Since its first day in office, the Trump administration has sought to recruit local law enforcement agencies to collude in its scheme of immigration enforcement. Under a January 20, 2025 executive order, the White House encouraged local law enforcement agencies to assist with the federal government’s immigration arrests by signing cooperation agreements under Section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. Under 287(g), local law enforcement trained by ICE may carry out certain immigration enforcement functions. After President Trump took office, the number of 287(g) agreements between Immigration and Customs Enforcement and local law enforcement agencies ballooned to more than 1,000 across the country.
The training received by local law enforcement officers who now have certain duties under the immigration law is crucial to understanding the limits of what local law enforcement can do under 287(g). The collusion between immigration enforcement agencies and local law enforcement has led to erroneous arrests of U.S. citizens and countless instances of racial profiling. The public must know what these officers can and cannot do.
To ensure the public is well informed about these powers, the Council and the NYCLU filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) for the materials ICE uses to train local officers who have assumed duties under 287(g) agreements. The organizations’ request urges ICE to publish these records on the agency’s website because they fall under the proactive disclosure provisions of the FOIA, which require agencies to post certain information in their electronic reading rooms.
This information is crucial for communities to understand how their local police may be involved in immigration enforcement.
