By Molly Ashford, Nebraska Public Media
A sheriff’s department in a Nebraska county of fewer than 800 people signed an agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement earlier this month that will allow the department to enforce federal immigration laws.
On May 8, ICE approved what is known as a 287(g) agreement with the Wheeler County Sheriff’s Office. The Wheeler County agreement was approved under the task force model, which is the most intensive form of partnership and essentially deputizes local law enforcement to act as immigration enforcement officers in certain cases.
It is only the second 287(g) agreement in Nebraska and the first in the state under the task force model. Because Wheeler County does not have a jail, it is not eligible for the other types of 287(g) partnerships.
The task force model is the most intensive and the only model to allow deputized officers to conduct immigration enforcement outside of a jail setting. It was previously phased out in 2012, and remained out of use until President Donald Trump took office in January.
Under the second Trump administration, the total number of 287(g) agreements has more than quadrupled. In December, there were 135 signed agreements across 20 states. As of May 28, there are 628 agreements signed in 40 states.
Many of those new agreements are under the task force model, which now make up about half of all 287(g) agreements. Statewide agencies in South Dakota, Iowa, Kansas and Missouri are among those to sign a task force agreement in recent months.
287(g) agreements in Nebraska and surrounding states by type
287(g) agreements are partnerships between local, county or state law enforcement agencies and Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. The task force model is considered the most intensive collaboration, while the jail enforcement and warrant service models only apply to people who are already in custody.
Map: Molly Ashford/Nebraska Public MediaSource: Immigrations and Customs EnforcementCreated with Datawrapper
Wheeler County Sheriff Dale King said his intent with the agreement is focused more on policing highway travel than the county’s residents. U.S. 281, a north-south highway that runs from North Dakota to Texas, cuts straight through the center of the county. Nebraska Highways 70 and 91 also run through the county and often see out-of-state traffic, King said.
“In the last couple of years, I have pulled over vehicles and the people in them are illegal,” King said. ”Now, whether they are wanted or not, I don’t know. In the previous administration in D.C., I had called, you know, ICE and Immigration, and basically, they’re like, ‘yeah, we aren’t going to do anything.’ So now it’s kind of the pendulum has swung the other way, and they’re wanting you to actually do something.”
Under the memorandum of understanding signed by King and ICE, upon completing a required 40-hour online training course, the Wheeler County Sheriff’s Office will have broad authority to interrogate, detain and arrest people suspected of being in the country illegally.
Among the authorities delegated in the memorandum are the ability to interrogate people about their legal status; to serve and execute immigration warrants; and to arrest people without a warrant for suspected administrative or criminal immigration violations if the officer has reason to believe the person is in the U.S. without authorization and “is likely to escape before a warrant can be obtained.”
“At some point in the future… we’ll have to go through some training and some classes,” King said. “Then we will be part of the task force that will actually help in this area to apprehend the illegals that have federal warrants. Or if there is… a traffic stop, or one comes through, and there is a warrant, we have the authority to keep them ‘til ICE gets here.”
Still, King said, he doesn’t want people thinking that his office is looking to track down anyone in the country illegally.
“I don’t look at it like a lot of people do,” King said of immigration. “I understand that people come across wanting a better life. I understand it’s Congress’s fault that we don’t have easier immigration laws.”
“My mind is more on the ones that are here illegally that are criminals,” he said.
Wheeler County is one of the least-populated of Nebraska’s 93 counties. Situated about 75 miles west of Norfolk and 70 miles north of Grand Island, it is home to fewer than 800 people and more than 100,000 head of cattle. About 85% of the total land acres in the county are occupied by farmland, according to data from the U.S. Census and the 2022 Census of Agriculture.
King declined to answer questions on the current staffing of his department.
287(g) still rare in Nebraska
In Nebraska, 287(g) agreements remain rare, and no statewide law enforcement agencies have signed up for the program as of May 28.
The Dakota County Sheriff’s Office in Nebraska has held a 287(g) agreement with ICE since 2018 under the jail enforcement model, which allows trained deputies to interrogate suspected noncitizens in custody, issue immigration detainers and serve administrative warrants. Until this month, it was the only agency in Nebraska to participate in the 287(g) program.
The Dakota County agreement has faced criticism from the Nebraska branch of the American Civil Liberties Union – and from the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, which, in response to an ACLU complaint from 2021, said it identified “several areas of ongoing concern” in Dakota County related to racial profiling.
The Nebraska ACLU is similarly critical of the Wheeler County agreement. In a statement, executive director Mindy Rush Chipman said the program “essentially turns local law enforcement into tools of ICE.”
“The decision to sign up for (a 287(g) agreement) is extremely concerning, especially as we are seeing such rampant disregard for immigrants’ rights at the national level,” Chipman said. “The simple truth is that this program does nothing to improve public safety.”
The Sarpy County Department of Corrections was previously listed as a prospective partner on ICE’s website under the warrant service model – the most limited form of agreement which allows trained officers to execute civil immigration warrants – but it is no longer included on the list. Sarpy County spokesperson Katy Glover said the county reached out to ICE regarding a 287(g) agreement in 2021 but never heard back.
“If there would have been an agreement with ICE following that letter of interest in 2021, it likely would have been approved by either the County Board of Commissioners or the County Board of Corrections depending upon the nature of the agreement,” Glover said.
Not having a 287(g) agreement does not mean a county or agency does not cooperate with ICE.
Even without an agreement, ICE can request that local law enforcement place a detainer, or an immigration hold, on a person in custody to allow for ICE to pick them up before they are released from local custody.
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