JACKSON, Wyo. — The three candidates vying for the position of Teton County Sheriff explained their campaign priorities at a voter forum at the Teton County Library on Oct. 8.
Sheriff Matt Carr, the Democrat candidate, appeared alongside Independent candidate Chris Glenn and Republican candidate Deputy Eric Snow. The candidates’ diverging approaches to immigration enforcement have become a key element to this race. See how each candidate summarized his philosophy regarding interacting with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) locally:
Matt Carr
“I do worry about the impacts to our community. I’ve tried to strike a balance; I’ve felt pressure from both the left and the right on not getting it correct, but I think it’s what’s best for our community. We have a hardworking immigrant population that is so supportive and so vibrant. I’m very proud that the [Teton County] Commission and the Town Council both put out a letter of support and adopted that, stating our position on that, as well.
“I fear that if we would go down the road of really fighting ICE — which, nationally, I have great concerns about what’s going on in the nation with ICE, and it is filtering into our community, and it’s something to worry about. But trying to fight them and to really have a stronger, stiffer stance against ICE — I really think puts our hardworking immigrant population at risk. It really does. On the other hand, I am not signing any agreement with ICE. I have not done that, and I don’t intend to. We do not want to be agents of the federal system that is responsible for immigration. We’re focusing on public safety here in Teton County and that will continue to be my focus.”
Chris Glenn
“I would say that the community is already at risk, has been at risk; damage has already been done and continues to be done. No amount of sitting on the sideline will prevent that. The only way to stop the suppression, in my view, is a ground-up version where local municipalities — counties — across the country stand together united to put an end to the practices that are going on and stand up to the Trump administration. These dangers are not going to stop if we don’t do something about it. It’s up to all of us, even all of the people here sitting in the crowd, to participate in democracy, going to political events like this, going to the Town Council meetings, the County Commissioner meetings and participating and getting involved with local organizations.
“I would say that if we’re talking about a metaphorical desert of unconscionability, you’re going to find my line in the sand first, and then Sheriff Carr’s, and then Deputy Snow’s. I think it’s important that we all ask the question, ‘What is our line? What do we stand for? What policies affect us the most?'”
Eric Snow
“Immigration is really tough in part because everybody in this town has an opinion. I’ve talked to a lot of people about it, prominent business owners, restaurant owners in town, and they tell me things like, ‘I can’t get enough people to fill open positions that I’m looking for,’ and I compare that to other business owners that I’m talking to in town who say things like, ‘On my contracting bids, I’m getting undercut by 35% by businesses that are utilizing illegal immigrants for labor.’ It’s very difficult to walk that line and make everybody happy. I think if you’re going to make a decision about it, you just have to fall back to your principles. What are my principles?
“The Sheriff’s Office is a professional law enforcement organization. We work with our partners at the state and federal level. That means, to me, that we should continue the model that we’re currently doing. If somebody’s in jail, we work with ICE. But the part that’s missing is: ICE is a federal law enforcement organization. In addition to the part of it that people here often don’t like, which is the visa overstay or something like that, they also have lists of legitimate bad guys that they are looking for.
“These are people involved in drugs, human trafficking and beyond. When they are trying to remove some of these people, we should have a good relationship with them so that we can assist in removing bad guys from our community. That seems straightforward to me. If you remove ‘illegal immigrant’ from the front of it and I just said ‘bad guy,’ you’d probably be OK with it.”
See the whole forum unfold in this video recording:
These candidate forums are presented by the League of Women Voters of Wyoming, Teton County Library, the Jackson Hole News&Guide, KHOL Radio and Buckrail. The League’s Susan Dong moderated the conversation, and questions were posed by Buckrail’s Hannah Trask, KHOL’s Sophia Boyd-Fliegel, and Jeannette Boner with the News&Guide. Early voting is now open and Election Day is Nov. 3.
