287(g) Program Created, Deputizing Local Police for Immigration Enforcement

Section 287(g) of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) takes effect, creating a program allowing the Immigration and Naturalization Service to deputize state and local law enforcement officers to perform immigration enforcement functions. Under 287(g) agreements, local officers receive training and authority to interrogate individuals about immigration status, process immigrants for removal, and issue immigration detainers—holds requesting that local jails detain individuals beyond their release date for immigration pickup. The program fundamentally transforms the relationship between immigrant communities and local police.

The 287(g) program develops slowly at first, with initial agreements focusing on jail screening rather than street enforcement. However, following 9/11 and the creation of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the program expands dramatically. By 2009, over 60 jurisdictions participate in 287(g) agreements, with some sheriffs—notably Joe Arpaio in Maricopa County, Arizona—using the authority for aggressive street enforcement and racial profiling operations. Courts eventually find that Arpaio’s 287(g) operations constitute unconstitutional racial profiling, but the underlying program structure enables such abuses.

Critics document that 287(g) undermines community policing by deterring immigrant crime victims and witnesses from contacting law enforcement. Studies find that domestic violence victims, robbery targets, and witnesses to violent crimes avoid police for fear that any interaction might trigger immigration consequences. The program also produces documented racial profiling, with Latino drivers and pedestrians stopped at disproportionate rates in participating jurisdictions. Police chiefs in major cities reject 287(g) participation, arguing that immigration enforcement compromises public safety by separating police from communities they serve. The program demonstrates how federal-local enforcement partnerships can transform local police into immigration agents, fundamentally altering the relationship between government and immigrant communities while enabling racial profiling under federal sanction.