The number of state and local law enforcement departments working with ICE to deport unauthorized immigrants has soared under President Trump as GOP-led jurisdictions rush to cooperate.
About 1,000 departments now have active cooperative agreements with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, allowing them to assist the agency in starting the deportation process.
That’s up from 135 as of last December, near the end of the Biden administration — an increase of more than 600%.
Florida dominates the list with 325 jurisdictions. Texas accounts for another 171.
“ICE is not only supercharging our hiring, we are also multiplying partnerships with state and local law enforcement to remove the worst of the worst including murderers, gang members, rapists, terrorists, and pedophiles from our country,” said ICE Deputy Director Madison Sheahan.
The surge in cooperation comes even as some prominent Democrat-led states and localities celebrate their sanctuary status in refusing to work with ICE.
Ms. Sheahan said the attraction of the formal cooperation, known as 287(g) agreements, has only grown in recent months with enactment of the Big Beautiful Bill budget law. As of Oct. 1, the bill will allow jurisdictions to be reimbursed for their cooperation.
But Ms. Sheahan said the money should only be part of the reason to sign up.
“You’re becoming part of a national effort to ensure the safety of every American family,” she said.
Opponents argue that asking local police to cooperate in immigration enforcement can poison relationships between those departments and immigrant communities, preventing some migrants from coming forward to report crimes or serve as witnesses.
Evidence on that claim is mixed.
There are three types of 287(g) agreements: the jailhouse model, which has officers scour their own inmates and detainees to spot deportation candidates; the warrant service officer model, which is a more limited jailhouse program; and the more aggressive task force model, which allows officers trained in immigration enforcement to take action while out on their regular patrols.
The task force model had largely fallen moribund by the time of the Biden administration, but has come roaring back now. Nearly half of the 1,000 agreements now follow the at-large arrest model.
More than 40 states have at least one agency with an active 287(g) agreement.
ICE called the personnel a “force multiplier” as the federal government pursues Mr. Trump’s mass deportation goal.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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