287(g) Agreements in North Carolina

A 287(g) agreement gives local police the power to enforce federal immigration law — something they normally cannot do. These agreements turn local officers into Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, fueling deportations, racial profiling, and fear in immigrant communities.

Local law enforcement resources are better spent investing in programs that actually keep our communities safe, not fueling the Trump administration’s plans to deport immigrants who contribute to our communities and our economy.

A 287(g) agreement is entirely voluntary. Local law enforcement has no obligation to participate in the program or enforce immigration law. By signing an agreement, a law enforcement agency is effectively declaring its support for a cruel federal immigration enforcement regime.

The 287(g) program allows local municipalities, counties, and state law enforcement agencies to sign an agreement with ICE. The type of agreement specifies what immigration enforcement powers are delegated to the local agency.

There are three types of 287(g) agreements: the Warrant Service Officer, the Jail Enforcement Model, and the Task Force Model. The Warrant Service Officer type allows ICE to train, certify, and authorize state and local law enforcement officers to serve and execute administrative immigration warrants on people already in custody in their agency’s jail. The Jail Enforcement Model lets ICE delegate certain immigration authorities to state and local law enforcement agencies to identify immigrants in state and local custody and place them into immigration proceedings. The Task Force Model lets state and local law enforcement agencies make immigration arrests during routine police enforcement.