County Fight Contested

Gallatin County MT — County attorney refuses ICE records access, AG threatens action

Gallatin, MT

Current status: County Attorney Cromwell issued Oct 2025 legal opinion refusing ICE access to confidential criminal justice info; AG Knudsen gave Apr 6 deadline to rescind; Cromwell clarified no formal policy exists, sought AG opinion. Fight ongoing as of Apr 2026.

The Fight

Gallatin County Attorney Audrey Cromwell became a target of AG Austin Knudsen after her office restricted ICE access to confidential criminal justice information (CCJI). The dispute has two prongs:

1. ICE Records Access (2025-2026)

In October 2025, Cromwell’s executive assistant emailed local law enforcement stating that “the Gallatin County Attorney’s Office does not legally recognize Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as a law enforcement agency entitled to receive Confidential Criminal Justice Information (CCJI).”

In April 2026, AG Knudsen publicly demanded Cromwell rescind this “policy” by April 6 or face “immediate action.” Knudsen characterized it as a violation of Montana’s sanctuary city ban.

Cromwell responded that the email resulted from a 2025 legal review tied to a single ICE request and did not constitute a county-wide policy. She sought a formal AG opinion to clarify the legal question.

2. Detention Center ICE Holding (2025)

In April 2025, Cromwell issued a legal opinion advising Gallatin County against signing an agreement with ICE to hold undocumented immigrants at the Gallatin County Detention Center, citing:

Constitutional concerns
Legal liability risks
Taxpayer cost exposure

Key Context

Gallatin County (Bozeman) has an existing 287(g) Warrant Service Officer agreement that is five years old. Under this agreement, ICE reviews individuals booked into the detention center and Gallatin County officers serve ICE-issued detainer warrants. The county attorney’s pushback is not about ending the 287(g) but about limiting further expansion of ICE cooperation.

In early 2025, ICE arrested six alleged Tren de Aragua gang members in Gallatin County, which the state used to argue for expanded enforcement cooperation.

Why This Matters

This fight illustrates a second vector of state preemption beyond the Helena sanctuary model. Here, the AG is using a narrow records-sharing dispute to pressure a county attorney into broader ICE cooperation. If Knudsen succeeds, it establishes the precedent that county attorneys cannot exercise independent legal judgment about ICE’s law enforcement status under Montana law.

Sources

This research is published at The RAMM — investigative reporting on the detention pipeline.

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