Deep East Texas Counties Participating in ICE's 287(g) Program

Whether you agree with what's happening with U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) right now, the fact is that a lot is going on across the nation. We're even seeing an increase in ICE presence and operations right here in Deep East Texas.

Overview of the 287(g) Program

According to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement website, 287(g) refers to a section that was added to the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996. This section authorizes ICE "to delegate state and local law enforcement officers the authority to perform specified immigration officer functions under ICE's direction and oversight." It also allows ICE to partner with those law enforcement agencies to identify and remove criminal illegal immigrants.

According to the ICE website, there are three different program models: the Jail Enforcement Model, the Task Force Model and the Warrant Service Officer Model. Only two of the models are being used by our Deep East Texas agencies that are participating in the program - the Task Force Model and the Warrant Service Officer Model.

From the ICE website:

The Task Force Model enhances public safety and national security by allowing designated immigration officers to enforce limited immigration authority while performing routine police duties or as an active participant in an ICE-led task force.
The Warrant Service Officer Model allows designated immigration officers to serve and execute administrative warrants on aliens in their custody.

Deep East Texas Agencies Participating in the 287(g) Program

According to a spreadsheet released by ICE, all of our Deep East Texas counties are participating in the 287(g) program, with some of them operating both models of enforcement.

Again, whether you agree with what's happening or not, this is taking place even in our area. You can see which counties are participating and in what capacity they are participating below:

Deep East Texas Agencies with ICE Agreements

According to the "287(g) Participating Agencies" spreadsheet from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) website, all of our Deep East Texas counties have agreements to participate in the 287(g) program, which allows some of their law enforcement agencies to perform some immigration officer functions, under ICE's oversight. These are the agencies participating: