Latest news with #WarrantServiceOfficer
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Tennessee Department of Correction's partnership with ICE is pending
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — The Tennessee Department of Correction is working to lock in a partnership with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. TDOC is listed as a pending partner in ICE's 287(g) program. It would let correctional employees interrogate inmates about their immigration status and start the process to have them deported. The department oversees 14 prisons, housing about 20,000 inmates, as well as 46 probation and parole offices, supervising roughly 75,000 offenders across the state. 'These folks are already busy enough,' the executive director of the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law, Sergio Perez, said. 'This means putting more on their plate.' Metro Nashville leaders respond to the Department of Homeland Security's arrest announcement If approved, TDOC would be part of the jail enforcement program that allows correctional employees to question inmates about their immigration status and file paperwork to hold inmates for ICE. The Putnam County Sheriff's Office already has a similar agreement. Meanwhile, deputies in Giles and Sumner County can serve warrants. 'The communities who participate in 287(g) agreements end up shifting scant public safety resources, refocusing them on immigration efforts, and members of the community across the board suffer,' Perez explained. Macon and Bradley counties are also seeking to join the ICE program. 'The situation continues to escalate, and Tennessee really seems to be frankly at the forefront nationally,' an organizer with the Party for Socialism and Liberation, Nicholas Goodell, said. TN congressman says he will request investigation into Nashville mayor over alleged 'repeated obstruction of ICE operations' TDOC was not available for an interview but said, 'TDOC will continue to partner with state and federal agencies to support ICE operations as needed to uphold the law and increase public safety.' Sumner County Mayor John Isbell expressed his approval for the Sumner County Sheriff's Office partnering with ICE in a statement, saying, in part, 'Public safety is our highest priority, and this partnership between our Sheriff's Office and federal authorities enhances our ability to protect our communities. The 287(g) Warrant Service Officer program provides our law enforcement with additional tools to ensure that individuals who have violated both our immigration laws and local criminal laws are properly identified and processed.' The program only applies to people already in custody. It does not authorize deputies to carry out immigration enforcement in the community. 'You have larger allegations or more common allegations of the misuse of authority, excessive use of force, and other kinds of alleged misconduct that often leads to very expensive payouts down the line,' Perez argued. ⏩ A group that is organizing a protest against ICE on Saturday, May 17 told News 2 that this partnership not only breaks trust between community members and law enforcement, but it tears families apart. 'I think they're overconfident that this can be the place where they can bring Trump's vision of a right-wing, low-wage, immigrant-free utopia to bear,' Goodell expressed. 'When you deputize local law enforcement, you're injuring that community identity, those values that we all care about,' Perez concluded. News 2 reached out to the involved counties. By the time this article was published, they either said they were unavailable for comment or had yet to respond. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
28-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
How local agencies are partnering with ICE to arrest an increasing number 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 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 287(g) 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 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 signed collaboration agreements with ICE, according to an announcement by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis 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 unanimously approved the partnership with ICE – with one official saying they had no choice. 'Passing this is painful for all of us,' said City Attorney Lorenzo Cobiella. '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
28-04-2025
- 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 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 287(g) 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 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 signed collaboration agreements with ICE, according to an announcement by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis 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 unanimously approved the partnership with ICE – with one official saying they had no choice. 'Passing this is painful for all of us,' said City Attorney Lorenzo Cobiella. '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
28-04-2025
- 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 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 287(g) 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 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 signed collaboration agreements with ICE, according to an announcement by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis 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 unanimously approved the partnership with ICE – with one official saying they had no choice. 'Passing this is painful for all of us,' said City Attorney Lorenzo Cobiella. '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.
Yahoo
12-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Sheriff clarifies addition to ICE agreement in Freeborn County
Apr. 11—New program would allow local jail staff to serve immigration warrants in the jail The Freeborn County Sheriff's Office has applied for an addendum to its U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agreement that will allow staff in the Freeborn County jail to serve ICE immigration warrants as requested by the federal government to local inmates brought into the jail under separate criminal charges. Sheriff Ryan Shea said the ICE Warrant Service Officer Program would only be utilized in the jail by a handful of detention staff and would not be used by licensed local law enforcement out in the community. Shea said the program would eliminate someone from ICE having to come down to Freeborn County to deliver an immigration-related warrant to an inmate in the county. "We won't be going and picking people up on ICE warrants," the sheriff said. "It's just a paperwork type of a thing for in the detention center." According to the ICE website, the Warrant Service Officer program allows ICE to train, certify and authorize state and local law enforcement officers to serve and execute administrative warrants on people living in the country illegally who are in their agency's jail. The program is part of the larger 287(g) Program, which President Donald Trump in January authorized to be used to the maximum extent permitted by law under Section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. There are two other models in the program, including the Task Force Model, which would allow local law enforcement to enforce limited immigration authority with ICE oversight during routine police duties. Freeborn County is not signing on for the other two programs. Currently in Minnesota, Cass, Crow Wing and Itasca counties have signed on for the Task Force Model, while Freeborn and Jackson counties are with the Warrant Service Officer Model. Jackson County has also signed on for the Jail Enforcement Model. Freeborn County has had an agreement with ICE since 2009, and a majority of inmates currently found in the county's jail are being held through ICE. Shea said there are usually between 30 and 35 local inmates, and right now some of those are being housed at other jails. He estimated about 65% of local inmates are still being held in the county. Shea said he could not discuss what the county is getting paid for its contract but said last January he applied for an increase in the county's per diem rates, which had not been changed since 2019. That process has taken over a year. He said as of April 2, the government started paying the county its new per diem rate, though the contract has not been officially signed. He also negotiated a new transport rate, which had not been updated since the start of the contract.
