Over the weekend, the state House and Senate ironed out lingering differences in Senate Bill 8, a measure that will—assuming the governor’s signature—mandate previously voluntary agreements between Texas county sheriffs and federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
As passed, SB 8 will require all Texas sheriffs to apply for so-called 287(g) agreements, “or a similar federal program,” with ICE. The bill mandates that sheriffs allocate the necessary personnel and funding to enact these agreements while creating fairly modest state grants—ranging from $80,000 to $140,000 based on county population—to offset these costs. Beginning December 1, 2026, the state attorney general may sue sheriffs who fail to request or enter into ICE agreements.
ICE maintains three models of 287(g) agreements. Two are limited to the county jail setting, essentially involving jail staff helping ICE eventually take custody of undocumented individuals already booked on non-immigration criminal charges. Immigrant advocates point out that these arrangements can be costly for local governments and help grease the wheels of an often-unjust deportation machine, but they’ve generally sparked far less controversy than the third model: 287(g) “task force” agreements. These task forces further empower local police to act as roving ICE agents in the streets—detaining, interrogating, and arresting based on immigration status.
