ICE lets local officials stop immigrants on the streets as task force program is back

As the Trump administration pushes for more deportations, the government has revived a long-abandoned program that lets local and state law enforcement challenge people on the street about immigration status — and possibly arrest them for deportation.

So far this week, state and county agencies in Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas have already signed up for the “task force” program that was dropped in 2012 after abuses including racial profiling were discovered, costing tens of millions in lawsuits. New Hampshire State Police will sign an agreement soon.

A webpage for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement noted 11 new agreements with agencies in five states between Feb. 17 and Feb. 19 for the controversial program. The program, known at ICE as its “task force model,” allows local law enforcement officers to challenge people on immigration status in the course of routine police work.

Agreements were shown for Florida’s state highway patrol and the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office, Idaho’s Owyhee County Sheriff’s Office, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, three Oklahoma state agencies (the Department of Public Safety, Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Narcotics), the Texas attorney general’s office and sheriffs in Douglas County, Nevada, and the Texas counties of Goliad and Smith.

The task force agreements with ICE were discontinued in 2012 during the Obama administration after a 2011 Department of Justice investigation found widespread racial profiling and other discrimination against Latinos in an Arizona task force.

New agreements

The new task force agreements also are separate from other so-called 287(g) cooperation agreements that allow local sheriffs or police departments to help with investigations of people already arrested and booked into local jails.

The task force model goes further, with ICE describing it as a “force multiplier.” The federal agency trains and supervises local officers so they can arrest people for immigration violations during their day-to-day duties.

Florida was the first state to sign a Trump-era task force agreement for its state police agency, on Feb. 17, according to the site. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis announced more agreements Feb. 19. Other state agencies will participate in challenging people on immigration status: The Florida Office of Agricultural Law Enforcement, which inspects produce entering and leaving the state, has already signed an agreement, DeSantis said.

He said other state agencies will follow with task force agreements: the Department of Law Enforcement, which helps local police investigate crimes and guards the state Capitol; the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, which patrols forests and waterways; and the State Guard, a volunteer military-type response agency that DeSantis reactivated in 2022.

“Our state law enforcement officers will finally be able to cooperate” not only through ICE arrests at local jails but also through the new agreements that give “expanded power and authority to interrogate any suspected alien or person believed to be an alien as of their right to be in the United States,” DeSantis said at a news conference earlier this month.

Elsewhere the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, which helps local police investigate crimes, announced its agreement Feb. 17. Director Tony Mattivi, in a news release, said the new powers would be “another tool to get known criminal offenders out of our community,” adding that his agents would focus on violent crimes, crimes against children and organized drug trafficking.

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt announced the agreement Feb. 21; it was signed Feb. 18. In a statement, Public Safety Commissioner Tim Tipton said the task force will focus on “those who threaten public safety.”

‘We promised a mass deportation’

Immigrant advocates in Florida see danger in the task force interrogations for both immigrants and localities, such as the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office, that decide to enlist in the program.

“They’re going to stop somebody for a routine traffic violation or loitering and ask about immigration status,” said Thomas Kennedy, a policy consultant for the Florida Immigrant Coalition, which represents 83 immigrant advocacy groups in the state.

“That’s bad for civil rights, it’s bad for our community, for trust between law enforcement and the community, for the reporting of crimes. But it also exposes municipalities and police departments to litigation,” Kennedy said.

In Arizona, Maricopa County was forced to pay $43 million in litigation fees from lawsuits before ICE stopped its task force partnership with the county in 2009. The fallout from a 2013 federal court finding of racial profiling is expected to boost taxpayer costs to $314 million this year.

Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, met with sheriffs at a February conference in Washington, D.C., and encouraged them to “help us on the street” by participating in the 287(g) task force program.

Homan told sheriffs he’s working to lower costs for their participation by cutting the training period for deputies from four weeks to about one week, and lowering legal liability costs with what he called “full-scale indemnification.” “If you get sued, the department [of Homeland Security] will help you out and defend you,” he said, getting applause from sheriffs in the audience.

It’s hard to say how many immigration arrests and deportations might result from the revived task forces. Local officers trained for task force agreements are generally busy with other patrol tasks. A 2011 report by the Migration Policy Institute — based on 2010 data, when there were 37 task force agreements in 18 states — found that task forces generated far fewer arrests than automated fingerprint scanning in local jails.

The task force agreements can also generate community controversy, as they did in Prince William County, Virginia, in 2007, when police at first screened anyone they detained on the street for immigration status. That policy led to “widespread fear and panic in the immigrant community,” according to the report.

In response, the county changed its policy to investigate immigration status only after arresting and booking at the local jail, the report noted.

While many state leaders said they plan to focus on dangerous criminals who also are living in the U.S. illegally, Homan said at the conference that others may be deported simply for immigration crimes.

“We promised a mass deportation and that’s exactly what we’re going to do,” Homan told sheriffs. “People are saying, ‘Oh my God, you said you were going to concentrate just on criminals.’ Yeah, that’s what we’re going to prioritize, but if you’re not in this country legally, you got a problem. You’re not off the table.”

Oklahoma Voice (oklahomavoice.com) is an affiliate of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization, supported by grants and donations. Oklahoma Voice provides nonpartisan reporting, and retains full editorial independence.