Nearly 1.5 million Texans now live in jurisdictions where sheriffs or police chiefs have agreed to train some of their officers to act as immigration agents in the streets of their communities. These agreements currently cover around 30 Texas law enforcement agencies including: the sheriff’s departments in the populous counties of Jefferson and Smith, home to Beaumont and Tyler; sheriffs in sparsely populated South Texas counties along much of the corridor from the Rio Grande Valley to San Antonio; and municipal police departments in the small towns of Nixon and Splendora.
Last week, the sheriff’s office in Galveston County, where more than 360,000 people live, also inked an agreement—making it the most populous local jurisdiction in Texas to sign one so far.
These arrangements are what are known as 287(g) “task force” model agreements, which essentially deputize local cops as federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents after they’ve received training. Officers gain the powers to “interrogate any alien or person believed to be an alien as to his right to be or remain in the United States”; arrest without a warrant anyone the officer believes “is in the United States in violation of law and is likely to escape before a warrant can be obtained”; execute warrants for immigration violations; and prepare immigration charging documents. When exercising this newfound authority, local officers must seek guidance from an ICE supervisor—but are allowed to do so “as soon as is practicable” after exercising the authority. ICE pays for the required training but does not reimburse local agencies for their time spent enforcing immigration law.
