DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa’s attorney general on Friday said she will withdraw her lawsuit accusing a sheriff of discouraging compliance with federal immigration law, ending a monthslong public dispute between the two Republicans days after the sheriff's northeast Iowa constituents rallied in his defense.
Attorney General Brenna Bird sued Winneshiek County Dan Marx in March over his Facebook post saying his department doesn't always need to detain people at the request of federal immigration authorities. Bird sued even though Marx deleted the post and an investigation from her office showed that Marx fully complied with each of the nearly two dozen requests he had received from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to hold someone suspected of immigration violations.
Marx had declined to post a conciliatory message the attorney general's office had scripted.
Bird alleged the original post violated state law by impeding and discouraging cooperation with federal immigration officers. The lawsuit jeopardized state funding to the county.
As President Donald Trump took office and initiated his campaign of mass deportations, Marx told constituents on Feb. 4 that he shares some of their “mistrust and many of your concerns with the legitimacy of how these federal agents conduct business” and that requests to hold individuals without a court order are “violations” of constitutional rights.
At the same time, there was a legislative push in states across the country to support Trump’s immigration efforts and curtail “ sanctuary cities ” that generally limit cooperation with immigration authorities. The Trump administration had also begun taking legal action against governments that have adopted policies inhibiting ICE arrests and deportations.
Marx said in a statement Friday that he met with Bird in person and explained it was “never my intent to discourage immigration enforcement.” Marx also thanked his constituents for their patience and “outpouring of support through this situation,” he said.
When Bird visited the county Monday, dozens of people showed up to support Marx and criticize the lawsuit as a bullying tactic, television station KGAN reported.
Bird said Friday she intended to dismiss the case because the county has “now fully complied.”
“Winneshiek County and Sheriff Marx are in compliance with 27A," she said in a statement, referencing the chapter in Iowa code that ensures cities and counties fully comply with federal immigration law. "They have committed to continue to honor ICE detainers and cooperate with federal immigration authorities.”
Marx’s February post echoed critiques of what are known as ICE “detainer” requests that ask local or state law enforcement agencies to hold individuals until they can be taken into custody by federal authorities. Marx said those requests often clash with the Constitution's Fourth Amendment, which bars against unreasonable searches and seizures of individuals without a warrant based on probable cause.
If federal agents’ “actions or paperwork are not within constitutional parameters,” he wrote, “then we will make every effort to block, interfere and interrupt their actions from moving forward.”
FILE - Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird speaks at a press conference, May 13, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah, File)
ALEPPO, Syria (AP) — First responders on Sunday entered a contested neighborhood in Syria’ s northern city of Aleppo after days of deadly clashes between government forces and Kurdish-led forces. Syrian state media said the military was deployed in large numbers.
The clashes broke out Tuesday in the predominantly Kurdish neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud, Achrafieh and Bani Zaid after the government and the Syrian Democratic Forces, the main Kurdish-led force in the country, failed to make progress on how to merge the SDF into the national army. Security forces captured Achrafieh and Bani Zaid.
The fighting between the two sides was the most intense since the fall of then-President Bashar Assad to insurgents in December 2024. At least 23 people were killed in five days of clashes and more than 140,000 were displaced amid shelling and drone strikes.
The U.S.-backed SDF, which have played a key role in combating the Islamic State group in large swaths of eastern Syria, are the largest force yet to be absorbed into Syria's national army. Some of the factions that make up the army, however, were previously Turkish-backed insurgent groups that have a long history of clashing with Kurdish forces.
The Kurdish fighters have now evacuated from the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood to northeastern Syria, which is under the control of the SDF. However, they said in a statement they will continue to fight now that the wounded and civilians have been evacuated, in what they called a “partial ceasefire.”
The neighborhood appeared calm Sunday. The United Nations said it was trying to dispatch more convoys to the neighborhoods with food, fuel, blankets and other urgent supplies.
Government security forces brought journalists to tour the devastated area, showing them the damaged Khalid al-Fajer Hospital and a military position belonging to the SDF’s security forces that government forces had targeted.
The SDF statement accused the government of targeting the hospital “dozens of times” before patients were evacuated. Damascus accused the Kurdish-led group of using the hospital and other civilian facilities as military positions.
On one street, Syrian Red Crescent first responders spoke to a resident surrounded by charred cars and badly damaged residential buildings.
Some residents told The Associated Press that SDF forces did not allow their cars through checkpoints to leave.
“We lived a night of horror. I still cannot believe that I am right here standing on my own two feet,” said Ahmad Shaikho. “So far the situation has been calm. There hasn’t been any gunfire.”
Syrian Civil Defense first responders have been disarming improvised mines that they say were left by the Kurdish forces as booby traps.
Residents who fled are not being allowed back into the neighborhood until all the mines are cleared. Some were reminded of the displacement during Syria’s long civil war.
“I want to go back to my home, I beg you,” said Hoda Alnasiri.
Associated Press journalist Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut contributed to this report.
Sandbag barriers used as fighting positions by Kurdish fighters, left inside a destroyed mosque in the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
Burned vehicles at one of the Kurdish fighters positions at the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
People flee the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
A Syrian military police convoy enters the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
Burned vehicles and ammunitions left at one of the Kurdish fighters positions at the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
