The Immigration and Nationality Act contains a powerful border enforcement tool known as the 287g program. It allows ICE “to delegate to state and local law enforcement officers the authority to perform specified immigration officer functions under the agency’s direction and oversight.” Those functions include arresting, detaining, and deporting illegal aliens.
Right now, to be part of the program, local law enforcement agencies voluntarily apply. If they are accepted, they receive training and resources from ICE.
The results have been predictably positive. Thousands of illegal aliens convicted of murder, assault, drug trafficking, and sexual offenses have been taken off the street thanks to the coordination between local law enforcement and the feds.
However, because it’s voluntary, only forty-nine law enforcement agencies in Texas utilize the program.
That’s concerning to several Texas lawmakers who have authored bills this session to mandate participation in the program. Bills vary from requiring all local law enforcement agencies to apply to mandating only those agencies in counties with more than 100,000 people.
The latter version is getting a hearing on Monday. Some have raised concerns that it would only include forty-four of Texas’ 254 counties and just four that touch the border.
Plus, cartels are sophisticated. They know which local agencies are working with ICE and run their operations away from those areas. It’s hard to have a strong border when there are massive leaks.
Yet, anything that moves Texas communities toward greater participation is a good thing. If the program continues to have success, it will bolster the push for every law enforcement agency to do the same.
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