Explosive Growth in ICE-Local Police Partnerships Under Trump
A dramatic expansion of partnerships between Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and local law enforcement agencies has occurred during Donald Trump's second administration, according to a comprehensive new analysis. The report from the nonpartisan policy organization FWD.US reveals that as many as 15,800 police officers and sheriff's deputies have been deputized to enforce federal immigration law.
Program Expansion and Funding Details
More than 760 local law enforcement agencies have entered into agreements with ICE since Trump returned to office, bringing the total number of participating agencies to nearly 1,200. This represents a staggering increase from just 135 agencies during Joe Biden's administration and 150 at the conclusion of Trump's first term. The 287(g) "task force" program, which authorizes local officers to stop and arrest individuals they suspect of being in the country illegally, has been fueled by at least $137 million in new federal funding to police departments.
At the current participation rate, ICE could potentially inject more than $3 billion into local police agencies nationwide by 2027, deputizing nearly 30,000 officers according to projections. This would constitute the largest infusion of federal funding into local law enforcement since the 1990s COPS grants program.
Historical Context and Controversies
The Obama administration abandoned the "task force" model in 2012 following serious allegations in Maricopa County, Arizona, where former sheriff Joe Arpaio was accused of racially profiling Latino residents. A federal judge later determined Arpaio violated detainees' Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights, and he was convicted of criminal contempt for defying court orders regarding immigrant detentions.
"Over a decade ago, we saw how deputizing local law enforcement to do immigration enforcement could result in disaster under Sheriff Arpaio and others," said FWD.us president Todd Schulte. He warned that "federal incentives to target and profile will harm immigrant communities and have spillover effects on other communities already targeted by local law enforcement."
Financial Incentives and State Participation
The Trump administration revived the program in early 2025 with substantial new funding and incentives for state and local police through the president's One Big Beautiful Bill Act. ICE has become the highest-funded law enforcement agency, with a budget exceeding that of most nations' militaries. Participating agencies receive $7,500 per trained officer for equipment, $100,000 for new vehicles, and overtime pay of up to 25 percent of officers' salaries.
Federal funding also includes "performance" bonuses tied directly to immigration arrests, creating financial incentives for agencies to detain individuals suspected of living in the country illegally. State and local law enforcement are expected to receive up to $2 billion this year under Trump's domestic spending legislation.
Florida leads all states with at least 342 law enforcement agencies having 287(g) agreements, followed by Texas with 296 agreements. In Texas, counties with more than 100,000 residents are required to join ICE's program. Tennessee has 63 agreements, Pennsylvania has 58, and Alabama has 52 according to the report.
Resistance and Detention Expansion
Despite the program's growth, significant resistance exists among major police departments. None of the top 10 U.S. cities' police departments—including Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio—have signed on as 287(g) partners. Many local agencies express concerns about already stretched resources and the expectation to perform federal duties while responding to other critical incidents.
Simultaneously, the Trump administration is dramatically expanding immigration detention capacity with a nearly $40 billion plan to detain tens of thousands of immigrants in retrofitted warehouses nationwide. ICE expects to purchase 16 buildings for conversion into "processing" centers capable of temporarily holding up to 1,500 immigrants each, plus eight larger warehouses that could hold up to 10,000 people at a time as "primary locations" for removal proceedings.
These facilities would supplement an already extensive federal immigration detention system consisting of dozens of jails, primarily operated by private firms, in a country with one of the world's highest incarceration rates. ICE currently averages approximately 700 arrests monthly inside local jails according to research from the Prison Policy Initiative.
Administration officials continue to promote the program aggressively. Homeland Security assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin stated, "We would love for state and local law enforcement to sign 287(g) agreements to help us remove criminal illegal aliens—partnerships with law enforcement are critical to having the resources we need to arrest criminal illegal aliens across the country."
However, critics argue the program causes "massive harm to communities while failing to reduce crime," according to Felicity Rose, vice president of criminal justice research and policy at FWD.us. She described it as "a confluence of two bad ideas that should be left in the past where they belong."
