This article was originally published by the Texas Observer, a nonprofit investigative news organization and magazine. Subscribe to their weekly newsletter, or follow them on Facebook and X.
Three months into his second presidential term, Donald Trump appears to be falling short of his promised record deportation rate.
While the Trump administration’s numbers have not yet surpassed those of previous presidents, it has increased the lawlessness of its immigration enforcement, primarily by skirting due process and sending people to a notorious megaprison in El Salvador.
That country’s authoritarian president, Nayib Bukele, has eagerly declared that the doors of his penitentiary will be open to more immigrants and inmates sent from the United States—at the expense of American taxpayers. The majority of those sent to El Salvador’s prison have no criminal records, and one of the inmates, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, was wrongfully deported and married to a US citizen. The United States Supreme Court ordered his return, but both Bukele and Trump refused.
As much of the country focuses on Trump’s international authoritarian affairs, police across the United States are quietly lining up to assist Trump’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in increasing lagging deportation figures.
To supplement its approximately 6,000 ICE deportation agents, which are awaiting potentially increased Congressional funding, the Trump administration has enlisted the assistance of other federal agencies such as the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Internal Revenue Service. But an even more significant expansion may be taking place at the county and municipal levels across the country.
Since late January, nearly 200 county, city, and state law enforcement agencies have signed agreements with ICE under the 287(g) task force model. These agencies operate in 23 states, with 137 in Florida.
So far, 14 agencies in Texas have signed on to the task force agreements, with the majority being rural county sheriff’s offices, as well as Smith County, which includes Tyler and more than 245,000 people in East Texas. The Texas Attorney General’s Office and the Texas National Guard have both signed task force agreements with ICE.
The 287(g) task force program is being revived 13 years after the Obama administration terminated it due to racial profiling concerns. The program allows local officers who’ve received federal training to “perform certain functions of an immigration officer,” as outlined in the agreement used by the Trump administration, including the power to: “interrogate any alien or person believed to be an alien as to his right to be or remain in the United States”; arrest without a warrant anyone the officer believes “is in the United States in violation of law and is likely to escape before a warrant can be obtained.”
This type of ICE collaboration with local authorities is “really aggressive,” according to Kristin Etter, director of policy and legal services at the Texas Immigration Law Council. “It’s literally officers in the streets stopping, detaining, questioning, interrogating, arresting — the task force model is a force multiplier of federal immigration agencies.”
There are two other types of 287(g) programs that have persisted over the last few presidencies, but they are limited to ICE-county cooperation within jails and have caused far less concern.
The new 287(g) task forces have spread the most rapidly in Florida, where Governor Ron DeSantis has endorsed the program and all 67 county sheriffs, as well as municipal and state agencies, have signed task force agreements.
Texas has the second-highest number of task forces, with 14, despite the fact that it has 254 sheriffs and a plethora of municipal and state police agencies. Among the Texas signatories is Kinney County’s sheriff, whose office collaborated with paramilitary groups and purchased pepper spray and tear gas launcher rifles last year to potentially use against migrants.
Notably, the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), which has approximately 5,000 commissioned officers and oversees the state’s border security efforts, has yet to sign a task force agreement. The agency did not respond to the Observer’s email inquiries. The governor’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
In a March House committee hearing, Texas DPS Deputy Director of Law Enforcement Operations Jason Taylor appeared to warn against at least some aspects of 287(g) agreements: “If we’re taking troopers, special agents, Rangers off the line to process — then I think we’re diminishing some of the public safety aspects of our agency,” Taylor said.
The Texas National Guard (TNG), which has approximately 23,000 members, signed a 287(g) task force agreement with ICE on April 11. TNG soldiers have been regularly deployed to the Texas border to deter migrants as part of Operation Lone Star and other mobilizations. Earlier this year, Governor Greg Abbott signed an agreement with the United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) that allows TNG to enforce immigration law alongside the Border Patrol. That agreement is based on a different federal statute than 287(g), which the Trump administration has misleadingly used to address a “mass influx” of migrants, and it differs in some ways from the 287(g) task forces.
TNG’s new 287(g) agreement indicates that the Guard may enforce immigration law in areas of the state far from the border. In addition to participating in political projects like Operation Lone Star, TNG responds to state emergencies such as hurricanes and pandemics. The Texas Military Department did not respond to Observer emails and phone calls regarding this story.
Advocates are concerned that local agencies and soldiers will take over immigration enforcement, which has traditionally been handled by ICE and CBP. “There would be no buffers,” explained Etter.
However, it is unclear whether Texas sheriffs will join the task force program in large numbers, as their Florida counterparts have.
Some cash-strapped counties may find the model burdensome, as ICE only pays for training, not hours spent enforcing federal law. “If you’re a really small county sheriff’s office, and there’s just maybe two or three of you, it may be impractical to run that program,” said Thomas Kerss, executive director of the Sheriffs’ Association of Texas.
Even medium-sized counties may find the program impractical. “We are not hesitant to participate,” said Sheriff’s Deputy Scott Giles of Potter County, which includes Amarillo but does not have a task force agreement. “We have real-world concerns or considerations for staffing. We don’t have enough staff to support a full-time ICE task force.”
Tarrant and Collin counties in fast-growing North Texas, both with Republican sheriffs, have yet to reach an agreement.
However, sheriffs’ reluctance may not be relevant in the near future. Legislation has passed the Texas Senate and is pending in the House that, in its current form, would require sheriffs in counties with 100,000 residents to “request, and as offered,” sign a 287(g) agreement with ICE or “an agreement under a similar federal program.” (More than 80% of Texans reside in counties with populations of at least 100,000 people.)
The legislation currently does not specify what type of 287(g) agreement sheriffs must apply for or accept, nor does it specify what other similar agreements could replace 287(g).
“What federal program is similar to 287(g)? That is up to the Trump administration and Stephen Miller—and our local sheriffs will be bound by it,” Etter said. “It’s really left up to the imagination of the federal government.”
The Texas Civil Rights Project has also expressed concern about the legislation. David Sánchez, the organization’s director of policy and advocacy, called it a “reckless attempt to turn sheriffs into federal agents” in a news release.
“This bill undermines local control, worsens racial profiling, and wastes resources we need to keep our communities safe,” Mr. Sánchez said. “It does not make Texas safer—it makes it more fearful.”
ICE did not respond to questions about this story.
For the time being, the 287(g) task force agreements that have already been signed are largely paper, as required federal training has not been widely available. “We’re surprised it hasn’t happened yet,” said Goliad County Sheriff’s Deputy Caleb Breshears, noting that his department, which signed a task force agreement in February, had asked the feds about it in early April. “We were told that they’re still working on it.”
Breshears stated that he expected the training to be a 40-hour online program. According to an ICE fact sheet, the task force training will be “provided virtually,” and local media in Florida have reported that the training will be 40 hours long and conducted online.
Governor Abbott has also issued an executive order directing “all appropriate state agencies to assist federal actors working under the direction of the Trump Administration with carrying out functions under federal immigration laws,” though the order’s scope is unclear.
If the Legislature mandates ICE cooperation and Abbott marshals the entire state apparatus to support Trump’s deportation agenda, Etter believes, “We literally end up living in a state that is basically just a giant ICE army.”
