ICE announces 18 new 287(g) agreements in Texas
Earlier this week, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced the signing of 18 new 287(g) agreements throughout the state of Texas at an event in Grapevine today attended by Acting ICE Director Tom Homan and sheriffs from each of the 18 counties. The 287(g) program allows state or local law enforcement entities to request to enter into a partnership with ICE for delegated immigration enforcement.
With the addition of these 18 agreements, ICE now has 60 active 287(g) agreements, which is nearly double the number of active programs in 2016. This also marks the largest expansion of the program in recent years; only six new agreements were added between 2012 and 2016. ICE plans to continue this higher rate of expansion in the coming year, as resources allow.
The Obama administration had largely abandoned the 287(g) program, in no small part because of concerns with racial profiling and civil rights abuses by state and local law enforcement agencies in the name of immigration enforcement. A prime example was Maricopa County, Arizona. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano terminated the U.S. government’s 287(g) agreement with the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, following damaging findings released by the Department of Justice (DOJ). After a three year long civil rights investigation into the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO)—an office led by America’s “toughest sheriff” Joe Arpaio—the DOJ announced today that it had “reasonable cause” to believe the Sheriff’s Office has “engaged in a pattern or practice of misconduct that violates the Constitution and federal law.”
KJ