Local Police Join ICE Deportation Force in Record Numbers Despite Warnings Program Lacks Oversight

The Trump administration has expanded the 287(g) Program, which deputizes local police to function as deportation agents, despite warnings from government watchdogs since 2018 that the program lacks adequate training and oversight. At least 315 departments have joined the program, which was previously abandoned in 2012 due to racial profiling problems and lawsuits. ICE has initiated 514 new agreements with local law enforcement agencies across 40 states since January, with Tennessee and Florida being among the new partners. The program has been criticized for lacking adequate training and supervision, and for being more likely to engage in racial profiling, damaging community trust in local law enforcement. The expansion has been driven by the administration's resurrection of a previously abandoned task force model, which empowers local officers to question individuals' immigration status during traffic stops and other routine policing. Civil liberties experts and immigrant advocates warn that the agreements come at a high cost to communities and compound concerns about racial profiling. ICE officials tout the expansion as a "force multiplier" to accelerate deportations and counter sanctuary policies that limit local cooperation with immigration agents. The program's rapid expansion is driven by politics, with Republican-led states passing laws requiring local police to participate, and sheriff's offices being more willing to aid Trump's deportation effort. The program was previously abandoned by the Obama administration, which deemed other enforcement programs to be more efficient, and has drawn sharp criticism for eroding communities' trust in police, violating constitutional rights, and shifting the focus of enforcement from violent crimes to minor offenses.