The Trump Administration Is Turning Local Police Into ICE Agents
Across the country, local and state law enforcement agencies are cooperating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to arrest, detain and deport immigrants.
An unpopular provision in a decades-old law lets ICE collaborate with state and local police by delegating to them the authority to enforce immigration rules. It’s now being used by the Trump administration to turn local cops into potential ICE agents with minimal training — even at a time when the recently passed budget bill provides ICE with 10,000 new agents. And while prior administrations had pulled back on the most dangerous and aggressive version of the collaboration model, the Department of Homeland Security under Trump has ramped up its use — especially in Republican-controlled Florida, a hotspot for Trump’s immigration crackdown.
The result has been to turn ICE into the biggest police force in the country, governed almost entirely at the discretion of President Donald Trump and his allies. This federally-backed secret police is employing tactics that have terrorized communities, trampled on constitutional rights, and eroded local democracy.
The 287(g) program, named for Section 287(g) of the 1996 Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), “allows ICE — through the delegation of specified immigration officer duties — to enhance collaboration with state and local law enforcement partners to protect the homeland through the arrest and removal of aliens who undermine the safety of our nation’s communities and the integrity of U.S. immigration laws,” ICE declares on its website.
287(g) agreements became popular among local law enforcement during a wave of panic about undocumented immigrants in the mid 2000’s. Today, there are over 800 — more than ever before — 40% of which are in Florida. Under Governor Ron DeSantis (R) and Attorney General James Uthmeier (R), the Sunshine State has weaponized almost every law enforcement agency — even the university police at all 13 Florida state colleges — against immigrants. Among the initiatives that Florida has undertaken through its 287(g) pact is the “Alligator Alcatraz” that opened early in July, which the administration has said is a model for other states.
287(g) agreements have drawn criticism in both red and blue communities, and even from local law enforcement officials. Last month, Utah County, Utah, residents spoke for three hours to denounce the county’s agreement with the Feds, and the threat it poses to local sovereignty.
These agreements generate community distrust and divert resources to immigration enforcement that might otherwise go elsewhere. Most importantly, they feed into a racist and unaccountable deportation machine.
We’ve known for over a decade about the harms that can come from these agreements. As sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona, Joe Arpaio used 287(g) to justify mass raids that involved the arrests of thousands of Latinos. The Department of Justice brought a lawsuit against the county and charged Arpaio with contempt of court in connection with charges of intentional racial discrimination.
A 2011 Department of Justice report on Arpaio’s tactics outlined multiple abuses including unlawful stops of Latinos based on their race, unconstitutional racial profiling and retaliation against those who objected. That led DHS to stop entering into “task force” agreements — a version of 287(g) pacts that let local police act as roving immigration agents with the power to stop, question and arrest people only for potential deportation.
Now, things have moved back in the other direction. Under Trump, many of DHS’s 287(g) agreements, especially in Florida, are “task force” style. The result: Around the country, people are being snatched off the street and detained in dangerous and filthy facilities. People of all ages, including children, are being held in temporary detention facilities not designed to provide space for sleeping, eating, or bathing.
A report by Human Rights Watch found that conditions in three Florida immigration detention facilities were abusive. “Some [immigrants] were detained shackled for prolonged periods on buses without food, water, or functioning toilets” the report found. “[T]here was extreme overcrowding in freezing holding cells where detainees were forced to sleep on cold concrete floors under constant fluorescent lighting; and many were denied access to basic hygiene and medical care.” One man held in “Alligator Alcatraz” declared, “I find this to be like a cage for dogs.” (His whereabouts are now currently unknown.)
Meanwhile, the federal government has dismantled the federal offices that provide accountability and ensure uniform detention standards, so there are even more questions about conditions that we cannot see.
Democratic politicians have tried in vain to visit these facilities in order to document their abuses, and they have largely been turned away. In June, Reps. Jerry Nadler and Dan Goldman of New York tried to inspect an ICE holding site at 26 Federal Plaza, but were stopped by the local deputy director for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Bill Joyce. Because of a surge in arrests, particularly the arrest of immigrants at their court appearances, people appear to be staying at this temporary holding facility for long periods of time even though there are no beds, showers or proper medical care.
The same has happened in other states. Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.) is facing federal criminal charges for attempting to visit an immigration detention center in May of this year. And Reps. Maxine Waters, Jimmy Gomez and Norma Torres, all California Democrats, were denied access to the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles. Other members of congress were not permitted to visit the GEO Group ICE facility in Adelanto.
As Trump and Republicans intensify arrests, deportations and denaturalizations, the 287(g) program is providing more manpower for the GOP to target immigrants. It’s important that we don’t ignore these threats.
Jessica Pishko is an independent journalist and lawyer who focuses on how the criminal justice system and law enforcement intersects with political power. As a Democracy Docket contributor, Jessica writes about the criminalization of elections and how sheriffs in particular have become a growing threat to democracy.