ICE Unleashes 287(g) Program on Local Police Forces

Key Takeaways

• Active 287(g) agreements soared from under 150 to 506 across 38 states by April 2025, with 74 more pending approval.
• Florida, Texas, and Virginia made 287(g) participation mandatory by new laws and executive orders, accelerating nationwide program expansion.
• Critics warn of increased racial profiling, civil rights risks, and costly burdens for local police involved in federal immigration enforcement.

The Trump administration has made a big push in 2025 to get more local police involved in helping enforce immigration rules. This push has happened through the steady, and now explosive, growth of the 287(g) program, which allows local law enforcement agencies to work closely with ICE. By early 2025, the number of local police groups taking part in this program had jumped more than threefold in only a few months, changing the face of immigration enforcement across the United States 🇺🇸.

What Is the 287(g) Program?

The 287(g) program gets its name from Section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. This law allows ICE – the federal government’s main immigration enforcement agency – to let state and local police carry out certain immigration duties under ICE’s close supervision. The program began in 1996 as part of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act. Its main goal is to let local officers help ICE in finding, detaining, and starting the removal process for people who may not have legal immigration status.

Before late 2024, only a few hundred police agencies across the country had signed on. But since the start of 2025, the numbers have shot up. By April 17, there were 456 active 287(g) agreements, more than three times the amount at the end of 2024. Less than two weeks later, this number reached 506, covering 38 states, and 74 more agreements were waiting for approval.

This speed is new: in one week in February 2025, ICE signed 140 new agreements – more than had ever existed at any one time before. The Trump administration has made this program a key part of its larger immigration enforcement efforts. The rapid expansion shows just how central the 287(g) program has become to the current approach.

How Does the Program Work?

There are three main ways the 287(g) program puts local police to work in immigration enforcement:

• Jail Enforcement Model (JEM): This lets police inside jails check the immigration status of people in custody. If someone appears not to have legal status, officers can issue a request – called a “detainer” – asking ICE to pick up the person once they’re released from local jail. Deputized officers use Department of Homeland Security databases to help them make decisions.

• Warrant Service Officer (WSO) Program: This model allows local officers to serve and carry out ICE administrative warrants, which are legal papers authorizing them to hold or transfer people suspected of being in the country without permission.

• Task Force Model (TFM): After being brought back in 2025 by Executive Order 14159, this model lets local police do immigration enforcement during regular police work, such as during traffic stops or other patrols. This goes further by letting them find and detain individuals who may not have legal status outside of jail settings.

In all cases, local officers who join the program get special training. Once the agreement is signed and training completed, these officers can:

• Check the immigration status of those in their custody
• Interview people about their status
• Enter information into ICE systems
• Issue notices, such as asking someone to show up in immigration court
• Recommend to ICE whether someone should be held or let go
• Transfer people into ICE’s custody

Why Is the Program Growing So Fast?

Many states with Republican leadership have made joining the 287(g) program a must for their police, either by making new state laws or signing official orders.

• Florida 🇺🇸: By March 2025, almost 100 agencies in Florida were taking part. This comes in part from Florida’s SB1808, a law passed in 2022, which says any law enforcement agency running a jail must join 287(g).

• Virginia 🇺🇸: On February 27, 2025, Governor Glenn Youngkin signed an executive order that makes it mandatory for state police and corrections officers to partner with ICE using 287(g) agreements.

• Texas 🇺🇸: Senate Bill 8, approved by the Texas Senate on April 1, 2025, requires sheriffs in counties with more than 100,000 people to join the program. Texas has also gone a step further than most states, setting up a new agreement with the state’s Attorney General. This gives ICE-like powers to police everywhere in the state, not just in certain cities or counties.

These moves explain much of the growth in program numbers. The Trump administration has also made signing up a key priority. Tom Homan, often called Trump’s “border czar,” spoke to sheriffs across the country at a national meeting, saying: “We need your bed space. We need your 287(g) agreements… We’re opening up the flood lines.”

Training: Faster But Still Key

To join the 287(g) program, local police must finish ICE’s Immigration Authority Delegation Program. This is usually a four-week course held at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center. But to keep up with soaring interest, the Trump administration is working on making this training just one week long. The goal is to get more officers ready for immigration enforcement duties as quickly as possible.

What Powers Do Deputized Officers Have?

When local officers finish the 287(g) training, they get new powers in the area of immigration enforcement. Under supervision from ICE, they are allowed to:

• Interview people who may have questions about their status
• Check names and fingerprints against DHS and ICE databases
• Issue written requests for people to appear in immigration court
• Make written recommendations, such as suggesting someone be sent out of the United States 🇺🇸 or allowed to leave on their own
• Hold people using ICE detainer requests until ICE can take them into custody
• Help gather and enter data about cases within ICE tracking systems

While ICE remains ultimately responsible, these new partnerships give local police a much closer role in every step of the interior immigration enforcement process. As reported by VisaVerge.com, this has turned local agencies into “force multipliers” for federal immigration authorities.

Concerns and Criticism

The growth of the 287(g) program has also led to louder criticism from civil rights groups, immigration lawyers, and some local governments. Critics say the program can cause major social problems, including:

• Racial profiling: Police might focus on stopping or questioning people just because of the way they look or speak.
• Civil rights violations: There is fear that this growth could harm everyone’s basic rights, especially those in minority communities, or people just visiting or living here legally.
• Isolation: Some say that when local officers act as extensions of ICE, immigrants may be less likely to come forward to report crimes, serve as witnesses, or cooperate with the police, which might make everyone less safe.
• Family separations: Increased detentions mean more people being taken away from families, sometimes leaving behind children and loved ones who are citizens or legal residents.
• High local costs: Some cities and towns have found that running a 287(g) program is very expensive, especially when it comes to extra staff, jail beds, and the paperwork involved.
• Targeting people with little or no criminal history: Studies show that many people picked up through this program are held for low-level offenses or even traffic violations.

Because of these and other concerns, many cities, especially those with large immigrant communities, have chosen in past years to limit their involvement in ICE operations or end their 287(g) agreements altogether. These “sanctuary” policies are meant to build stronger police-community trust and limit the fallout from mass deportations. For more on local programs and policy choices, people can review this national map of 287(g) agreements on the official ICE website.

What Does This Mean for Immigrants, Police, and Communities?

The big and fast expansion of the 287(g) program changes how immigration laws are enforced inside the United States 🇺🇸, not just at the border.

For Immigrants: The risk of being asked about immigration status goes up, even for those arrested for very minor things or caught during routine police work like traffic stops. More people could find themselves detained by ICE after local arrest, even if their crimes are small or charges are dropped.

For Law Enforcement: Local police gain powers that used to belong only to federal agents. While some sheriffs and police leaders like the extra help and say it makes their communities safer, others worry it distracts from regular police work and damages trust, especially in areas with many immigrants.

For Communities: Families may face more separations, with bigger risks of parents being held by ICE while children stay behind. There may also be bigger social and economic costs, especially for towns that take on added duties and costs without getting extra funding from the federal government.

For Nearly Everyone: There is growing debate about what the right balance should be between enforcing immigration law and protecting community trust and civil rights. With hundreds of new local police agencies now taking part, this debate is likely to grow sharper, and the effects will be felt in many parts of daily life across the nation.

State and Local Resistance: Why Some Places Say No

Not everyone supports this rapid growth. Many cities and counties have explained why they do not wish to sign 287(g) agreements:

• They believe it can lead to racial profiling and lawsuits.
• They worry about breaking trust with immigrant communities.
• They doubt the police should take on federal duties when they already have a full plate.
• The program can cost a lot of money without much help from ICE.

As a result, some locations that had joined 287(g) in the past later chose to leave. Others refuse to sign agreements at all. Advocates for immigrants continue to push for policies that reduce local involvement in deportations, saying this builds trust and makes it more likely immigrants will report crimes.

Official Information and Public Resources

Curious about what the official agreements look like or want to see if local police in your area are taking part? ICE’s official website lists all active and pending 287(g) agreements, the models used, and which local agencies are currently working with ICE.

You can find official details and the current list of program partners here.

The Road Ahead: Potential Changes and Ongoing Debates

The rapid expansion of the 287(g) program in 2025 shows that the Trump administration sees it as a core part of the plan to ramp up immigration enforcement. With state laws, executive orders, and direct outreach to sheriffs and police chiefs, federal leaders have made it easier and faster than ever before for local police to join in these efforts.

No matter where you live, these changes could soon affect how local policing works and what risks immigrants might face, even if they are not the focus of a criminal investigation. Community leaders, lawyers, and police departments across the country are closely watching how this plays out and whether legal challenges or new laws will shape what happens next.

For anyone concerned about their rights or responsibilities, staying up to date through trusted sources like ICE’s official program pages and analysis from VisaVerge.com can provide the most current insights.

In Summary

• The 287(g) program now covers more local agencies than ever, letting police help ICE with interior immigration enforcement.
• Key states like Florida 🇺🇸, Texas 🇺🇸, and Virginia 🇺🇸 have made joining the program law, pushing growth to new levels.
• Critics worry about profiling, civil rights, and the high social and economic costs of involving local police in immigration enforcement.
• The debate over this program will continue, touching the lives of immigrants, their families, and entire communities.

Whether you are an employer, student, immigrant, or simply someone interested in how immigration law is changing in the United States 🇺🇸, it is more important than ever to keep an eye on what ICE and local law enforcement are doing, especially with the 287(g) program playing a bigger role every day.

Learn Today

287(g) program → A federal initiative letting local police enforce immigration laws in partnership with ICE, under Section 287(g) of immigration law.
ICE → Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the U.S. agency mainly responsible for enforcing federal immigration laws and detaining non-citizens.
Detainer → A request by ICE for local police to hold a person after release from jail so ICE can assume custody.
Task Force Model (TFM) → A 287(g) program model where local police conduct immigration enforcement during regular duties, including stops outside jails.
Jail Enforcement Model (JEM) → 287(g) model allowing local law enforcement inside jails to check immigration status and issue ICE detainers.

This Article in a Nutshell

The 287(g) program’s rapid surge redefines immigration enforcement in the United States, allowing local police to function as ICE “force multipliers.” Legislative mandates in states like Florida, Texas, and Virginia have driven this sharp growth, intensifying debate over civil rights, costs, and community trust. Its impacts are felt nationwide.
— By VisaVerge.com

Read more:

• 287(g) Program lets local police help Department of Homeland Security enforce immigration laws
• Trump administration expands 287(g) agreements with local police
• 287(g) immigration enforcement program expands to Mid-Michigan sheriffs
• University of Florida police to enforce immigration in 287(g) shift
• Understanding the 287(g) Task Force Model in Immigration Enforcement