Federal officers detained three Juneau men for immigration enforcement and removed them from the community last year.
The Juneau Police Department says its knowledge of these incidents and its involvement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity in Juneau is very limited.
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Alaska Department of Corrections spokesperson Betsy Holley confirmed that three men were held at Lemon Creek Correctional Center in Juneau under federal charges for immigration detention purposes in 2025, and were then released to federal custody. They are no longer in Alaska’s correctional system.
Last May, one of the men was charged with driving without a license or insurance, according to Alaska court documents.
Juneau Police Deputy Chief Krag Campbell said his files say ICE officers detained the man. This happened in October without JPD knowledge or involvement.
“During an unrelated investigation, JPD learned that one of the individuals had been deported by ICE,” Campbell said in an interview.
Juneau police arrested one of the other men for driving under the influence in November. According to DOC, this man then went into federal custody, though Campbell said there is no record of immigration enforcement in JPD files.
Juneau police officers arrested the third man in December for a DUI. When officers later went to his residence and tried to serve a warrant, people there said he had been deported.
This is the first time police have confirmed immigration enforcement activity in Alaska’s capital city during the Trump Administration’s nationwide crackdown. As recently as Monday, Chief Derek Bos said he was not aware of any federal immigration activity in the area.
Holley said once the three men were in federal hands, DOC didn’t track what happened to them next. JPD doesn’t know where they are either. ICE has not responded to requests for more information.
At Monday’s Juneau Assembly human resources committee meeting, Bos said federal agents are not required to notify local police of their activities.
“In essence, they do not have to tell us if they’re doing anything in Juneau or not,” Bos said. “We have a great relationship with our federal partners, and so most of the time we do know if they’re coming or whatnot.”
He said the people he knew of that had been detained for immigration reasons had criminal records.
“By and large, all of those that I’m aware of, not to say there aren’t others, but that I’m aware of, who have been deported from our community have been convicted of crimes, and that has been the basis of why they’re leaving,” he said. “There may be exceptions, but I don’t know of those.”
Nationwide, thousands of ICE officers have entered cities, going door to door to detain and deport people – some children, some with legal residency status. Protests have erupted, and last month, federal officers shot and killed two people in Minneapolis.
Assembly member Maureen Hall said at the meeting that she has heard from residents about possible ICE activity in Juneau and that immigrants in the community are afraid.
“Just from awareness of what’s happening all over the country, they are pretty terrified, so (they’re) reluctant to report minor fender benders or engage in any way,” she told Bos. “So if you have any suggestions on how we can help reassure them that Juneau Police Department is not ICE.”
Bos said Juneau residents can trust police to protect them.
“If you’re the victim of a crime, you have a lot of protections, and our job is to enforce those protections,” he said. “So especially as victims, we encourage people to still come to us and talk to us. We don’t have to report that you’re a victim to a crime and you’re illegal in the country. We don’t have to report that to ICE.”
That is, unless that person has a criminal detainer order, which is like a warrant from the federal government, Bos said.
“We do have certain requirements where we have to notify, you know, if there’s a person that we contact who’s on a criminal detainer, we have to notify them, and we do,” he said. “That’s federal law, so we follow that.”
Campbell said there is no indication in police files that JPD alerted ICE about any of the three men who were detained. The files don’t mention immigration status, he said.
He said people do have to comply with any orders from federal officers.
“Anytime you have law enforcement coming into town, whether they’re local, state or federal, they have a mandate,” he said. “You have to comply with it. Especially if they have things like warrants.”
KTOO requested records related to the three men from JPD, but has not yet received them.
Even though Juneau has not seen immigration enforcement like larger cities in the Lower 48 have, Assembly member Hall said in an interview that residents still need to be informed about what’s happening here.
“It gives the opportunity for those in the community that are involved in this to review our readiness to deal with potential full scale ICE activity,” she said.
