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A court commissioner in Walworth County says he was forced out of his position after he asked to see an immigration arrest warrant from a sheriff's deputy trying to take a man into custody. Peter Navis, the county's circuit court commissioner for the past four years, said he resigned after he was told he could voluntarily leave or be fired over the July 15 incident in his courtroom.
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In the Walworth County case, Navis said he was told by three of the county's judges that Navis had misstated their position about whether immigration warrants had to be shown before an arrest can be made in court. Judges appoint and can fire commissioners, who exercise similar functions as judges, such as accepting pleas and holding preliminary hearings, in the early stages of a case.
Navis said he was wrong to make a sweeping statement about the judges' stance, but said he stands by his position that deputies should have shown him a warrant before making an arrest. "There is no avoiding this is a larger issue in the country about how these things are handled ... Every state and county in the country probably has to confront this issue," Navis, 45, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in an interview. "The fact that there were no discussions about how this would happen in Walworth County, and that it was happening in my courtroom for the first time, made it stressful."
Navis recalled an emotional scene in his courtroom as he objected to the deputies taking the man into custody without showing a warrant. But Navis said he couldn't prevent it. "They are the deputies," he said, "so it's not like I could physically get down from my bench and stop them from doing it."
I don't think the Sheriff should have forced a confrontation in the courtroom. There should be some measure of respect for the court - and for others in government service. While technically, the judge isn't a party to the federal case, there's not a reason he can't see the warrant, or that he shouldn't have a measure of control over what goes on in his courtroom. They could have made the arrest outside the courtroom.
I also don't think the commissioner should have been fired for this. He was trying to seek policy from his bosses over something they hadn't covered (and should have). He also didn't actually do anything to stop the arrest. He was asking everyone to take a pause and clarify what was the right thing to do. His bosses should have given him a policy and moved on.
This one is being compared by the news source to the Hannah Dougan, but I see them as very different.