287(g) Agreements Are Reshaping Local Policing Across the U.S.
ICE had 135 active 287(g) agreements across 21 states at the end of 2024. As of May 2025, it increased to over 588 agreements in 40 states, with 83 more pending.
WASHINGTON — The 287(g) program doesn’t sound like a headline. It’s named after a clause in the Immigration and Nationality Act. But beneath that bureaucratic number is one of the most controversial—and rapidly expanding—tools in the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement arsenal.
Expanded since January, 287(g) is turning local cops into federal immigration agents. And for immigrant communities, especially in places like Florida and Texas, the impact has been swift, deep, and chilling.
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What is 287(g), really?
The program allows ICE to sign formal agreements with local and state law enforcement agencies. These pacts deputize local officers to perform immigration enforcement duties—interrogating people about their legal status, detaining immigrants for ICE pickup, and in some cases, initiating deportation proceedings.
There are three key versions:
Jail Enforcement Model: Local officers screen inmates in local jails for immigration violations.
Warrant Service Officer Model: Deputized officers serve ICE-issued administrative warrants inside local jails.
Task Force Model: Perhaps the most controversial, it gives street-level officers authority to question and arrest people for suspected immigration violations during routine patrols.
The agreements essentially allow ICE to scale its operations without hiring new agents—by enlisting sheriffs, deputies, and even fish and wildlife officers.
A Growing Patchwork of Enforcement
ICE had 135 active 287(g) agreements across 21 states at the end of 2024. As of May 2025, it increased to over 588 agreements in 40 states, with 83 more pending. Florida and Texas lead the way, driven by governors Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbott—both outspoken allies of Donald Trump.
In Florida, more than 1,100 immigrants were arrested in a recent sweep coordinated between ICE and local police. In Texas, the Legislature just passed Senate Bill 8, which requires every county sheriff to join 287(g)—or face lawsuits from the attorney general.
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But Isn’t This About "Illegal" Immigrants in Jail?
That’s the official line. But critics say 287(g) doesn't stop at jail doors—especially under the “task force” model, where racial profiling becomes a real risk.
“Under 287(g), local police can stop you for a busted taillight and end up asking about your birth certificate,” said Lena Graber of the Immigrant Legal Resource Center. “In some cases, they’re functioning as ICE agents.”
And while ICE maintains there's "no racial profiling," rights groups have documented patterns of disproportionate stops, arrests, and detentions of Black and brown residents in 287(g) counties.
A Program with a History—and a Warning
The 287(g) program was created by Congress in 1996, but it remained relatively unused until post-9/11 security concerns brought it back into favor. Florida signed the first official agreement in 2002. By the late 2000s, dozens of counties joined. But by 2012, the Obama administration had phased out the task force model, citing abuses and racial profiling.
That model is now making a comeback. In Texas, around 20% of current agreements are task force-based, granting local officers broad authority to question people in traffic stops, homes, and neighborhoods.
For communities, the consequences go beyond deportation. “People stop reporting crimes. Women stop calling 911 in domestic violence cases. Kids are scared to go to school,” said Katie Blankenship, co-founder of Sanctuary of the South.
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Who’s Joining—and Who’s Getting Trained?
Agencies nominate officers who must be U.S. citizens and pass background checks. Training varies:
Task force model: 40 hours online
Jail model: Four-week in-person course
Warrant model: 8 hours
But experts say training is rushed. “It’s a logistical nightmare,” said Syracuse University immigration researcher Austin Kocher. “Many officers get minimal training on civil rights, yet they’re enforcing complex immigration laws.”
And it’s not just sheriff’s deputies. Florida has signed agreements with the Lottery Services Department, the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and even the National Guard.
A Climate of Fear, A Landscape of Confusion
For many immigrant families, 287(g) isn’t a number—it’s a fear. A badge that might lead to deportation. A traffic stop that turns into a permanent separation.
As these agreements spread, the U.S. is becoming a patchwork of counties with drastically different rules about who’s enforcing immigration—and how.
“It's legalized profiling,” said Felipe Sousa-Lazaballet of Florida’s Hope Community Center. “If you sound like an immigrant or look like an immigrant, you’re vulnerable.”
And under Trump’s second term, the number of people vulnerable is only growing.