The incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump is considering expanding a federal program that allows local sheriffs to serve as immigration agents, giving them the power to help remove illegal immigrants from the United States.
As part of a crackdown on mass immigration deportations, President Trump's team will expand U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's 287(g) program, which allows lawmakers to interrogate and detain suspects in the country during their daily work. We are aiming for The Wall Street Journal reportedsaid a person familiar with the plan.
Currently, Section 287(g), added to the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1996 under President Bill Clinton, allows ICE to work with state and local law enforcement agencies to identify “incarcerated criminal noncitizens.” They are allowed to be deported from the country.
The program is voluntary and allows participating local agencies to notify ICE that they are detaining an illegal immigrant or have immigration authorities detain the immigrant. That is only after the suspect is arrested on another criminal charge.
However, the expansion plan reported by the Trump administration would reinstate the task force model that previously allowed lawmakers and officials to block people from entering the country and make arrests.
Trump administration border czar Tom Homan, a former acting ICE director, said he supports the task force model, which was phased out in 2012, because more frequent arrests act as a deterrent to illegal immigration. A source close to him told the media.
The newspaper has reached out to Homan for comment.
Jonathan Thompson, executive director of the nonpartisan National Sheriffs Association, told the Post that sheriffs across the country stand ready to support the incoming Trump administration.
But that won't happen “overnight,” he said, adding that the sheriff's office will need federal funding to implement the initiative.
“We have to be more realistic about what it takes to house these people, feed them, clothe them, take care of their health. There's a lot of money at stake here. “I'm going to make a strong case to the president and Congress that if you're doing this, you have to pay for it,” Thompson said.
According to ICE's website, approximately 135 agencies already have 287(g) agreements with ICE in 21 different states.
That includes the Rensselaer County Sheriff's Office in New York, the only region in the Empire State on the list.
The Rensselaer County Sheriff's Office said it has had 358 encounters with “undocumented noncitizens” through the program since it signed on in October 2018. intercept.
presidential order Signed by former Governor Andrew Cuomo in 2017 It designates New York state as a “sanctuary state,” restricting cooperation between state law enforcement and federal immigration authorities.
However, this executive order applies only to state law enforcement officers or employees. This means that in counties that have not passed their own sanctuary policies, sheriff's offices can choose to cooperate with ICE.
In 2018, The New York State Court of Appeals ruled Although it is illegal for local law enforcement to hold a person in jail past their release date to await ICE custody, there is nothing preventing police or sheriff's offices from notifying ICE of the arrest. explained The Intercept.
Pat Russo, former Rensselaer County Sheriff explained to the Times Union The department's participation in the program is limited to checking federal databases to verify that ICE is aware of inmates in its custody and notifying immigration authorities of inmates' release dates. said that it had been done.
But New York City officials would be barred from that kind of participation under current sanctuary policies.
Thaddeus Cleveland, sheriff of the Texas border town of Terrell County, said he'd be open to more sheriff's offices across the country partnering with ICE on 287(g), but local sanctuary laws prevent that. claimed to have been
“It can … protect their communities, keep them safe, and help them recover from the last four years. Every community has become a border community,” Cleveland told the Post, adding that the Biden administration's border He mentioned the response to the crisis.
But Thompson said some sheriff's offices may be exempt from the sanctuary law.
“In some cases, there's an exemption for a prior relationship with 287(g), there's an exemption for a state that has declared a state of emergency, there's an exemption for a temporary hold…it kind of runs the gamete.” he said.
Cleveland, in West Texas, is an active participant in the ICE program and praised 287(g) as a “great tool” that “strengthens the deportation process.”
He added that potential changes to Section 287(g), “if it is truly expanded and utilized, would add many more people to state and local deportations.” he added.
“It's better than just letting them out on the street after they serve their time. I mean, we've seen the aftermath.”
Meanwhile, to leverage local sheriffs, the incoming Trump administration is considering financially rewarding local governments that support such plans and thwart areas that resist, the newspaper reported. This was reported as a story.
Under one plan, billions of dollars in federal funds given to border cities and nonprofits to help newly arrived migrants would instead go to asylum seekers, people familiar with the plan said. It will be set aside for local agencies to hand over to the federal government.
The newspaper reached out to Trump's team about the plan, but did not immediately hear back.
