’s a Christian thing to do. I think it’s a fair thing to do. I think it’s a thing that if you step back and get out of Republican and Democrat — as a Sheriff, I try to be a Republicrat.

You’re illegal, you’re illegal. I would never want to look back and say, “That rape was 40 years ago,” or “He beat his wife two years ago, it’s too late. She should have complained.” I’m not that guy. If you do something wrong … and I’m a sheriff, I enforce the laws. And I’m a Constitutional sheriff, meaning I believe in the Constitution. I believe in fairness for everybody.

Sun: I’ve heard some kind of the pro-immigration advocacy side around here say — and I want to get your understanding on this — it’s a crime to cross the Mexican-U.S. border illegally, but it’s not a crime, technically, to be here illegally. In other words, five years down the road, if you’ve been here for five years, if you crossed five years ago, are you committing a crime by being here? What’s your take on that?

Borkovich: I don’t buy any of that. … That’s like saying, you’re accusing me of hitting my wife, that was three weeks ago. I’m not hitting her right now. That’s a vernacular thing. That’s a play-on-words, that “what is, is.” … I will not buy into, “These are undocumented workers.” They are illegal aliens, by definition in both Merriam-Webster’s and Black’s Law Dictionary. You are here illegally. … I don’t support it, and I will not buy into the, “Well, they’re here. We should accept it.” Because to me that’s saying it’s okay to rape someone 20 years ago.

There’s also a common sense and Christian factor of we have to help people. But I don’t feel obligated as Sheriff to help everybody in the whole world, just because they found a way, or bought their way into this country, whether they came in an airplane, they swam across a river, they came on a boat. Just because you’re here illegally, we can’t afford to take care of the whole world.

[In a subsequent phone interview, Borkovich was asked if he stood by his analogy that illegal immigration decades ago is still a criminal act, just as a rape or spousal abuse years ago is still a criminal act. He stood by his analogy.]

Sun: I wanted to get back to your department and ICE here. … Are there cases, are there scenarios in which ICE would come to your department and seek help in detaining initially, and then maybe deporting later, detaining people who are here illegally, are not driving drunk, I mean, one could argue that they’re not a public danger, they are here illegally, so you said that that’s a crime. Are there scenarios in which that would happen? ICE and Leelanau County Sheriffs Department working together to pick up people?

Borkovich: I don’t want to get into the semantics with the general public of how pregnant are we at one day or nine months. You’re either pregnant or you’re not. And what I tell people is, if it’s not important, it’s not a law. … I can’t even think of something that doesn’t require an ID if you’re in trouble. Urinating in public. You say, “Well, he was drunk, he didn’t know what he was doing. He wasn’t driving a car, he didn’t hurt anybody.” Okay, but it’s still a crime to urinate in public in front of people.

Sun: I’m asking though, I’m not asking about someone who is caught driving drunk, or going through a stop sign, or urinating in public and then picked up by a Leelanau County sheriff’s deputy. I’m asking about if ICE, if they know where migrant worker camps are, if they know it’s cherry season in two weeks, they know that there are people who may be here illegally, and they want to pick them up. If they came to you, or called you and said, “We’re going to do this raid, would you help us? Would you be stand-by?” What do you say? Would that ever happen?

Borkovich: We will help all law enforcement agencies, federal, state, local or tribal, we will help them do their job. It’s called mutual aid or other agency assistance. For instance, when we had an individual building nerve gas [incident] in Suttons Bay and also building bombs, the FBI came to us, we would not have even known about it if it were not for the cooperation between the agencies. That saved major lives. That was a very, very serious incident and we cooperate back and forth. …

ICE is Immigration Customs Enforcement. They are sanctioned. I’ve asked them, “Do you have plans to do …” “Absolutely not.” Is it possible they could? Could they sometimes? Sure, especially if they hear a bunch of cocoa bean that’s going through some migrant housing unit apartment, or someone’s bringing marijuana in or in light of sometimes there’s a rapist in the community, they go find him.

Sun: I want to ask a question about opioids, but first, I’ll just say that this was really interesting to hear you talk about illegal immigration. The most interesting thing I heard was that if ICE were to do a raid, you would assist, but also the most interesting thing I heard was that they have not, that conversation hasn’t happened.

Borkovich: No, we assist FBI, ICE, we assist Canadian Royal Mounted Police …

Sun: To me, despite what appears to be some very different policies [and rhetoric] from [the acting administration], it appears that at least ICE in [northern] Michigan isn’t necessarily interested in picking up anybody, any illegal immigrant. They’re more focused still on illegal immigrants who are committing or are potentially committing violent crimes. Which was, as far as I could read the tea leaves, that was the policy of the previous [Obama] administration as well.

Borkovich: It was … Let’s focus on problem people.

Sun: I heard [Leelanau County Prosecutor Joe Hubbell give a talk about immigration recently. … And he did express the worry that people here illegally, living in the shadows, they don’t want to be picked out. They don’t want to be visible to you or to ICE, obviously. They may not call in if they’re being beaten, or if there’s child abuse.

Borkovich: I brought that up to him several times, where we’ll know of something going on in their community, and I’ve offered to the migrant community here, through some of their leaders, I’ve said, “Look, if you ever want me to come in and talk to them, if I come to speak to them, I don’t want them running out back doors. …

Sun: How have those leaders in the community responded to that?

Borkovich: I’ve never been asked. I mean, people say it’s a good idea, but I’ve never been asked. … we have the opportunity to do public relations, and I really like public relations. I like … I’ll sit down with a media like I am with you, I’ll sit down with migrants, I’ll sit down with young athletes, and I’ll talk to them about what my son did in his baseball career, how he didn’t use drugs, didn’t use alcohol, no temptation for steroids, didn’t smoke cigarettes.

Sun: Let’s talk about opioids. … How long have [your officers] been carrying [Narcan]?

Borkovich: About a year. .. But we haven’t had to use it yet.

Sun: But you’re prepared to. When it was implemented a year ago, was there any opposition to having it?

Borkovich: From me? Yes. … My reluctance for getting Naloxone, we are the last public law enforcement entity in this region to get it. My reluctance is if you give someone heroin, and they like it, or you give it to them a couple times and they enjoy it, guess who’s at your door knocking for more next week? … It does enable drug users. There’s no question. They feel more comfortable using drugs.

I’m of the opinion it’s someone’s son or daughter who’s using it. I’m of the opinion we save lives. Take the politics out of it.

Sun: So, even though [you say] it enables, given that resource-wise the cost has been brought down for your department, it’s worth using and having.

Borkovich: I think so.