The Dangers of Authorizing Local and State Cops to Enforce Immigration Laws
The Department of Homeland Security is invoking a law known as 287g, allowing local and state police to enforce immigration law
In 1996, then-President Bill Clinton signed the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) into law. The legislation made broad changes to immigration law, having an effect similar to that of the 1994 crime bill by criminalizing migrants and creating barriers to asylum that have proven harmful to refugees. The results of the law are credited with creating a private migrant detention industry that is booming today.
The IIRIRA also added Section 287(g) to the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) authorizing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to allow local and state law enforcement officers (LEOs) the authority to perform the duties of immigration officers. The section has three operational models administered by ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO): jail enforcement, warrant officers, and task forces.
According to ICE, jail enforcement is meant to identify and process removable migrants with criminal or pending criminal charges who have been arrested by local and state law enforcement agencies (LEAs); the warrant service allows ICE to train, certify, and authorize LEOs to serve and execute administrative warrants on migrants in their agencies' jails; and the task force serves as a force multiplier for law enforcement agencies to enforce immigration law during their routine police duties.
Last week, ICE declared that the agency will begin the aggressive recruiting of LEAs for the program based on President Trump’s Executive Order (EO) titled, “Protecting the American People Against Invasion.” The order required ICE to “authorize the 287g program,” and despite the Trump claims that President Biden ended the program, it was never stopped. While Biden scaled it back, he continued using the program despite his campaign promise to end it.
Historically, 287g has been riddled with problems stemming from its abuse by racist sheriffs and police officers. In 2022, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) released a report titled, “License to Abuse: How ICE’s 287(g) Program Empowers Racist Sheriffs and Civil Rights Violations.” The report showed that racial profiling, poor jail conditions, and civil rights violations were widespread among 142 LEAs in the program at the time.
The ACLU noted that 65% of LEAs had records exhibiting patterns of racial profiling and 77% of LEAs were running inhumane detention facilities. The report also documented that 59% of participating sheriffs had records of making anti-immigrant statements and that sheriffs often, “villainize immigrants as threats to public safety” by overemphasizing their immigration status in the news media.
“The 287(g) program prolongs people’s time in local jails and state prisons, and when the federal government partners with these jails and prisons, it tacitly sanctions these conditions,” reads the ACLU report. “Far too many people throughout the country are held in detention facilities that threaten their health, safety, and human dignity.”
As terrifying as things are for immigrants in the U.S., whether legally or not, this news does not bode well. And since Latinos are the core groups being targeted, it means even worse racial profiling and harassment not just from LEOs but also from citizens who are already treating many of the Trump administration's actions as a green light to target us in public with both verbal and physical attacks driven by hate.
According to ICE, the agency has signed Jail Enforcement Model (JEM) agreements with 72 law enforcement agencies in 20 states, Warrant Service Officer (WSO) agreements with 123 law enforcement agencies in 16 states, and Task Force Model (TFM) agreements with 107 agencies in 12 states.
The American Immigration Council has a great 287g explainer here.
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