Five Minnesota sheriff’s offices have entered cooperation agreements with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, bringing a controversial program coordinating local law enforcement and federal immigration agents to the North Star State.
The Cass, Crow Wing, Freeborn, Itasca and Jackson County sheriff’s offices have entered 287g agreements with ICE since President Donald Trump took office, according to ICE records. The program, named for a clause in an immigration law, allows ICE to delegate authority to local law enforcement agencies to perform some immigration enforcement functions.
The agreements generally increase the risks to immigrant communities, according to Julia Decker, an attorney with the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota.
“It makes it more likely that contact with local law enforcement will lead to more contact with immigration authorities,” Decker said.
The agreements have historically led to complaints of racial profiling. In 2012, the Obama administration ended use of one 287g model, the “task force” program, which granted local law enforcement authority to question and detain people based on immigration status. Trump signed an executive order on his first day back in office reopening the task force program.
That’s troubling, according to Benjamin Casper, an immigration attorney with the Minnesota chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. The agreements have the potential to sweep up innocent bystanders such as the family members or co-workers of people who are being targeted because they lack legal immigration status. The agreements can also lead to civil rights violations and create an environment where immigrants and their families are hesitant to cooperate with local law enforcement on issues in their communities, he said.
“Lots of citizens will be afraid for their own civil liberties and safety to interact with local law enforcement who are cooperating with federal immigration agencies,” Casper said.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison’s office said while they have no authority over 287g agreements, they encourage local law enforcement to consider potential issues that could arise from such partnerships.
“While 287g agreements are sometimes touted as a tool for getting violent offenders off the street, studies have shown that large numbers of people detained through 287g-related enforcement have committed only misdemeanors or traffic violations,” said John Stiles, a spokesperson for the attorney general’s office.
Crow Wing County Sheriff Eric Klang said his office signed up for the 287g task force program to stay on top of cooperating with federal agencies.
Crow Wing County’s agreement began March 25, according to ICE records. The Crow Wing Sheriff’s Office, headquartered in Brainerd, has about 50 deputies on staff. Klang said around four will receive ICE training for the 287g program, and that he still needs to vet the training process. Klang said that when he spoke with ICE about the agreement, the federal agency was still working to determine what the arrangements would look like.
“We’re going to assist where they ask us to assist, but we’re not going to go rounding people up at beef farms or meat packing plants or Mexican restaurants,” Klang said.
How the program works
The 287g program has three models. Two, the “warrant service officer” and “jail enforcement” models, focus on identifying and processing immigrants eligible for deportation who are already in state or local custody. The jail enforcement model additionally allows local officers to question suspected immigrants about their legal status. A third, the “task force model,” enlists local agencies to serve as what ICE calls a “force multiplier” to enforce some immigration statutes.
The Cass, Crow Wing and Itasca County sheriff’s offices in northern Minnesota entered into task force agreements with ICE. In southern Minnesota, Freeborn County has a warrant service officer model, and Jackson County has both a warrant service officer and jail enforcement model agreement, according to ICE records.
Klang, of Crow Wing County, was the only sheriff to return calls from Sahan Journal seeking comment.
Freeborn, Kandiyohi and Sherburne counties all have long standing contracts with ICE to house immigration inmates in their jails. Those are separate from 287g agreements, and have been in place across presidential administrations from both parties.
Select officers from law enforcement agencies participating in 287g agreements will attend a 40-hour ICE training. The agencies must regularly contact their closest ICE field office when carrying out immigration duties. Local law enforcement agencies are not compensated for enrolling in the program.
Whether the agreements are allowed in Minnesota is an open legal question, Stiles said. Ellison’s office didn’t reach a determination on the matter in a February 6 legal opinion the attorney general sent to Ramsey County Attorney John Choi. The opinion declared that Minnesota law prohibits local law enforcement agencies from holding people based on immigration detainers if there are no other reasons, such as criminal accusations, to hold them in custody.
Casper, with the ACLU, said he believes Minnesota law does not allow local law enforcement to make arrests solely on immigration detainers.
“I think a lot of them may be under the perception that entering into one of these programs provides legal cover and authorization for their arrests of noncitizens, when there is no authorization of this under Minnesota law,” Casper said.
‘There definitely has been an uptick’
The Freeborn County jail is seeing a growth in immigration inmates since it entered an agreement with ICE, according to jail deputy Dylan Dopp.
“There definitely has been an uptick,” Dopp said.
Inmates with immigration holds make up the majority of the jail’s population today; there are about three ICE detainees for every one inmate being held for non-immigration issues, Dopp said.
Klang said his office in Crow Wing County will stay clear of immigration style raids, and would only pursue immigration enforcement action on people who are committing serious crimes. He’s heard concerns about the program leading to people without criminal charges ending up in custody, but said his office won’t go about it that way. Klang said he doesn’t want to go to a Mexican restaurant that has “all white people working there.”
Casper said he believes most sheriffs are entering into these agreements with good intentions, but cautioned that they pose risks.
“I don’t think they really get what we’re about to face,” Casper said.
The agreements can harm trust between law enforcement and immigrant communities, he said, particularly today, when the Trump administration is taking a more aggressive removal approach to people with minor criminal histories or international students in the United States on visas. Two international students in Minnesota were arrested by ICE in March, and at least eight more had their legal student status revoked, meaning they must leave the country.
“That’s an environment where a lot of people are going to be scared of anyone messing with ICE,” Casper said.
The agreements can also open local agencies up to lawsuits from people who are improperly detained, he said.
