Watch: Acting sheriff speaks out about 'false attacks made against MCSO regarding immigration policy'

MILWAUKEE -- Acting Milwaukee County Sheriff Richard Schmidt is set to speak out Wednesday, Aug. 8 "to counter the false attacks made against the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office regarding the agency's immigration policy," a statement from the MCSO says.

Voces de la Frontera officials in a recent news release said candidate for sheriff Earnell Lucas "has committed to not collaborate with President Trump in the separation of Milwaukee immigrant families."

Voces officials said in the release according to recently released federal records, Acting Sheriff Schmidt received 84 requests from ICE to hand over Milwaukee residents for deportation and separation from their families from Sept. 1, 2017, the day he took office, through April of this year, and "Schmidt has not stopped his mentor David Clarke's policy of complying with ICE detainer requests." They also said "after Clarke's resignation, Schmidt refused to withdraw Clarke's application to turn Milwaukee County Sheriff's deputies into immigration agents through the federal 287g program, and the Department of Homeland Security ultimately rejected Schmidt's 287g application in the face of overwhelming local opposition and revelations about human rights abuses in the Sheriff's Office."

According to the release, "federal courts have repeatedly found compliance with ICE detainer requests to be unconstitutional, and on Thursday, Aug. 2, the US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals found that compliance with detainer requests could violate the Fourth Amendment.

"People are trying to paint me as the previous sheriff. Ladies and gentlemen, I want to make it very clear that I am not working on the previous administration's policies when it comes to immigration control," said Schmidt.

Clarke did apply for 287g status, but Schmidt said he turned that application down after he took over the job. He said repeatedly Latino and Hispanic communities should not live in fear.