Muscatine County’s agreement to jail ICE detainees remains secret

Iowa Capital Dispatch
February 20, 2026

Muscatine County, which has a contract to hold immigration detainees for the federal government, is refusing to publicly disclose its copy of that contract.

In recent months, Muscatine County’s jail administrator has been named in five lawsuits related to the county’s agreement to jail some of the immigrants who are picked up in Iowa by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.

Like other Iowa counties, Muscatine County has a contract with ICE to house those individuals in return for payments from the federal government. That contract, and the county’s detention of the immigrants, have been the subject of five civil lawsuits and an alleged ethics complaint concerning former Muscatine County Attorney James Barry, who resigned last year.

On Jan. 16, the Iowa Capital Dispatch asked Muscatine County Sheriff Quinn Riess and Jail Administrator Matt McCleary for a copy of the county’s contract with ICE. Neither Riess or McCleary responded to the request or to subsequent phone calls on the matter.

On Feb. 2, the Capital Dispatch wrote again to Riess and McCleary and asked for a status report on the Open Records Law request. Neither of the two men responded.

On Feb. 4, the Capital Dispatch wrote to Muscatine County’s new attorney, Korie Talkington, and requested the contract and other records, including any written communications between her office and Barry during the month of January 2026.

On Feb. 6, Talkington responded and said she would begin work on the request. The Capital Dispatch later withdrew its request for the communications with Barry.

On Feb. 19, Talkington responded to the request for the jail contract by stating that “ICE equities have been identified in the documents that require ICE review.”

As a result, she said, the Capital Dispatch’s Open Records Law request had been turned over to the Freedom of Information Act Office within ICE, so that the federal agency could respond to the request. Any future communication related to the document request, she said, would come from ICE and not from the county.

The Capital Dispatch objected, noting that it is not seeking access to federal records held by ICE and subject to the Freedom of Information Act, but is instead seeking access to county records that are subject to the Iowa Open Records Law.

“As the county attorney, you don’t have the power to simply convert a citizen’s Open Records Law request for county documents into a federal FOIA request for ICE/DHS documents,” the news organization stated. “Nor can you delegate to ICE/DHS your own responsibility for maintaining and sharing county records in accordance with the Iowa Open Records Law.”

At the same time, the Capital Dispatch renewed its request for access to the county’s copy of the contract and also asked for all written communications between Barry and Talkington’s office between Jan. 16, 2026, and Feb. 19, 2026.

Randy Evans, president and chief executive of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council, said Friday that “this should not be a controversial matter. Iowans should be able to read the contracts their county officials enter into with ICE or any other government. Access to the contract language should not be dependent on whether the federal government wants to share that information.”

Contract at issue in lawsuits, ethics complaint

State and federal records show that the county’s contract with ICE is one element of an alleged ethics complaint filed against Barry in 2025.

In August 2025, attorney Emily Rebelskey of Iowa City filed court papers involving a client, an ICE detainee who had been held in the Muscatine County Jail, in which she stated that “a complaint has been filed with the Iowa Office of Professional Regulation regarding the Muscatine County attorney’s actual and potential conflicts of interest, and an investigation is currently pending.”

In court proceedings related to her client’s case, Rebelskey raised the question of whether the county was financially incentivized to hold immigration detainees as long as possible given the payments the county collects from ICE for each detention.

Barry said Friday he was “not interested” in discussing the matter with an Iowa Capital Dispatch reporter.

At an August 2025 court hearing, Rebelskey told an Iowa district court judge she believed Barry had a conflict of interest given the nature of the county’s contract with ICE and Barry’s role in securing detainees within the jail.

“I filed a public records request to see the contract, and I was not given that document,” Rebelskey told the court at that time.

On Friday, the Iowa Capital Dispatch asked Muscatine County for a copy of its response to Rebelskey’s request for a copy of the contract. The county has 10 days to respond. Rebelskey has not responded to messages seeking comment.

Former prosecutor was twice sanctioned

Barry resigned as Muscatine County attorney last fall after the Iowa Supreme Court publicly reprimanded him for engaging in the private practice of law while serving as the full-time Muscatine County attorney, a violation of state law. The Iowa Attorney Disciplinary Board had found that Barry provided no-cost legal services and representation to others while employed as the county attorney.

In 2004, prior to working for Muscatine County, Barry was forced from the Cass County Attorney’s Office after the Des Moines Register published a series of stories about his office fabricating tickets for equipment violations to generate revenue for the county.

As Cass County attorney, Barry had a practice of dismissing speeding tickets in return for the drivers’ written agreement to plead guilty to numerous, fictitious vehicle-equipment violations. Those “violations” didn’t count against the motorists’ driving record, but generated revenue for the county.

Barry also was found to have traded property seized from criminal defendants for “donations” to the sheriff’s office. In one case, he held a drug defendant’s truck until the individual agreed to make a $500 donation to the sheriff’s office.

At the time, Barry admitted he knew that the money derived from the fictitious tickets and the property seizures should not have been retained by the county. “I’m aware of where the funds are supposed to go,” he said. “I’m aware of a lot of laws that, whether we like it or not, aren’t enforced by the letter.”

After the stories were published, a group of Cass County citizens banded together and presented the court with a petition asking that Barry be removed from office. After a trial, a judge forced both Barry and Cass County Sheriff Larry Jones from office.

In 2009, the Iowa Supreme Court suspended Barry’s license for a minimum of one year.

In 2020, the Muscatine County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to appoint Barry to the post of county attorney, filling out the remaining six months in the term of the previous county attorney, Alan Ostergren.

At the time, Muscatine County Supervisor Scott Sauer said Barry “had some hiccups on his past,” but added, “I certainly don’t have a problem with the gentleman.”

Iowa Capital Dispatch is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Iowa Capital Dispatch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Kathie Obradovich for questions: info@iowacapitaldispatch.com.