The American Immigration Council is a non-profit, non-partisan organization. This month, during Welcoming Week, neighborhoods across the country hosted cultural events, shared meals, and created spaces where immigrants and long-time residents could connect. But just as communities were opening their doors, a rapidly expanding federal enforcement program threatens to slam them shut: 287(g) agreements.
The program has long been maligned with implementation issues and a lack of transparency. But now, as the number of 287(g) agreements explodes, the risks are even higher. The American Immigration Council and the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) on September 24 to learn more about the implementation of these new agreements.
What are 287(g) agreements?
Section 287(g) of the 1996 Immigration and Nationality Act allows the federal government to partner with local law enforcement officers to perform certain immigration enforcement functions in localities that have entered into agreements with the federal government. This means that police officers who are traditionally focused on community safety and enforcing state and local laws—not immigration—can be trained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to arrest and detain people for civil immigration violations.
There are different models of this program that are currently in use, including the:
- Task force model: Allows officers trained by ICE to enforce immigration law during routine police activity, like traffic stops. This model was once discontinued due to implementation issues such as racial profiling, but it was revived by the Trump administration’s January 2025 executive order. It is currently the most common 287(g) program model, jumping from zero agreements at the start of the year to 441 agreements by the middle of August.
- Jail enforcement model: Allows deputized officers to interrogate suspected noncitizens who have been arrested on state or local charges about their immigration status and issue immigration detainers, which are requests ICE sends to the local jails to hold a noncitizen for up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released.
- Warrant service officer model: Trains, certifies, and authorizes selected state and local law enforcement officers to perform the arrest functions of an immigration officer within jails and/or correctional facilities, as well as execute administrative warrants.
287(g) agreements reach a historic high
The first 287(g) agreement was signed by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement in 2002. By the late 2000s, the number of agreements rapidly increased. Both the task force and jail enforcement 287(g) models were widely used, until President Obama terminated the task force model (in part due to the lawsuits and Department of Justice investigations that drew attention to problems with its implementation). The Obama administration allowed the jail enforcement and warrant service officer models to remain in place.
The first Trump administration signed an executive order to expand the 287(g) program and saw a large increase in participation. The Biden administration preserved these existing agreements, but ultimately decided to halt any new agreements from being signed.
On the first day of the second Trump administration, the administration issued an executive order calling for the dramatic expansion of 287(g) agreements. Some states like Texas have gone so far as to mandate that county sheriffs enter into these agreements. By legislatively banning so-called “sanctuary cities,” other states, such as Florida, have pressured local law enforcement agencies to sign 287(g) agreements. The number of agreements across the country has now swelled to over 1,000, a historic high.
The administration has made it easier to enter into a 287(g) agreement, by creating a map of participating communities and templates for local law enforcement to enter into these agreements. To incentivize more localities to join, federal funding via the “Big Beautiful Bill Act” will soon kick in to reimburse participating law enforcement agencies for expenses incurred while detaining undocumented individuals.
Why 287(g) agreements are harmful
At their core, 287(g) agreements blur the line between community policing and federal immigration enforcement. This confusion can lead to serious consequences, such as:
- Erosion of trust: Immigrant communities become fearful of local police, often avoiding them altogether, even to report crimes or seek help. For example, in Tennessee, a local police chief posted that an infant died because a non-citizen caretaker was too scared to call police given recent raids in the city at the hands of both state and federal law enforcement agents.
- Misuse of local resources: Local law enforcement is tasked with federal immigration enforcement responsibilities outside of their usual duties, diverting time, money, and personnel from critical public safety needs at the local level.
- Racial profiling and civil rights violations: There have been numerous documented instances of increased racial profiling because of these agreements. In 2010 and 2012, the Department of Justice found increases in rates of arrests of Latinos—including U.S. citizens—due to 287(g) agreements.
While the Trump administration has tried to frame 287(g) as a tool for public safety, the reality on the ground tells a different story. In places like Alamance County, North Carolina, and Maricopa County, Arizona, past 287(g) programs led to widespread allegations of civil rights violations, racial profiling, and lawsuits. A Department of Justice investigation found that sheriff’s deputies in Maricopa County routinely targeted Latinos for traffic stops and arrests based solely on race. Other sheriffs have spoken out on how these agreements divert limited and essential law enforcement resources away from core public safety priorities.
More agreements, more problems
Starting October 1, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will reimburse some of the salary and benefits costs of its partnering with local law enforcement agencies. Previously, ICE covered limited expenses, like training and IT infrastructure.
Despite federal funding increases to support 287(g) agreements, more money does not necessarily mean better outcomes. The rapid growth of local participation in 287(g) agreements has outpaced oversight and transparency. Local officers—often with just weeks of ICE training—are suddenly enforcing complex immigration laws, raising serious concerns about their preparedness and the potential for violations of civil rights, which threaten public trust and community safety.
Moreover, the training materials ICE uses to prepare local officers remain largely hidden from public view. On September 24, the Council and the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, demanding that ICE release the materials used by the agency to train local police deputized under 287(g) agreements to the public. The organizations’ FOIA request urged the agency to make such documents available on the agency’s website so that they are widely available for public review. Earlier this summer, American Oversight also requested more information about instructions and guidance materials and is still awaiting a response. Transparency is the first step to accountability.
The bottom line: the cost isn’t worth it
Supporters of 287(g) argue that these agreements bring in federal money and support for local law enforcement, despite evidence that these agreements strain local agencies that are already strapped for resources. The minute financial incentives pale in comparison to the social costs. No amount of funding justifies the damage done to trust, safety, and unity in communities.
There’s also a deeper question to ask: What kind of community do we want to live in? The events of Welcoming Week made the answer clear. Communities across the country value safety, being welcoming, and the contributions of all their neighbors, regardless of immigration status. The 287(g) program directly undermines those values.
