Local officers working with ICE have doubled in eight months

Federal records show more than 29,000 officers deputized since January 2025

FWD.us reported that the number of state and local officers working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement doubled in the last eight months. NPR described the group as an immigration reform advocacy group. FWD.us analyzed the federal ICE program, called 287(g), that deputizes state and local police for immigration enforcement. The group used ICE’s public records and information requested by the Deportation Data Project, which is based at UC Berkeley and UCLA and collects U.S. immigration enforcement data.

The analysis found that more than 29,000 officers were deputized by ICE between January 2025 and October 2026, far more than the 11,600 deportation officers directly employed by ICE. According to FWD.us, the program was created in the 1990s under the Clinton administration but was little used until President Trump returned to office. The group said its analysis highlighted the scale of the partnerships’ role in the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement work.

Felicity Rose, FWD.us’s vice president of research and policy, told NPR ahead of the report’s release: “These state and local officers are a key lever in the administration’s quieter approach to enforcement. They’re trading what used to be splashy urban surges, which we saw in Chicago and Minneapolis, for just routine highway stops now under the 287(g) program.”

FWD.us described the Task Force Model as “the most common and most aggressive form” of 287(g) partnerships. It allows police and sheriff’s departments to make immigration arrests. As long as local agencies remain in “active and ongoing participation in 287(g) enforcement activity outlined” in agreements signed with ICE, they receive money to spend on new cars, equipment and other enforcement resources.

The Department of Homeland Security has said that 287(g) is “a critical tool to cut down on crime and illegal immigration.”

Law enforcement agencies in Florida and Texas, combined, accounted for about half of the more than 47,000 immigration arrests made nationally between January 2025 and August 2026 through 287(g), FWD.us found. Governors in both states mandated that local police sign agreements with ICE, and enforcement by state and local police in Florida and Texas drew headlines.

FWD.us also reported that some states “not usually known for aggressive enforcement” recorded a spike in immigration arrests made by deputized officers. In Wyoming, deputized officers made 77% of the state’s total immigration arrests in April 2026 and more than 60% every month since November 2025. In New Hampshire, the program accounted for 60% of immigration arrests in June 2026.

FWD.us reported that close to 50% of immigration arrests in Oklahoma in June 2026 were made by state or local police. Oklahoma’s Highway Patrol signed all of its troopers on to 287(g), giving officers the power to stop a driver and potentially make an immigration arrest on state highways. According to Gabriela Ramirez-Perez, the Oklahoma Policy Institute’s immigration and economic security policy analyst, the arrangement has had a chilling effect on immigrant communities in the state. NPR describes the Oklahoma Policy Institute as a think tank that analyzes state policy.

“Even though Oklahoma may not be in the headlines, it’s definitely a hotspot for immigration enforcement,” Ramirez-Perez said. “We can say that it’s definitely resulting in a lot of fear in immigrant communities. People are changing their day to day routines to try to avoid getting on the highway, to try to avoid driving as much as possible.”

The Justice Department offered $3 billion earlier this summer for state and local agencies that join 287(g). The funding can support staffing and new equipment in the coming years, while Florida has already given hundreds of millions of additional dollars to law enforcement agencies in the state in exchange for participation in the program.

Rose said the promise of money appears to be a driving force behind the surge in 287(g) participation and thinks it will lead to more partnerships in the future.

NPR’s legal section separately linked to reporting that Democratic-led states were blocking ICE cooperation deals while local sheriffs were pushing back in court.