Washtenaw County’s new pansexual sheriff is “holding strong” against President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement efforts, likening immigration status to paying taxes.

Sheriff Alyshia Dyer on Monday laid out her department’s “very strict immigration policy” during a virtual town hall hosted by state Rep. Jimmie Wilson, D-Ypsilanti, making it crystal clear she’s doing all she can to thwart the 47^th POTUS.

“We have a very strict policy involving immigration that we’re not working with them, we’re not assisting them,” said Dyer, who was elected as the county’s first self-declared pansexual sheriff in November. Washtenaw is Michigan’s sixth most populated county and home to Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan.

Washtenaw County Sheriff Alyshia Dyer says her department is refusing to work with ICE on deporting criminal illegal aliens, and likens immigration status to paying taxes: pic.twitter.com/Xs2gfLnYlH

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“There is [sic] a few things that I think is [sic] really important for everyone to know, and that is law enforcement leaders, myself as well as many of our chiefs, we are not asking about immigration status on traffic stops,” she said. “The other thing that we did at the sheriff’s office is we stopped the randomly running of license plates, which is a law enforcement tactic when driving around in efforts … to protect our immigrant community even more so.”

There’s other protection efforts underway at the county jail, as well.

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“These detainers that sheriff’s receive, they’re voluntary requests,” Dyer said. “They are voluntary requests that are not signed by a neutral party or judge, and so we’re not honoring those, either.”

Still other work directs taxpayer resources to an Immigrant Rights Policy Team, which she described as a “really helpful space just to kind of talk through you know the organizing that his happening locally … what other people are seeing in other counties, and things like that.”

The policy team’s first meeting last week brought the department together with immigration activists at the Massachusetts Immigration and Refugee Coalition and the Washtenaw Interfaith Coalition for Immigrant Rights, who were “able to provide some really useful updates,” the sheriff said.

“I think it’s really important to know that we are holding strong on this stance that you know local law enforcement, we are local and community trust is imperative for us to effectively promote public safety,” Dyer said. “And the training we’ve done internally, even talking with deputies as well as staff, is we’re not going around asking people if, you know, they paid their taxes. It’s not our job, right?

“And we’re following that same philosophy … like we just don’t ask about immigration status,” she said.

Dyer’s comments provide an update on her promise in January not to cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s mass deportation efforts, despite U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s warning that local officials could face arrest if they try to delay or interfere with ICE operations.

“The law is clear that harboring an illegal alien, smuggling an illegal alien, obstructing law enforcement, obstructing an official proceeding and a conspiracy to violate the rights of Americans, all of these and many more are criminal statutes,” Homeland Security advisor Stephen Miller told FOX News.

“So, if there [are] incidences that occur where a public official or an elected individual engages in violations of those criminal statutes, then I fully expect the Department of Justice will follow the letter of the law.”

Michigan House Republicans have also approved legislation to withhold some state funding for municipalities that provide sanctuary to immigrants who entered the country illegally.

House Resolution 19, approved last month on a vote of 56-50, states:

“An appropriations bill or conference report shall not be brought for a vote if it contains a legislatively directed spending item for which the intended recipient is a municipality or a university, including any official, department, or board of a municipality or university, that actively maintains any rule, policy, ordinance, or resolution that would subvert immigration enforcement in any way or that refuses to comply with federal immigration enforcement measures.”

HR 19 applies to legislative earmarks, commonly known as pork spending, that Democrats have used to spend billions on pet projects in recent budget cycles.

“That means we’re not going to fund your splash pads. We’re not going to fund your Zen centers. We’re not going to pay for your hip-hop academies. We’re just not going to do that, and we don’t have an obligation to do that,” House Speaker Matt Hall, R-Richland Twp., told MLive.

“If local governments avoid their duty to protect their communities, they shouldn’t get special earmarks from state taxpayers,” Republican state Rep. Mike Harris, a 26-year veteran of law enforcement, said in a statement. “With this measure, we’re turning off the spigot for politicians who thwart public safety.”

The Center for Immigration Studies identifies 10 Michigan municipalities, mostly counties, where “laws, ordinances, regulations, resolutions, policies, or other practices that obstruct immigration enforcement and shield criminals from ICE.”

They include jail policies in Leelanau, Wexford, Muskegon, Kent, Oakland, and Washtenaw counties, as well as sheriff’s policies in Kalamazoo and Wayne counties.

CIS also identifies the city of Lansing as a sanctuary, citing a 2017 city council policy not to honor detainer requests without a criminal arrest warrant.

Other municipalities that have considered sanctuary policies in recent weeks include Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo Township, Saginaw and Bay City.