Video spotlights Wisconsin crime cases as immigration becomes flashpoint in governor’s race

CatholicVote senior political advisor Steve Cortes released a documentary-style video this week examining crime cases tied to people living in Wisconsin illegally, arriving as immigration enforcement becomes a central flashpoint in the state’s toss-up governor’s race between Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany and Democratic Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley.

The roughly 12-minute video, posted to Cortes’ platform on X and shared widely on social media, profiles three Wisconsin criminal cases: a Fond du Lac County case involving a 12-year-old girl and a suspect identified in the video as a Nicaraguan national in the country illegally; the case of Fermin Teodoro Lopez-Mendoza, a Mexican national living in the country illegally who was sentenced in March to 20 years in prison for stabbing his partner; and the deaths of Wisconsin teenagers Hallie Helgeson and Brady Heiling, killed in July 2025 by a wrong-way drunk driver later identified as Honduran national Noelia Saray Martinez-Avila, who was in the country illegally and had prior drunk driving arrests. 

The video also includes a ride-along with Dodge County Sheriff Dale Schmidt and an interview with Tiffany, who says Wisconsin should not be using what he describes as sanctuary policies in counties like Dane and Milwaukee. Those policies, he said, are leading criminals in surrounding counties to become more lawless. 

The video explicitly frames its analysis of immigration around the governor’s race, contrasting Tiffany’s calls to end local policies of not cooperating with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement with Crowley’s record on the issue. Crowley did not agree to conduct an interview for the video. 

Its release lands amid an intensifying Republican messaging push on immigration this week specifically. The Wisconsin GOP and Tiffany’s campaign both circulated a clip Sept. 9 of Crowley telling supporters ahead of the Democratic primary that he would be an “accomplice” to immigrants living in the country illegally, using the moment to brand him “Criminal-First Crowley.” Tiffany’s campaign says Crowley would extend Milwaukee County’s immigration policies statewide, including declining to honor ICE detainers and backing driver’s licenses and in-state college tuition for people without legal status.

Crowley’s actual record on the issue, drawn from his own public statements, closely tracks how his campaign has been characterized. He told WISN’s “UpFront” in February that he doesn’t see “any scenario where we would want to partner with ICE,” arguing that local officers were hired to serve their communities, not carry out federal immigration duties. The Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office has declined to honor ICE detainers or assist federal immigration officials in the county jail since 2018, a policy Crowley has defended and says he wouldn’t change as governor. He backed 2019 legislation that would have barred local law enforcement from cooperating with ICE and, as county executive, directed lobbyists to support a 2025 bill creating state-funded legal aid for immigration cases regardless of a person’s legal status.

The general election is Nov. 3. Wisconsin hasn’t elected a governor without an incumbent on the ballot since 2010, and forecasters rate the race a toss-up, with recent polling showing Crowley leading Tiffany by several points. Democrats are hoping a win would give the party full control of Wisconsin’s governorship and Legislature for the first time since 2010, while Republicans are betting that immigration and Crowley’s Milwaukee County record will prove decisive with swing voters in November.