
<p>Despite Democrat naysayers and cries in blue districts of “we don’t want you here” the number of agreements between local police and ICE are skyrocketing!</p>



<p>According to reports, cooperative agreements between Immigration and Customs Enforcement and local law enforcement that allow officers to make federal immigration arrests have increased by 950% in the first year of President Donald Trump’s second term.</p>



<p>As of Jan. 26, there were 1,168 agencies with officers trained to help ICE, up from 135 during the Biden administration and 150 at the end of Trump’s first term, according to the analysis by FWD.US, a nonpartisan policy organization.</p>



<p>The Trump administration has called on local law enforcement to support its growing deportation operations nationwide, reviving a controversial “task force” model that allows local police officers to be deputized by ICE to stop people and make arrests based on suspicion that someone is in the country illegally.</p>



<p>Under the program, police are “deputized” to ICE while they’re also expected to continue doing their regular work.</p>



<p>Despite the overall dramatic increase, not all cities and jurisdictions support the program. The Dallas Police Department recently rejected a proposal to join, citing concerns that their officers would be pulled away from their normal duties. And the Montgomery County, Maryland, district attorney and police chiefs’ association said in a joint statement that none of its departments had signed any agreements with ICE. The county borders Washington, D.C.</p>



<p>“The Montgomery County Detective Bureau and police departments in Montgomery County do not enforce civil immigration orders; enforceable warrants must be signed by a judge,” the statement read.</p>



<p>But in New Orleans, while local leaders do not want to participate, Republican Gov. Jeff Landry issued an executive order directing state law enforcement agencies to help in federal immigration operations, including encouraging local departments to sign on to the ICE program.</p>



<p>The “task force” style program was discontinued by the Obama administration in 2012 in part over accusations of racial profiling by local officers in Maricopa County, Arizona, and Alamance County, North Carolina. The Trump administration restarted the program in early 2025, with new funding and incentives for states, local police departments and sheriff’s offices.</p>



<p>ICE’s advertising for the program promised to give law enforcement agencies $7,500 for equipment per trained officer; $100,000 for new vehicles and overtime pay of up to 25% of an officer’s salary.</p>



<p>The analysis shows 39 states have policing agencies now participating, but didn’t give the total number of officers now working with ICE. The states with the most participating agencies were Florida, with 342 agreements, Texas, with 296 agreements, Tennessee, with 63 agreements, Pennsylvania, with 58 agreements and Alabama with 52 agreements.</p>



<p>The Trump administration has championed the program. ICE said on its website that it “recognizes the importance of its relationships with law enforcement partners—including state, local, and tribal agencies—to carry out its critical mission.”</p>



<p>By delegating duties, the program makes it possible to better protect “the homeland through the arrest and removal&#8221; of immigrants &#8220;who undermine the safety of our nation’s communities and the integrity of U.S. immigration laws,” ICE said on its website.</p>

ICE Enters into Unprecedented Number of Agreements With Local Law Enforcement
