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During his first few months in office, President Donald Trump has been establishing a . It's something will be "the largest deportation operation in the history of our country."

includes what's known as the federal 287(g) program. , it allows U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, whose work is normally carried out by federal officials, to train state and local authorities to .

Under 287(g), for example, can interview people to determine their immigration status. They can also issue immigration detainers to jail people until agents with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement take custody.

"Illegal immigration has wide-ranging consequences, including a troubling surge of dangerous drugs into our state," T.K. Waters, sheriff of Jacksonville, Florida, to explain his office's participation in 287(g). "We remain committed to partnering with President Trump's administration and our federal counterparts to secure our borders, protect Floridians, and establish a framework for the rest of the nation to follow."

Local police authorities across the country—from , to —are participating in 287(g) for similar reasons.

Since Trump began his second term in January, ICE has increased 287(g) agreements from to .

As , I believe the surge of 287(g) agreements sets a dangerous precedent for local policing, where forging relationships and building the trust of immigrants is a proven and . In my view, the expansion of 287(g) will erode that trust and makes entire communities—not just immigrants—less safe.

Past federal-local cooperation

There is a long history of federal authorities collaborating with local police to enforce immigration laws.

During the Great Depression, blamed Latinos for taking American jobs, and local agencies helped them deport up to . It's estimated that were U.S. citizens.

In the early 1930s, local police participated in and other states. As author Adam Goodman details in his book "The Deportation Machine," state and local government agencies, including social workers, welfare agencies and police, acted as "."

President Dwight D. Eisenhower's , which resulted in .

As author Natalia Molina notes in her book "How Race is Made in America," " in Eisenhower's program because the federal government "did not have enough agents to cover such a large territory" as the U.S.

During his two terms, President and used the 287(g) program to help him do that, primarily to . peaked at 76 agreements during his first term but dropped to 35 during his second term.

A found the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office in Arizona engaged in . The Justice Department found that the sheriff's office engaged in a pattern of "unlawful seizures, including unjustified stops, detentions, and arrests, of Latinos in violation of the Fourth Amendment."

Power of local policing

as of May 2025.

This could have effects outside of the immigration laws.

In the past 45 years, many law enforcement professionals in urban areas have highlighted the importance of with . That's because the police depend on the participation of all citizens to .

But police departments across the U.S. have found that 287(g) .

In 1979, Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl Gates created that prohibited local officers from enforcing immigration laws in response to community complaints alleging discrimination against Latinos. Gates issued the order "."

Other large police departments followed. In places such as and , they shifted focus from helping federal immigration officials to prioritizing community relationships.

William Bratton, who led six police departments, including in Boston, and , in a 2009 op-ed. He said that deputizing local officers to enforce immigration laws immediately "undermines their core public safety mission."

Conservative police scholar George Kelling, co-author of the , which presumes that visible signs of disorder can lead to crime, also expressed support for local police agencies prioritizing their community relationships.

, Kelling highlighted a San Diego police memo announcing its refusal to enforce federal immigration laws. The San Diego Police Department, he wrote, "thought through its values, mission, and functions and elaborated a policy that put public safety and harmony above aggressive attempts to ferret out undocumented aliens."

During Trump's first administration, some police chiefs echoed Bratton and Kelling. They warned that employing local officers to enforce immigration measures could spark fear and damage public safety.

Former Seattle Police Chief Kathleen O'Toole stated in 2016 prohibited from "."

announced in 2016 that his department does not enforce immigration law.

, "It is our opinion, our strongly held belief that our responsibility is to protect the residents of our city. To protect them, they must trust us, they must be willing to report crimes, they must be willing to be witnesses."

Consequences of 287(g)

President Trump has frequently linked , calling them and .

But have that .

Although the Trump administration is expanding the use of , research casts doubt on using mass deportation as a crime reduction strategy.

A 2018 study on 287(g) from the libertarian Cato Institute found with local police decreased crime rates.

And a 2014 study on the , which calls for local police agencies to share arrestee information with federal immigration officials, found that this program has "no discernible impact" on crime in medium and large municipalities.

The Trump administration's expansion of 287(g) ignores the shift that some big city police departments have made away from immigration enforcement in favor of community policing. And I believe it threatens to undermine the relationship between local police and the increasingly diverse communities they serve.