Latest news with #JailEnforcementModel
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
This new law lets Tennessee police and ICE collaborate. Here's how
For the last four years, law enforcement agencies nationwide have been confronting unprecedented consequences created by the Biden administration's devastating open-border policies. Just as President Donald Trump was returning to office in January, Tennessee Republicans were taking critical steps to support his immigration agenda by passing laws to remove dangerous criminals from our streets. To improve coordination between state, local and federal agencies, we passed legislation creating a state immigration enforcement division within the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security. More: Tennessee Highway Patrol applies for federal ICE program in wake of Nashville crackdowns One of the most important benefits of this law is the establishment of a new state grant program to support local agencies that enter into 287(g) agreements with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). For sheriffs and police chiefs, this is a proven tool to keep their communities safe. It's voluntary, constitutional and highly effective. These grant programs allow trained local officers, typically jail deputies, to identify and process criminal aliens already in custody. Several models within the program include the Jail Enforcement Model (JEM) and the Warrant Service Officer Model (WSO). Under the JEM, local officers are trained and authorized by ICE to identify, process and detain individuals already in custody for immigration violations. The WSO model allows officers who have completed an online training course to serve civil immigration warrants within their detention facilities, on behalf of ICE. These models are focused and practical. Officers working within the programs don't deal with street-level immigration issues; they specifically target lawbreakers already in custody for other crimes. More: Sumner County joins a growing number of counties signing on to ICE enforcement program Shockingly, between October 1 and December 31, 2024, approximately 2,719 illegal immigrants were charged with crimes in Tennessee. These crimes included 11 homicides and 447 violent offenses, according to a report from the Tennessee District Attorneys General Conference. That's in just three months, and from only 73 of Tennessee's 95 counties. (The other 22 didn't submit any data.) If these models were implemented statewide, it would guarantee those 2,719 criminals would never freely walk around our state again. Our communities are fed up with the increased drug trafficking, gang violence, and presence of repeat offenders who should have never been here in the first place. ICE continues to do an outstanding job identifying and removing illegal aliens, but they cannot reverse four years of open-border damage alone. They need our support, and these 287(g) agreements are how Tennessee can step up and help. Most recently, the Florida Sheriff's Association announced that all of the Sunshine State's 67 counties would be participating in the 287(g) program, ensuring every county jail has an ICE-deputized officer in place. Currently, only seven counties in Tennessee are participating in the program. This must change. I urge every sheriff and police chief across the state to act now. Opinion: Metro government's ICE outrage is lawlessness disguised as kindness The process is straightforward. The training is covered, and the state offers financial support to help agencies get started. These programs work. Most importantly, these programs prevent the release of criminal illegal aliens back into our communities. We have the tools. The funding is available. Now it's time to act. Let's make it clear that Tennessee enforces its laws and protects its citizens. Lee Reeves serves District 65 of the Tennessee House of Representatives, which includes part of Williamson County. This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee sheriffs have a new tool to fight crime. Use it | Opinion
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
South Dakota Attorney General clarifies scope of immigration enforcement agreements with feds
Attorney General Marty Jackley listens to testimony at a Project Prison Reset meeting on April 29, 2025, in Springfield. (John Hult/South Dakota Searchlight) South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley shared Friday that the new immigration enforcement agreement he aims to enter into with federal authorities is the same type Gov. Larry Rhoden aims for, but said his agents will only use that authority in limited circumstances. The agreements let officials trained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) ask people about their immigration status and make warrantless arrests for suspected violations. Jackley's requested agreement between ICE and the state Division of Criminal Investigation is limited in scope, however, he said in a Friday press release. 'To be clear, I am restricting the use of this federal authority to violent criminals and drug dealers,' Jackley said. Governor, attorney general visit the border and seek a bigger immigration enforcement role Jackley first announced his intent to pursue the agreement during a news conference this week with Republican attorneys general at the U.S.-Mexico border. At the time, the type of agreement was not specified. The news came via the release of Jackley's proposed agreement, which operates under Jackley's direction. ICE had not yet signed the shared agreement signed stateside byDCI Director Dan Satterlee. ICE offers three types of agreements under Section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. One, the Jail Enforcement Model, lets trained jailers ask those in their custody about their immigration status, and lets those jailers search ICE databases and issue immigration detention orders. Another trains local jail staff as ICE Warrant Service Officers, allowing them to serve immigration warrants obtained from a judge by ICE officers to inmates already in local custody. Minnehaha County Sheriff Mike Milstead and Hughes County Sheriff Patrick Callahan both made those types of agreements earlier this spring. The third type of agreement offers the broadest scope of authority to local officers. The Task Force Model trains locals who work outside detention centers to act as limited immigration agents, enabling them to ask those they encounter in the normal course of police business about their immigration status, and to arrest them if they're suspected of violating immigration law. The Obama administration discontinued the type in 2012 due to concerns about racial profiling and civil rights violations. They were revived by the Trump administration earlier this year. Jackley and Rhoden, both Republicans and potential 2026 gubernatorial candidates, have characterized their support for the agreements as moves showing them to be in lockstep with President Trump's immigration policies. While Jackley said in a press release that his agents would use their immigration enforcement authority in limited situations, Rhoden spokeswoman Josie Harms would not expand upon the scenarios under which state troopers would use their authority once an agreement is in place for the highway patrol. Taneeza Islam, CEO of South Dakota Voices for Peace, said the general message will make victims of labor and sex trafficking less likely to come forward, and lets perpetrators threaten to turn their victims in for deportation if they attempt to flee. 'You have legal protections if you come forward, but victims don't know that,' Islam said. ICE has authority and supervision over all immigration-related activities, according to Jackley's agreement. Authorities must undergo ICE-led training and pass federal exams. ICE covers training-related travel costs and provides instructors and materials. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
17-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
ACLU Louisiana sees Gov. Landry's ICE order as more ‘racial profiling'
Officers with Louisiana State Police and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement escort a man arrested March 13, 2025, at the Port of Lake Charles. ICE reported 11 arrests of people working at the port who did not have legal status to be in the United States (Photo courtesy of ICE). Gov. Jeff Landry's directive to link state law enforcement agencies with federal immigration enforcement is a move toward more illegal policing, a civil rights group leader says. Landry issued an executive order this week, which he tabbed 'Operation Geaux,' that calls for state agencies to join the U.S. Department of Homeland Security 287(g) program. It's part of a federal law approved in 1996 that allows Immigration and Customs Enforcement to delegate its power to enforce federal laws to state and local police agencies. Louisiana is one of 40 states with active 287(g) agreements with ICE. Hawaii, Delaware, Rhode Island and Vermont have no such agreements in place. California, Oregon, Washington, Illinois, New Jersey and Connecticut have banned them in their respective state laws. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Landry joined ICE officials Thursday to sign the order authorizing the agreement, which he has dubbed Operation Geaux. According to a news release from the governor's office, it will include 'enhanced screening, aggressive identification, and a massive public awareness campaign that is going to wake people up. This isn't just talk—it's action. And it's happening now.' 'If you're here illegally and you engage in criminal activity, you are going to be deported or sent to jail,' Landry said in the statement.. 'Operation Geaux is the kind of historic, one-of-a-kind partnership that the Trump Administration is looking for to fulfill the President's promises of restoring law and order! Making America Safe Again.' Alanah Odoms, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana, said in a statement Friday her group opposes Operation Geaux. 'This blatant targeting of the immigrant population continues to exacerbate racial profiling, instill fear in communities, and put disproportionate numbers of Black and Brown people into the deportation pipeline,' Odoms said. 'Moreover, the majority of agencies participating in this program have documented records of civil rights abuses, including beatings and killings.' As of Friday, ICE had signed 571 memorandums of agreement for 287(g) programs in the 40 participating states. They include 91 Jail Enforcement Model (JEM) agreements, which indicate local detention centers will identify, process and help ICE remove non-citizens with criminal or pending criminal charges. There are 12 more JEM agreements pending, according to ICE. Another 205 law enforcement agencies in 32 states have agreed to take part in ICE's Warrant Service Office (WSO) program, which allows the federal agencies to train, certify and authorize state and local police to serve and execute warrants on unauthorized immigrants. There are 29 pending WSO agreements as well. ICE has also reached Task Force Model agreements with 275 police agencies in 28 states. TFMs are described as 'as a force multiplier for law enforcement agencies to enforce limited immigration authority with ICE oversight during their routine police duties,' according to the ICE website. Another 51 TFM agreements were pending as of Friday. The only Louisiana law enforcement agencies ICE listed as 287(g) program participants are the Bossier Parish Sheriff's Office and the Kenner Police Department. Both had reached Jail Enforcement Model agreements with the federal government. The Beauregard Parish Sheriff's Office is listed as having a pending Task Force Model agreement. No state law enforcement agencies in Louisiana are listed in the ICE 287(g) participant or pending records, though the Landry administration has said Louisiana State Police and the state Department of Public Safety and Corrections it falls under will join the program. The Department of Wildlife and Fisheries is also expected to sign an 287(g) agreement as well. State Police assisted ICE with a raid at the Port of Lake Charles in March, when 11 employees of a port contractor were arrested for allegedly not having legal status to work in the U.S. Former LDWF Secretary Madison Sheahan joined Landry when he signed his executive order. She's now ICE deputy director, having previously worked as an aide for Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem when the latter was governor of South Dakota. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
CNN
05-05-2025
- Politics
- CNN
How states are partnering with ICE to remove hundreds of immigrants
Across the United States, local agencies have become immigration enforcers under a federal program officials say strengthens public safety, but critics warn spreads fear, erodes trust and threatens the fabric of immigrant communities. Known as the 287(g) program, it was created under the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act and allows ICE to authorize state and local law enforcement officers to perform specific immigration enforcement duties under ICE's supervision. The program is seen by some as a way to rev up President Donald Trump's effort on illegal immigration as the Department of Justice moves to prosecute state and local officials accused of impeding that effort. The Department of Homeland Security highlighted the collaboration between federal and local law enforcement in a news release Monday, pointing to a four-day operation that led to the apprehension of nearly 800 undocumented migrants. Dubbed 'Operational Tidal Wave,' this kind of collaboration, the release said, is 'a preview of what is to come around the country: large scale operations that employ our state and local law enforcement partners to get criminal illegal aliens off our streets.' The 287(g) program, which has seen increased use during Trump's second term as part of his effort to fulfill a campaign promise to address immigration, has been in existence for almost 30 years and was once the focal point of a lawsuit against one of America's most notorious sheriffs. Through the program, ICE can partner with local agencies through three models: the Jail Enforcement Model, the Task Force Model and the Warrant Service Officer program, according to ICE. 'The Jail Enforcement Model allows your officers to identify and process removable aliens currently in your jail or detention facility who have pending or active criminal charges while they're in your custody,' according to ICE. The Task Force Model allows local officers, under ICE oversight, to enforce certain immigration laws during routine policing. The Warrant Service Officer Program trains local law enforcement officers – something ICE says it bears the entire cost of – to serve administrative immigration warrants on detainees in their custody. State law enforcement agencies wanting to participate in the program must enter into memorandums of agreement with ICE, according to the act, before participating in the program. Memorandums of Agreement are arrangements made between the Department of Homeland Security and local law enforcement agencies, granting certain state and local officers federal immigration enforcement powers such as entering data into ICE's database and case management system, interviewing people about their immigration status, accessing DHS databases and issuing immigration detainers, the American Immigration Council says. By the end of President Barack Obama's administration, 34 local law enforcement agencies were part of the program, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. As of April 24, ICE had signed more than 450 memorandums of agreement for 287(g) programs covering 38 states, according to its website, meaning more than 450 agencies are now a part of the program. Most are sheriff's offices and police departments; some are state-level agencies such as the Alaska Department of Corrections and Montana Department of Justice. Florida has several agencies in the program statewide, the most of any participating state. They include the Florida Highway Patrol, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Florida State Guard, the Florida Department of Agricultural Law Enforcement and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and all have signed collaboration agreements with ICE, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said in February. These agreements are meant to operate under federal supervision and supplement — not replace — federal efforts, according to a January executive order from the president. 'The growth of the 287g program, in particular of the Task Force Model, further fuels Trump's mass deportation agenda by expanding the dragnet for putting people into the arrest to deportation pipeline,' Immigrant Legal Resource Center says. Juan Cuba, with the Miami Freedom Project, said '287(g) agreements are fundamentally at odds with the goals of local policing.' 'They erode community trust in local law enforcement and make it less likely for people who are undocumented, or families of mixed status, to call 911 or report crimes,' Cuba said Sunday. 'These agreements also redirect limited resources that could be focused on serious crimes. 287(g) makes us all less safe.' The controversial 287(g) program was once at the center of a lawsuit filed against Joe Arpaio, a man dubbed 'America's Toughest Sheriff,' after complaints that immigration raids by his deputies amounted to unconstitutional roundups of Latinos. An investigation later found the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office had a pattern of civil rights abuses that 'led the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to suspend its cooperation agreement (under section 287(g)) with the sheriff's office and restrict the MCSO's access to immigration databases through the Secure Communities program,' the American Immigration Council reported. The program has created a system of racial profiling by law enforcement, according to the ACLU, which has been working to end the program for over a decade. The non-profit organization has called it a way in which 'sheriffs notorious for racism, xenophobia, and civil rights violations have been able to target and attack immigrants in their communities.' A 2022 report from the organization – titled in part 'License to Abuse' – suggests 'dozens of sheriff partners in the 287(g) program have records of racism, abuse, and violence,' with at least 59% of participating sheriffs having 'records of anti-immigrant, xenophobic rhetoric, contributing to a continued climate of fear for immigrants and their families, undermining public safety and contributing to the risk of racial profiling.' The program can also be expensive for local jurisdictions. While Immigration and Customs Enforcement pays for the training, local agencies must pay for personnel and administrative costs; overtime for officers carrying out immigration-related duties; and any legal costs, the Center for American Progress wrote in a 2018 report. That could mean paying fines or legal fees. The North Carolina Justice Center, in a report about the costs to local communities enforcing federal immigration laws, cited examples in which communities paid as much as $255,000 to settle claims involving ICE detainers. Cuba, with the Miami Freedom Project, said he wants people to know one thing: 'What the public needs to know is that the Trump administration is using these agreements to force local police to do its dirty work at the expense of public safety and our civil liberties.' In a sweeping show of force, ICE announced Saturday nearly 800 people were arrested across Florida in just four days, the result of a massive, multiagency crackdown that has sent shock waves through communities. DeSantis touted the operation as 'an example of FL and (the Department of Homeland Security) partnering to deliver big results on immigration enforcement and deportations,' according to a statement on X. 'Florida is leading the nation in active cooperation with the Trump administration for immigration enforcement and deportation operations!' DeSantis wrote in a separate post Saturday. Residents in Doral, Florida – home to the largest Venezuelan immigrant population in the country – had expressed worry this agreement would inject fear in the community and warned that undocumented victims of a crime will elect to stay silent rather than report it. They were also concerned the agreement would make the police department less effective at responding to local crime. Still, the Doral City Council this month unanimously approved the partnership with ICE – with one official saying they had no choice. DeSantis and other Republican leaders in Florida have pushed local officials in the state to sign agreements with ICE under the 287(g) program, and state leaders have warned that Florida law allows for the removal of officials who refuse to cooperate with the federal government's immigration efforts. 'Passing this is painful for all of us,' Doral City Attorney Lorenzo Cobiella said on April 16, when the city agreed to join the program. 'We have very limited discretion on what we can do. We're being mandated by the state to take certain actions and if we don't, we're being threatened with criminal penalties.' This month, Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs vetoed Senate Bill 1164, also known as the Arizona ICE Act, which would have required state and local officials to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement through programs such as 287(g). In a letter to Senate President Warren Petersen, who introduced the legislation, Hobbs said Arizona should not be forced to 'take marching orders from Washington, DC.' Petersen criticized the veto as 'another slap in the face' to Arizonans affected by border issues, while former Border Patrol agent Art Del Cueto accused Hobbs of endangering public safety by limiting cooperation with federal authorities, according to a release. CNN's Isabel Rosales contributed to this report.
Yahoo
03-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Colorado sheriff: Executive order an ‘attempt to federalize, by intimidation' local law enforcement
DENVER (KDVR) — Outgoing San Miguel County Sheriff Bill Masters issued a statement Friday against an executive order signed by President Donald Trump aimed at strengthening federal immigration law enforcement. Masters, who is retiring from his position at the end of May, said his office received a notice from the National Sheriffs' Association about the executive order on Friday. DOJ sues Colorado, Denver for so-called 'sanctuary laws' The order, signed on April 28, directs Attorney General Pam Bondi and the Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, within the next 30 days, to publish a list of states and local jurisdictions 'that obstruct the enforcement of Federal immigration laws (sanctuary jurisdictions).' On Friday, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the state of Colorado and the city of Denver, as well as specific officials, arguing the jurisdictions operate under 'sanctuary laws' designed to impede federal immigration efforts. Both the mayor of Denver and the governor of Colorado have said they do not have sanctuary laws on the books. Masters said the notice from the NSA 'strongly encouraged' agencies to enter into a '287(g) program — whether under the Jail Enforcement Model, Task Force Model, or Warrant Service Officer Model' before the list is published. Colorado law prevents local and state law enforcement from enforcing federal immigration laws, allowing officers to focus on state or local statutes. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement website says that through the 287(g) program, specific immigration officer duties are delegated to local or state law enforcement 'to protect the homeland through the arrest and removal of aliens who undermine the safety of our nation's communities and the integrity of U.S. immigration laws.' Each model has different delegated duties, such as identification and processing of removable undocumented immigrants 'with criminal or pending criminal charges' who were already arrested, enforcing limited immigration authority with ICE oversight during routine police duties, or serving and executing warrants on undocumented immigrants in the agency's jail. Trump endorses Rep. Gabe Evans for re-election, calls him 'an America First Patriot' 'I strongly support the investigation of and arrest of all persons, regardless of their citizenship or immigration status, who commit serious crimes. Over the past 50 years, I have arrested dozens of undocumented persons and at times their human smugglers, sometimes by the van load,' Masters said in a post on the sheriff's office Facebook page. He said the San Miguel County Sheriff's Office cooperates with federal law enforcement partners within the confines of Colorado law. 'This executive order is an attempt to federalize, by intimidation, the San Miguel County Sheriff's Office to do the current administration's bidding on their political cause of the day,' Masters wrote. 'Not since the Runaway Slave Act of 1850 has the Federal Government attempted to federalize and use local peacekeepers to fulfill its political objectives. Many Sheriffs of that era refused to enforce (even under penalty of law) the Runaway Slave Act.' Masters said he's concerned about the potential federalization of local law enforcement agencies because it could lead to a slippery slope. 'I also see this current attempt as opening the door for future administrations to consider requiring local Sheriffs to enforce federal laws to arrest firearm owners, political opponents, protestors, etc.,' Masters wrote. 'Although I am Sheriff of this great county for only another 30 days, I want to assure our local residents that during my short remaining tenure, I will follow Colorado law and not permit the federal government to use my office for political purposes.' Not all are on the same page. Rep. Gabe Evans, a Republican who represents Colorado's 8th Congressional District and who was recently endorsed for re-election by President Trump, introduced a federal act that he says would 'fix Colorado's immigration and crime problems.' Weld and El Paso county sheriffs spoke in favor of the measure in a recent email sent from Evans' office. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
