Key Takeaways
• Active 287(g) agreements rose from under 150 in December 2024 to 456 by April 2025.
• Florida now mandates 287(g) participation for all counties; other states rapidly expanding partnerships.
• Task force, jail enforcement, and warrant service officer models allow varying local involvement with ICE.
Reports are showing a fast and wide expansion of partnerships between local law enforcement and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for immigration-related arrests across the United States 🇺🇸. These connections are growing mainly through Section 287(g) agreements, a program established by the Immigration and Nationality Act. This program allows state and local officers to perform some duties usually handled by federal immigration agents. Supporters and critics all have strong views about the growth and use of these joint efforts.
What Are 287(g) Agreements and Why Are They Expanding?
Recent data reveals that as of mid-April 2025, there are 456 active 287(g) agreements between ICE and local agencies. By comparison, in December 2024, there were fewer than 150 such agreements, so the number has more than tripled in just a few months. In addition, 63 more agreements are waiting to be approved.
The current Trump administration has made these partnerships a key piece of its effort to increase immigration enforcement. The goal is clear: deport more people who are believed to be in the country without proper documents, especially those accused of more serious crimes. To do this, ICE is working with more kinds of agencies, not just sheriff’s departments or city police. Now, partners can include county commissioners’ boards, wildlife commissions, and campus police departments at some universities.
As reported by VisaVerge.com, these arrangements are part of a much larger strategy across the United States 🇺🇸 to widen the reach and impact of immigration enforcement.
How Do the Partnership Models Work?
Local law enforcement can work with ICE in different ways under 287(g) agreements. There isn’t just one path for cooperation. Let’s break down the main models:
- Task Force Model: This approach lets local police officers carry out certain immigration checks while they are doing daily tasks, such as traffic stops. Under this model, if an officer pulls someone over or interacts with them on the street, they may ask about immigration status. This model had been stopped for a while in the past due to cases of unfair targeting, especially targeting people based on their appearance or language. However, it has now returned in many places despite worries of repeating past mistakes.
- Jail Enforcement Model: Here, certain jail officers are authorized to question people who have been arrested and booked into jail. If they find someone who may not have the right documents, they can keep them in jail and let ICE know. ICE can then pick up the person for possible deportation. This model only kicks in once someone is already in custody for another reason.
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Warrant Service Officer Model: For this option, officers in a jail or correctional facility are trained to execute ICE warrants. This means they can carry out ICE’s instructions to hold someone or process paperwork. Still, these officers cannot question people about their immigration status unless the person is already in custody for another crime or reason.
These cooperation models give local agencies different roles, from just helping out in the jail, to stopping and questioning people while out on patrol. Depending on which approach is chosen, local law enforcement’s involvement can be very limited or very broad.
If you’d like to know more about these agreements and their official guidelines, you can check ICE’s own 287(g) webpage at ICE’s 287(g) Program.
Where Are These Agreements Growing?
Every county in Florida 🇺🇸 now has at least one 287(g) partnership with ICE. This isn’t by accident—Florida 🇺🇸 laws recently changed to require local law enforcement to work with federal immigration authorities. As a result, even county boards and state-officer groups, not just sheriffs or city police, are signing up.
Other states following Florida’s 🇺🇸 lead and expanding 287(g) partnerships include Idaho 🇺🇸, Kansas 🇺🇸, Oklahoma 🇺🇸, Texas 🇺🇸, Nevada 🇺🇸, and New Hampshire 🇺🇸. The list is expected to get longer as recruitment picks up, especially since hundreds more agencies are being encouraged to take part.
This expansion means that in some areas, even university police departments or wildlife officers could now get involved in immigration enforcement. The reach of 287(g) is broader than ever and still growing rapidly.
What Are the Effects of These Partnerships in Real Life?
The daily impact of these partnerships is felt most by people who may not have proper documents, their families, and the communities where they live. Through these agreements, local law enforcement gains the authority to:
- Detain people they suspect are in the country without proper documents during routine stops or other contacts.
- Hold people booked into jail so that ICE can pick them up for possible deportation.
- In some places, question people about immigration status almost anywhere—on the street, at work, or during other police business.
ICE has highlighted the scale of these operations. For example, in just one week in April 2025, joint efforts around New York City 🇺🇸 led to the arrest of over 200 people ICE described as “alien offenders.” Many of these cases targeted people linked to violent crimes or gangs. This number demonstrates just how quickly and efficiently ICE can act when working together with local law enforcement.
The increased use of the task force model means that many more people may be checked for immigration violations during normal police stops, not just when arrested for something serious. Supporters argue this helps keep the public safe by finding and removing people with criminal records or gang ties.
Police and Community Concerns
However, there are big concerns raised by critics, including major police organizations. They warn that these agreements can hurt the relationship between the police and the people they serve—especially immigrant communities.
The Major Cities Chiefs Association, in a report cited by the American Immigration Council, explained the risk:
“Without assurances that contact with the police would not result in purely civil immigration enforcement action… the hard-won trust…from the immigrant community would disappear.”
What does this mean in plain words? When people are afraid that any contact with police—such as reporting a crime, being pulled over, or even asking for help—might lead to an immigration arrest, they may stop trusting the police at all. This can make communities less safe, because people might not report crimes or cooperate with investigations out of fear of being turned over to ICE.
History of Problems and Protections
The 287(g) program, especially the task force model, has a past with many complaints of unfair treatment. Past investigations showed examples of:
- Racial profiling, with police targeting people just because of the way they looked, their language, or their background.
- Overstretching local law enforcement’s resources, leaving fewer officers and less attention for other crime and safety needs.
- Problems with oversight, meaning it was hard to make sure officers were following the rules or treating everyone fairly.
Because of these problems, earlier presidential administrations had paused or stopped using the task force model. However, these models have now come back, even with the old concerns still fresh in many people’s minds.
Why the Debate Is So Strong
Supporters of 287(g) agreements say they help keep dangerous criminals out of communities. They point to examples like the joint operation in New York City 🇺🇸 that led to the arrest of more than 200 people over a single week. The focus, they argue, is on gang members, violent offenders, or people who pose a real threat to public safety.
Critics see things differently. They say these agreements catch many people whose only offense may be an immigration violation, such as overstaying a visa, rather than any criminal act. They caution that this can frighten good people—neighbors, parents, workers—out of helping law enforcement at all. The result, according to many organizations, could be less safe communities as trust slowly breaks down.
Some critics also say that without strong oversight and enough resources to do the job properly, local law enforcement may become overburdened. Handling both regular police work and federal immigration enforcement is a tough task for many agencies, especially the smaller ones.
Who Is Impacted Most?
- Immigrant Communities: The biggest impact is often felt by those without proper documents and their families. Even simple police stops or calls for help can become very stressful.
- Local Law Enforcement: Officers now have to balance their usual duties with federal immigration work. Some need special training, and the extra workload can burn out departments or lead to mistakes.
- Wider Communities: If trust in police goes down, everyone can be affected. Fewer people calling 911 or helping police means crime can go unsolved or unreported.
What Happens Next?
With 63 more 287(g) agreements pending, and recruitment for even more agencies underway, the trend is expected to continue. More parts of the United States 🇺🇸 will see local law enforcement working with ICE. At the same time, the debate over the best balance between public safety, civil rights, and community trust will almost certainly keep growing.
Some experts and organizations are calling for new ways to oversee these programs, to make sure there is fair treatment for all and clear limits on what local officers are allowed to do. They argue that more training and checks might help stop the problems of the past from being repeated.
Conclusion
The growing partnership between ICE and local law enforcement through 287(g) agreements marks a big change in how immigration laws are carried out across the United States 🇺🇸. The new agreements give local officers extra authority, and the geographical reach gets bigger every month. Supporters believe this keeps people safe by helping ICE catch serious offenders. Critics are deeply worried about the effect on trust, fairness, and the risk of unfair targeting.
The main facts are clear: 287(g) agreements are increasing, new models let officers act both inside jails and out on the street, and more types of agencies are stepping in to help ICE. But the true story is about the people affected—immigrants and their families, police officers, and whole communities.
For those wanting to learn more about the program, its exact guidelines, and its legal base, the official ICE resource is found at ICE’s Overview of the 287(g) Program.
As the landscape continues to change, all sides agree that the decisions made now will shape law enforcement, community trust, and immigration in the United States 🇺🇸 for years to come.
Learn Today
ICE → U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the federal agency responsible for enforcing immigration laws and managing deportations.
287(g) Agreements → Contracts allowing local law enforcement to perform certain federal immigration enforcement duties alongside ICE agents.
Task Force Model → A 287(g) approach permitting local officers to conduct immigration status checks during daily police activities such as traffic stops.
Jail Enforcement Model → A cooperation model where local jail officers identify potentially undocumented individuals already in custody and alert ICE.
Warrant Service Officer Model → Model where select local officers are trained to execute ICE warrants on individuals in jail, but cannot question immigration status except in custody.
This Article in a Nutshell
A dramatic surge in 287(g) agreements has reshaped U.S. immigration enforcement. Local law enforcement now partners with ICE in new ways, affecting immigrants and entire communities. Supporters claim these programs boost safety, while critics worry about eroding trust and civil rights. The debate and expansion continue across many states.
— By VisaVerge.com
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