Grayson County's sheriff’s office and detention center formally agreed this month to partner with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement amid a federal crackdown on immigrants under President Donald Trump.
Two more law enforcement agencies, the Daviess County and Oldham County sheriff’s offices, also have applied to partner with ICE through the agency’s 287(g) program, federal data show.
This is a change from early February, when KyCIR reported no Kentucky law enforcement agencies had 287(g) agreements with ICE.
KyCIR left messages for officials at the Daviess, Grayson, Oldham County agencies Monday but did not receive a response as of 3:30 p.m.
Trump has publicly said he intends to eventually deport millions of immigrants, and he wants local officers to help make that happen.
Trump quickly ordered ICE to increase arrests after he took office in January. Immigrants who don’t have criminal records have been detained, and so have immigrants who came to the U.S. legally, according to reporting by NPR and other news organizations.
Enforcing immigration law is the federal government’s responsibility. The 287(g) program lets ICE delegate certain authority to officers at the state and local levels.
ICE’s website says there are three ways to do that under the program:
- The Jail Enforcement Model, which is intended to help “identify and process” immigrants facing criminal charges who’ve been arrested by state or local police and are deemed “removable” from the U.S.
- The Task Force Model, under which police agencies can “enforce limited immigration authority with ICE oversight during their routine police duties.” This option was dropped more than a decade ago after it was linked to significant problems with racial profiling by police, but Trump reinstated it.
- The Warrant Service Officer program, which lets ICE train and authorize officers with state or local police to serve administrative warrants on immigrants in their respective agency’s jail.
ICE data show the Grayson County Sheriff’s Office’s new 287(g) agreement operates under the task force model, while the Grayson County Detention Center’s deal operates under the jail enforcement and warrant service officer models. All the agreements were signed March 5.
The Daviess County Sheriff’s Office applied for a 287(g) agreement under the warrant service officer model, while the Oldham County Sheriff’s Office applied for agreements under the warrant service officer and jail enforcement models.
ACLU of Kentucky spokesperson Angela Cooper said immigrants have legal rights they can exercise when contacted by ICE or by a local officer who has limited immigration authority delegated under a 287(g) agreement. Those rights remain if someone is approached while they're incarcerated in a local jail on other charges.
"I am a little bit surprised that these agencies have the extra time on their hands to volunteer to be ICE deputies," Cooper said of the Kentucky law enforcement operations that recently signed or applied for 287(g) contracts. "I would think that they have enough to do addressing the problems that actually exist in their communities."
Cooper referred people to the "Know Your Rights" pamphlets the ACLU is distributing, which detail what people can do when confronted by police or immigration agents.
"So I think the really important thing for people to do is be very aware of what their rights are when they're interacting with these agencies," she said. "And make certain that their constitutional rights are not violated in case someone has been deputized or has an agreement with ICE and perhaps doesn't fully understand what the limitations of that agreement are."
KyCIR recently surveyed over 40 Kentucky police agencies about how they may cooperate with ICE as the Trump administration ramps up arrests of immigrants. More than two dozen agencies responded.
None said they’d refuse to work with ICE, and a majority indicated they’d consider requests for assistance case-by-case, just like they do for other agencies. Few police departments or sheriff’s offices had formal policies to guide their decisions on when and how to help enforce federal immigration laws.
Several law enforcement officials said their focus is on local policing.
This story may be updated.
